Two highly-trained operatives are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within. When the cataclysmic threat to humanity is revealed to them, they must work together in a test of both their physical and mental strength to keep the secret in the gorge before it’s too late. A film by Scott Derrickson, starring Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, and Sigourney Weaver.

Levi (Miles Teller), a retired American elite sniper with 113 confirmed kills, is summoned by Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver), a top official from a shadowy private organization called Darklake. She offers him a year-long assignment at a highly classified gorge, a location so secret that it remains unknown and undetectable by any satellite.

After a 10-day stakeout and successfully assassinating a Belarusian oligarch, a Moscow operative Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) returns to her hometown of Pervalka, Lithuania, to join her dying father Erikas (William Houston), at the cemetery where her late mother is buried. She tells her father that Rabinovich has ordered her to go dark for a year after being photographed by a drone in Belarus.

In September, Levi is dropped from a military aircraft at the edge of a no-fly zone. Once on the ground, he is instructed to continue his journey on foot to the gorge, located 38 klicks north. He’s told to report to the tower by 1600 hours the following day.

Upon arrival, Royal Marines Commando Jasper D. Drake (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) warmly welcomes Levi, revealing that Levi is the first person he’s spoken to face-to-face in a year and that his own tour rotation officially ends at midnight. JD leads Levi to the West Tower Observation Post, where Levi will spend the next 365 days. He also explains that the East Tower is located on the opposite side, but contact with the other side is strictly forbidden.

A gorge is defined as a deep, narrow valley with steep sides, typically formed by a river cutting through hard rock or mountains. The Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal is one of the deepest gorges, formed by the Kali Gandaki River in the Himalayas. It has a depth of 5,579 meters and is located in the Annapurna Conservation Area.

At the tower, JD further explains that the job is fairly straightforward. Every day, Levi must walk the western rim, restock ammunition in the automatic Phalanx gun turrets placed every 600 meters, and inspect the containment fence, cloakers, and suspended mines. Radio checks are required every 30 days. The cloakers are designed to send false signals to all satellites, rendering the gorge invisible to spy satellites. JD emphasizes the strict rule prohibiting any form of outside communication. In case of an emergency, there’s a panic button on a dedicated shortwave radio that sends an alert to a designated sector.

JD points to the old air-raid sirens on top of the tower and warns Levi that if the cloakers ever fail completely or the gorge gets overrun, the automated system will trigger something called the Straydog protocol. JD admits he has no idea what it means, but he tells Levi bluntly: if those sirens go off, he’d better run like hell.

JD recounts how the gorge was first discovered at the end of World War II. Leaders from Eastern and Western nations formed a coalition and agreed to keep its existence secret — so secret that none of the nine Soviet heads of state or thirteen U.S. presidents since then have known about it.

He believes the gorge is a gateway to hell, inhabited by mysterious creatures known as Hollow Men. In the late 1940s, a military operation sent 2,400 men in three battalions to clear the gorge, but none returned.

After this catastrophe, the leaders abandoned aggressive tactics in favor of containment, building observation towers and employing minimal personnel to guard the gorge — their sole mission being to keep its inhabitants contained and its existence hidden.

After JD’s departure, Levi settles into a mundane routine: patrolling the western rim where nothing significant happens and checking in every 30 days. While he and the female operative on the East Tower Observation Post are aware of each other’s presence, they maintain strict no-contact protocol. During this time, Levi continues to battle nightmares from his PTSD.

Everything changes on a November night when Drasa fires her gun into the sky to catch Levi’s attention. When he checks through his telescope, he finds her holding up a handwritten sign asking “WHAT IS YOUR NAME?” Levi responds on his whiteboard with “WE ARE NOT ALLOWED CONTACT.” But his resolve quickly crumbles when Drasa writes back, introducing herself and declaring that since it’s her birthday, she can do whatever she wants. This becomes the beginning of their long-distance relationship, as they start communicating through handwritten messages.

That night, they witness a terrifying sight: creatures emerging from the shadows and crawling up the gorge walls — something neither has seen before. Both towers are soon overwhelmed as packs of creatures try to breach their defenses. Though they manage to survive the night and keep the creatures contained, Drasa is injured when a suspended mine explodes during the battle.

