IFC Midnight has released a terrifying trailer for the Russian creature feature Sputnik, which will almost certainly invite comparisons to Ridley Scott's 1979 masterpiece Alien.

Directed by first-time filmmaker Egor Abramenko, Sputnik follows Tatiana Yurievna (Oksana Akinshina), a young doctor who's on the precipice of losing her medical license due to her controversial methods. Her career may not be over, though. After she’s recruited by the military, Tatiana is brought to a secure science research facility to assess a very special case, that of Konstantin Sergeyevich (Pyotr Fyodorov), a cosmonaut who survived a mysterious space accident and has returned to Earth with a unique condition -- there’s something living inside of him that only shows itself late at night. The creature itself thrives on destruction and the military has nefarious plans for it, but Tatiana simply wants to stop it from killing Konstantin.

Rather than be content to crib from Alien and other gory sci-fi movies, Sputnik aims to deliver a fresh twist on the interplanetary monster movie as it heralds the arrival of a major new voice in Abramenko, an award-winning director of Russian music videos and commercials. Sputnik was inspired by his 2017 short film The Passenger, which screened at Fantastic Fest.

Fedor Bondarchuk and Anton Vasilev co-star in Sputnik, which will open in select theaters and on VOD on Aug. 14. I think it looks pretty damn cool, so watch the trailer for this nasty little sci-fi thriller below, and then click here for our list of the Best Monster Movies of the 21st Century. Judging by the looks of this trailer, we may just have to update that list next month...