Spiderhead, based on George Saunders’s dystopian short story, Escape from Spiderhead, is the newest Netflix Original film to hit the service and while it boasts some big talent, they don’t always mesh well with the material.
The film takes place at a remote penitentiary, dubbed the name Spiderhead, where prisoners become test subjects in experiments run by the sympathetic yet mysterious Steve (Chris Hemsworth). The concept and setting of Spiderhead is deeply fascinating, as seeing a group of killers and criminals live together and go through mind-altering tests peacefully is pretty wild. It’s just crazy how smooth and calm things are day-to-day, and it makes this setting almost feel like a fantasy—that is, until the testing sessions start. Each session, Steve introduces subjects to a chemical drug that alters their emotions and perceptions. This can range from them being injected with a drug called N-40, which makes their emotions surrounding love instantly heightened to another drug called Darkenfloxx, which elevates their sense of paranoia and fear.
One prisoner, Jeff (Miles Teller), has developed a close relationship with Steve and been through most of his tests, even to the point where Steve lets him outside the facility with him. However, after Jeff becomes suspicious of Steve’s intentions, he begins to dig deeper into these tests and comes to horrifying conclusions about the drugs and Steve. Spiderhead’s test sessions offer some of the best moments of the film with how enthralling it can be to watch these huge mood swings in action. A normal-looking therapy session can suddenly become an emotional nightmare as the drugs slowly or suddenly start to affect the subjects. The performances elevate the different emotions on display, and you can’t help but always feel creeped out by Steve’s enjoyment of being in control.
Unfortunately, Spiderhead struggles to be as strong as its concept, as its tone and execution don’t the best elements of the story. Director Joseph Kosinski and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have proven they are more than capable of creating thrilling and engaging experiences, as Kosinski recently helmed Top Gun: Maverick, which continues to dominate the box-office, and Reese and Wernick have written films like Zombieland and Deadpool. However, their attempts to make Spiderhead like their past works through smarmy lines and standard storytelling keep the film of being a captivating and haunting dystopian thriller.
Spiderhead constantly shows a lot of potential in its horror-driven aspects, but the film never makes its reveals impactful enough. Once Jeff starts to become suspicious about Steve and these tests, he finds some pretty shocking information and instead of making these moments come off horrifying, chilling, or important, the film does almost nothing with them. Jeff honestly doesn’t even bring things up much to other prisoners or try to piece things together himself and there are a lot of baffling questions and plot holes, like why Steve also wears the same injection device the subjects wear, that go unanswered.
The finale especially feels botched, as its big reveals are mishandled in ways that make them underwhelm and the overall tone of the film keeps its thrills and characters generic. There could’ve been some strong themes about control that tie back to the characters and expand our views of everything we’ve seen. Instead, the finale doesn’t dig deep enough and tries to let its lackluster style keep you engaged. The overuse of popular songs feels like a last-ditch effort to entice viewers, which doesn’t work, and the finale escape sequence is unremarkable. Even the way character backstories are handled is nothing special and if the performances weren’t interesting enough to mostly hold your attention, especially Hemsworth’s, most of the time, they would be tough to connect with. Also, Jurnee Smollett is just completely wasted in the film and her character is just an object in Steve and Jeff’s final confrontation.
Honestly, Spiderhead would’ve been better as a Netflix series so that its interesting aspects could flourish, letting us see more emotion drugs on display and further exploring these characters and ideas. As is, Spiderhead is a shallow attempt at Netflix trying to find their next breakout hit and interesting ideas are ultimately let down by bland execution.
