Movie Review
Not long after Skylab crashed to the earth in 1979, one of the space station’s tanks ended up somewhere in the scrublands of Australia. It seems the U.S. government had sent some hazardous organisms into the cosmos for experimentation. But what went up to into the weightless void of space wasn’t what came back down.
Instead, the unlucky inhabitants of a tiny Australian town found themselves infected by a preternaturally aggressive fungus that crept out of that crashed NASA tank and caused their bodies to explode—spreading the fungal contagion to the winds.
Fortunately for the world (though not so great for the residents in that isolated burg), the U.S. military swooped in and expunged the fungus with some white phosphorus bombs. The day was saved.
However …
As the U.S. government is often wont to do, scientists grabbed a sample of the fungus for later study. Just in case. They sent it to a military base in Kansas for cold storage because, well, where else would you keep it? And then they promptly forgot about it.
In fact, the government forgot about that humanity-obliterating substance so thoroughly that when they shut down the military base years later, they left the fungus behind. Yep, they carted out the trash cans and gas masks, but left the deadly contagion in a freezer four stories below ground. You know, where it’ll stay safe.
All these years later, that base has now been converted into a collection of self-storage units. Travis “Teacake” Meacham is pretty grateful for the storage facility, though, since it was one of the only places that would give him a job after his stint in Elsworth prison. If he fulfills his parole requirements, he can finally get himself back on the road to a better life.
Teacake knows nothing about the military substructures beneath his feet. Nor does he have a clue about the fungus sample just four hundred feet down. He just knows that there’s been this odd, beeping sound tonight—sort of like an alarm—that keeps bleating out at regular intervals.
Oh, and the other thing he knows is that the new girl working the night shift with him, Naomi, is kinda cute. She’s also a wild sort who’s willing to break the rules, bust through a sheetrock wall and go hunting for said beeping alarm rather than carry on with her assigned storage-facility duties.
And that’s a real problem for Teacake. He’s always been a pushover for the pretty, wild sorts. They can talk him into doing things he probably shouldn’t. He just can’t say no to someone like Naomi.
Of course, Teacake’s worries are pointless at this juncture. For way down in the military substructure, things are already way out of control. That fungus has broken out of its containment, infecting roaches and rats and spreading at a pretty alarming rate. Soon, more and more living things will be writhing with emerald green glop and exploding in gushing torrents.
Oh, and the government? Yeah, a young servicewoman has noticed a strange alarm that suddenly popped up on her panel.
Does anybody know what this is?