Arctic Void (2022) Synopsis

TV host Ray Marsh (Michael Weaver) and his director/producer Alan Meursault (Tim Griffin) get their trip to Norway off on a bad start from the beginning when they arrive at a small Norwegian airport with no transportation arranged to take them to the boat where they need to be. They get lucky and find a ride through a local that Ray chats up outside, but this proves to be perhaps the last plot development that breaks their way.Just before boarding, the two manage to link up with their cameraman Sean Tibbets (Justin Huen), a local they find on eerily short notice to come shoot the series for them. Something about Sean seems a little bit off, and those suspicions are confirmed when Ray opens a lunchbox that their third wheel carts around ... only to find a sound system and a set of headphones. They each take a listen, Ray for a bit longer, to hear the odd whale sounds emitted by the device.Sean does his job well enough on board, capturing footage of the charismatic captain Jim (Rune Temte) as well as the various contingents of Swedish tourists, Germans, and Norwegian scientists on board. Alan chats up the latter and learns they are on board to study the region's auroras. As they explain, these are powerful geostorms with the hypothetical power to disable electronic technology - perhaps even the human brain.Not long after the passengers witness a large seal with some conspicuous open wounds brutally mauling a younger animal of its own kind on an ice flow, Sean begins to notice a few other things off on the deck. A man seems to be bleeding out of his ear, and a flock of birds begins to circle ominously. Then, in a moment ... everyone disappears. Everyone, that is, except Sean, Ray, and Alan.The core duo emerges from below deck and tries to figure out where everyone went; Sean lies and says he was in the bathroom when it all went down. None of the electronics work, including the boat itself. Alan begins bleeding from strange gashes. They soon piece together that their fellow passengers did not just disembark so much as they completely disappeared.The trio takes a raft ashore to Svalbard, their original destination, to find no signs of life. Inside an abandoned building, odd and ominous harbingers of abandoned humanity abound like a flickering TV and a skipping Russian record. Alan's condition further deteriorates, as does his trust in Sean. That confidence completely evaporates when he turns on the digital camera from one of the Germans as they videoed each other just prior to their disappearance ... and he spots Sean filming from the deck, thus exposing his dishonesty.When Ray confronts Sean, their shady cameraman finally admits that he is an ex-military operative assigned to document the effects of the exposure to a sonic weapon. Humans are supposed to be merely disoriented by it, not entirely vaporized. His lunchbox headphones provide a countering vibration to the weapon's frequency, inoculating the listener but not saving them entirely.Alan becomes too weak to leave on the raft, and Ray asks him to film a video on his phone for the family he'll be leaving behind. Sensing a threat, Ray puts the phone and camera inside a waterproof pouch and chunks it out to sea. Walking and talking with Sean, his walkie-talkie lights up with a message: "We have your location. Extraction in 30 minutes."They transport Alan out of the building in a wheelbarrow, and Ray stays behind with him as Sean goes outside to meet the people who make eye contact. Alan continues to teeter on the verge of death. Shortly after he expires, Ray presses his necklace with a jack on it - a totem expressing his anguish over the loss of a sibling he couldn't save at the age of 10 - into his friend's hands.In the throes of his grief, Ray hears a gunshot ring out. Sean takes a sniper's bullet to the back of the head. Inside the room with Ray, an old phone begins to ring ... and rings ... and rings.After the credits, the camera bag continues to float in search of someone to discover it. (thanks to decider)

TV host Ray Marsh (Michael Weaver) and his director/producer Alan Meursault (Tim Griffin) get their trip to Norway off on a bad start from the beginning when they arrive at a small Norwegian airport with no transportation arranged to take them to the boat where they need to be. They get lucky and find a ride through a local that Ray chats up outside, but this proves to be perhaps the last plot development that breaks their way.Just before boarding, the two manage to link up with their cameraman Sean Tibbets (Justin Huen), a local they find on eerily short notice to come shoot the series for them. Something about Sean seems a little bit off, and those suspicions are confirmed when Ray opens a lunchbox that their third wheel carts around ... only to find a sound system and a set of headphones. They each take a listen, Ray for a bit longer, to hear the odd whale sounds emitted by the device.Sean does his job well enough on board, capturing footage of the charismatic captain Jim (Rune Temte) as well as the various contingents of Swedish tourists, Germans, and Norwegian scientists on board. Alan chats up the latter and learns they are on board to study the region's auroras. As they explain, these are powerful geostorms with the hypothetical power to disable electronic technology - perhaps even the human brain.Not long after the passengers witness a large seal with some conspicuous open wounds brutally mauling a younger animal of its own kind on an ice flow, Sean begins to notice a few other things off on the deck. A man seems to be bleeding out of his ear, and a flock of birds begins to circle ominously. Then, in a moment ... everyone disappears. Everyone, that is, except Sean, Ray, and Alan.The core duo emerges from below deck and tries to figure out where everyone went; Sean lies and says he was in the bathroom when it all went down. None of the electronics work, including the boat itself. Alan begins bleeding from strange gashes. They soon piece together that their fellow passengers did not just disembark so much as they completely disappeared.The trio takes a raft ashore to Svalbard, their original destination, to find no signs of life. Inside an abandoned building, odd and ominous harbingers of abandoned humanity abound like a flickering TV and a skipping Russian record. Alan's condition further deteriorates, as does his trust in Sean. That confidence completely evaporates when he turns on the digital camera from one of the Germans as they videoed each other just prior to their disappearance ... and he spots Sean filming from the deck, thus exposing his dishonesty.When Ray confronts Sean, their shady cameraman finally admits that he is an ex-military operative assigned to document the effects of the exposure to a sonic weapon. Humans are supposed to be merely disoriented by it, not entirely vaporized. His lunchbox headphones provide a countering vibration to the weapon's frequency, inoculating the listener but not saving them entirely.Alan becomes too weak to leave on the raft, and Ray asks him to film a video on his phone for the family he'll be leaving behind. Sensing a threat, Ray puts the phone and camera inside a waterproof pouch and chunks it out to sea. Walking and talking with Sean, his walkie-talkie lights up with a message: "We have your location. Extraction in 30 minutes."They transport Alan out of the building in a wheelbarrow, and Ray stays behind with him as Sean goes outside to meet the people who make eye contact. Alan continues to teeter on the verge of death. Shortly after he expires, Ray presses his necklace with a jack on it - a totem expressing his anguish over the loss of a sibling he couldn't save at the age of 10 - into his friend's hands.In the throes of his grief, Ray hears a gunshot ring out. Sean takes a sniper's bullet to the back of the head. Inside the room with Ray, an old phone begins to ring ... and rings ... and rings.After the credits, the camera bag continues to float in search of someone to discover it. (thanks to decider)

Published Time: 2022-01-14 15:19:03