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Spiderhead is Netflix's latest offbeat, dystopian sci-fi thriller to have been released on June 17, 2022. The film features Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller in the lead roles, and has been directed by Joseph Kosinski (Oblivion, Top Gun: Maverick). Kosinski and Teller have recently become the talk of the town due to the success of the latest Top Gun installment.
The Netflix cyberpunk film has been adapted from George Saunders' short story Escape from Spiderhead, which was published in The New Yorker in 2010. The script was penned by Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool) and revolves around a sociopathic researcher and his unsuspecting subjects inside the Spiderhead prison-cum-research facility.
Spiderhead recap: Life-saver Mr. Abnesti wasn't such a godsend after all
Inmates at the Spiderhead prison/research facility considered themselves very fortunate to have landed there as part of the drug experimentation program instead of the state penitentiary. Their gratitude led them to participate in ridiculous, inhumane projects designed by the sociopathic researcher Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth) without placing any questions whatsoever.
A device called MobiPack was surgically placed on the lower back of every subject which had multicoloured vials of drugs that altered human behaviour and emotions. Verbaluce, Luvactin, Laffodil, and Darkenfloxx were some of the quick-witted names of the chemicals that were released into the subjects' bodies as soon as they verbally consented with an "Acknowledge."
Jeff (Miles Teller), the guilt-ridden protagonist in Spiderhead, was also an obedient participant until he participated in an outrageous project. The N-40 trial caused people to get physically and emotionally intimate only for one of their partners to then decide who to torment with Darkenfloxx. The trial showed its ugly nature when one of the subjects took her own life, but it was Abnesti's attitude towards the same which took Jeff by surprise.
Meanwhile, Jeff also developed romantic feelings for fellow inmate Lizzy (Jurnee Smolett) without any drugs in his system. The two were shown navigating the dystopia together, and their conversations revealed Jeff's past crimes and why he felt he deserved to go through the painful experimentations.
With Abnesti's assistant Mark growing incredulous with the researcher's intentions to help humanity and Jeff discovering that there was no protocol committee sanctioning the trials, the two teamed up to bring the brutal projects to an end.
Spiderhead ending: The illusion of free will consent broke down
With Steve and Mark tending to a dead Heather, Jeff saw an opportunity to look at Steve's little diary with notes about the experimentations. He found a bingo card and a drawing of a chemical structure of a drug with the letters "O-B-D-X" under it.
The bingo card had a gold star on all but two numbers – 40 and 6. The numbers fell under the letters N and B respectively, which led him to realise the trials had been named using a bingo card, N-40 being the Luvactin trial, I-16 being the Darkenfloxx trial, and B-6 being a question mark.
He also realised that Abnesti had been lying to him the entire time about there being a protocol committee that directed the trials. It had been Steve all along, the owner of Abnesti Pharmaceuticals.
When Steve found out about Jeff and Lizzy's budding romance, he tasked Jeff with administering Darkenfloxx to Lizzy to note a human's reaction to watching a loved one suffer. Jeff refused, and later confronted Mark about the trials and B-6, appealing to his sense of humanity to stop Steve.
As it turned out, B-6 had been the main trial all along for the drug called O-B-D-X or Obediex that made the subjects obey the researcher's commands. However, it had not been perfected yet as Steve was aiming for absolute obedience but the subjects disobeyed every time a loved one's well-being at stake.
Having the privilege of consent or choice turned out to be a mere illusion. The subjects had been reeling under the effects of B-6 all along. Following a plan hatched by Jeff and Mark to bring down Steve, Jeff showed up the next day to administer Darkenfloxx to Lizzy. However, he started messing with the MobiPack attached to Steve's body and upped his levels of B-6 to get him to talk. This led to a fight between Steve and Jeff wherein Steve accidentally knocked his MobiPack against a wall, causing the chemicals to leak within him.
Jeff had managed to get Steve to open the main door so that he could escape along with Lizzy, but Steve manipulated the other inmates to go after them. Meanwhile, Steve, having learnt that Mark was approaching with the police, fled the facility on his biplane. With the chemicals making his senses go haywire, he tragically crashed the plane into the hills and died.
While on B-6, Steve also confessed that he had held Jeff and Lizzy in the facility long beyond their original prison sentences. So, the two not only fled from the nightmarish facility but they were also free in real life. The movie concluded with both of them hysterically embracing their freedom on a motorboat.
Spiderhead is now available to watch on Netflix.