On Valentine’s Day, Drasa becomes distraught, knowing it’s the exact day her father told her he would take his own life. That evening, Levi grows worried when he doesn’t see her during her usual patrol. When Drasa finally responds, confessing it’s been a difficult day and wishing he could be with her. In an improvised plan, he attaches a cable to a disarmed rocket and fires it across to the Eastern rim, creating a zipline he can slide across to reach her.

After months of exchanging handwritten messages and telescope glimpses, the two finally speak to each other in person, sharing an intimate night together. The next morning, as Levi slides back across the gorge to his post, Hollow Men trigger several suspended mines, causing his zipline to snap. As he plummets into the depths below, Drasa doesn’t hesitate — she grabs her gear and leaps from her tower to rescue him.

Directed by American filmmaker Scott Derrickson from an original screenplay by Zach Dean, “The GORGE” is a delightful genre-bending film that brilliantly incorporates elements of suspense thriller, science fiction, espionage, horror, and romantic comedy. The story centers on two elite snipers — one American and one Lithuanian working for Russia — who are assigned by their respective nations to a mysterious mission: watching over a gorge from their towers and preventing anything inside it from escaping.

The film skillfully maintains suspense by keeping the contents of the gorge ambiguous, which keeps the narrative engaging as the story unfolds. Around the 30-minute mark, the tone shifts into romantic comedy territory as the two operatives start breaking the rules that prohibit them from communicating.

They exchange names, share drinks, play chess, and offer each other comfort when needed. Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller are so naturally likable that they effortlessly carry the film, even through some awkward dialogue and slightly unrealistic behavior.

The film kicks into high gear at the one-hour mark when Levi falls into the gorge, prompting Drasa to leap from her tower without hesitation to rescue him. The world inside the gorge is mesmerizing and otherworldly, populated with impressive creatures and monsters. While the humanoid creatures evoke a sense of cursed sailors reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, there are several standout monsters, including a spider-like beast with a human skull for a body and carnivorous trees that are genuinely terrifying.

The mist-shrouded landscape of the abandoned town creates an eerie atmosphere that echoes my all-time favorite game series Silent Hill, which feels particularly fitting once the gorge’s secrets are revealed.

Clocking in at 117 minutes, The Gorge feels longer than it needs to be. The film’s first section delves into Levi’s background, exploring his PTSD, while also giving Drasa a tearful backstory about leaving her dying father behind. These elements feel out of place and unnecessary, as both Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy are inherently charismatic enough to make viewers invest in their characters without relying on traumatic backstories. These drawn-out segments ultimately slow the film’s pacing, detracting from its overall momentum.

I also don’t like how the film reveals the fate of Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù’s character, Jesper D. Drake, so early. It would add far more tension if Drasa and Levi encountered Jesper again in the gorge, creating a sense of unpredictability and raising the stakes.

Additionally, the final act feels rushed, especially compared to the slow-paced beginning. It leaves little room for suspense or tension, as everything falls into place too conveniently as they improvise their plan. While this might work for the romantic happy ending the filmmaker was aiming for, it feels unconvincing for a sci-fi narrative that could have benefited from a more nuanced and thrilling conclusion.

The GORGE was released on Apple TV+ on 14 February 2025.

Scott Derrickson Dives Deep into “The GORGE”
For Derrickson, the chance to tell a story that oscillates between moments of love and terror represents the perfect distillation of his own philosophy regarding how people change in relationship and community. “Both love and suffering are the two main things that make us change — they can make us look deeper at ourselves and see what’s going on, and hopefully do something about it and improve and grow as a person, which I believe is why we exist on the Earth in the first place.”

Sinister director says his new horror film The GORGE is partly inspired by Silent Hill and Until Dawn
“I love those games, and I do think that gaming has sort of set the bar for gunplay action, especially if you’re really with a single character or two characters, you kind of can’t beat it,” says Derrickson. However, as much as he admires these games, Derrickson didn’t want to create an all-action mission movie, so he decided to add a different element to give the film some heart. At a time when the horror genre is being dominated by remakes, prequels, and sequels, Derrickson feels it is important that movies like this are made.