清晨，空荡幽暗的卧室。潜行者（亚历山大·凯伊达诺夫斯基 Aleksandr Kajdanovsky饰）悄然无息地起身准备与另外两人会合前往一片恐怖复杂的地带。可妻子（阿丽萨·弗雷因德利赫 Alisa Frejndlikh饰）却极力哀求他不要冒险进入该地。而这位训练有素、 经验丰富的潜行者，即将穿越的是一片有着千变万化陷阱和圈套的地区“The Zone”。这块二十年前因陨星坠落而荒芜的恐怖地区，传说有一个名叫“The Room”的囚室，它能满足人们潜意识里最深层的意愿和欲望。潜行者与为寻求灵感的作家（安纳托里·索洛尼岑 Anatoli Solonitsyn饰）和为探明真相的科学家（尼古莱·格陵柯 Nikolai Grinko饰），踏上了这片变幻莫测的死亡之地。
这部极具史诗片气质，探究人类灵魂本质的科幻电影《潜行者》，用诗意而极富隐喻的长镜头，挖掘着人类潜意识与外部世界的重重矛盾与深层意义。1957年，一场发生在苏联车里亚宾斯克附近名叫玛雅卡工厂的核灾难，深深触动了导演安德烈·塔科夫斯基，成为本部电影中的创作素材。影片也改变自小说《The Roadside Picnic》。本片荣获1980年第33届戛纳电影节天主教人道奖。

2157年，22岁的青年马克西姆·卡梅尔（瓦西里·史特帕诺夫 Vasiliy Stepanov 饰）在作星际旅行时，意外坠毁在荒凉原始的萨拉什星球。被称为无名先祖的统治者利用发射塔放出的射线削弱子民的意志，但仍有部分人奋起反抗。与此同时，国与国之间的战争也一触即发。马克西姆凭借卓越的潜能和战斗力引起野心家们的关注，但他却最终站在反叛者的阵营里，决心破坏发射塔。在旅途中，马克西姆遇见一个20年前来到萨拉什的地球人，也正是他建立了所谓绝对服从的和平体制。似乎命运的安排，马克西姆如今将彻底打破旧有的体制，解放蓝蛇河的民众。他的冒险仍在继续……
本片根据Arkadi Strugatsky和Boris Strugatsky的科幻小说改编，系“人烟之岛三部曲”第二部。

SYNOPSIS
Urgently called, the police inspector has arrived in a hotel, and didn't find any crime, but noticed some strangenesses occurring there. He has decided to leave, but a snow avalanche is crushed in the mountains, making it impossible for him to leave. Soon, inspector has found a body of a dead lodger. Everyone who lives in the hotel is under suspicion... (Strugatsky Brothers website)
NOTES
This is a crime / mystery thriller with surreal and psychedelic science fiction overtones based on a book Inspector Glebsky's Puzzle by the Strugatsky brothers. The screenplay was also written by the brothers and it differs from the book. The less you know about the movie the better starting point you have. The film is based largely on the mystery of what's happening to the people of Dead Mountaineer's Hotel. Is everything what it seems? Who's dead or who's not?

A new adaptation of the soviet film 'Hukkunud Alpinisti' hotell (1979)