One of the scariest and most popular creepypasta tales out there is the urban legend calledThe Russian Sleep Experiment. And today we have word that a feature film adaptation is heading our way soon! In fact, the film just started shooting withChris Kattanstarring, and director Barry Andersson taking the helm of the sure-to-be terrifying film.
Also referred to asOrange Soda,Russian Sleep Experimentwas written by an unknown author and became immensely popular upon its original publication. Its popularity has even led to various adaptations over the years, including a novel based on the original short story by Holly Ice, which was published in 2015. It’s considered by some to be the greatest and most sharedcreepypastastory ever, and tells the tale of, “Five test subjects being exposed to an experimental sleep-inhibiting stimulant in a Soviet-era scientific experiment.”
The film will not boast the titleRussian Sleep Experimentfor reasons unknown (probably rights and whatnot) but will instead be going by the monikerThe Soviet Sleep Experiment, which is about as close as you can get without straight up calling it,Russian Sleep Experiment, huh? Whatever, good for them. As reported, “Andersson has pulled together an ensemble cast of international actors to tell this suspenseful story”, which is described as such.
“A psychological thriller based loosely upon the urban legend which follows a married research team who, under close watch of theRed Army, set out to study the effects of forcedsleep deprivationon four patients locked inside an observation chamber for 30 days.”
As mentioned above, the film has already started shooting so as you might imagine, the cast has already been locked down. The players here will be Argentinian actress Eva De Dominici (You Shall Not Sleep) as Dr. Anna Antonoff and Polish actor Rafal Zawierucha (Roman Polanski in Quentin Tarantino’sOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood) portraying her husband, Dr. Leo Antonoff. Along with Dominici and Zawierucha, the film will also star Russian actor Evgeny Krutov (Stranger Things Season 3) as the USSR Captain Yegor Sokolov, who “represents the overshadowing Red Army back in Moscow overseeing the experiment.”
More interesting still is who the movie has lined-up to play the victims, er, I mean “patients” of this Russian er, I mean Soviet Sleep Experiment. These actors include Charles Hubbell (Walking With the Enemy), Paul Cram (Wilson), and Michael Villar (Skin), along with get this - as mentioned above -SNLandA Night at the Roxburystar Chris Kattan. Interesting choice. But Kattan did star inThe House on Haunted Hillremake from 1999, so he has a bit of genre credit on his side.
Emmy and Peabody Award-winning makeup artist Crist Ballas serves as production designer for the film, which called for building a “period-accurate Soviet bunker meant to resemble an isolated 1940s testing facility.” He and his crew also built a “Jules Verne-inspired chamber to house the four patients for the duration of the experiment.” Ballis, who was a member of the Academy Award-winning team behind director JJ Abrams' recent hit reboot ofStar Trek, is also set to executive produce the film along with Andersson. The powers that be behind the scenes of the film are hoping to start shopping the finished movie to potential distributors for both a domestic and international release in spring of 2019.Bloody Disgustingoriginal dropped this news.
