In the recent Apple TV+ movie THE GORGE, we are introduced to an organization called Dark Lake. Lead by Sigourney Weaver's character, Bartholomew, she hires Levi to guard the East side of a mysterious gorge littered with humanoid monsters called by many Special Op forces as the Hollow Men. The name is based on T.S. Eliot's poem about the post-World War I concerns in Europe as well as the feeling of hopelessness, emptiness, and dread. They are souls forever doomed in Limbo never being able to rest.
In the movie, we learn that this organization has a dark secret that greatly invests in something more sinister than just keeping the gorge contained. In order to figure out what that is we have to go back to where it all began.
It was near the climax of World War II and a coalition between East and West were tasked to come up with a weapon that rivals the atomic bomb invented by Oppenheimer. The task for this took place inside the gorge and they were able to build a small town to bring their families to stay close by. However, an 8.0 earthquake shook the gorge causing a chemical leak polluting the air and mixing human DNA with DNA of plants and animals.
Many people inside the gorge have died, but those that lived have seen side effects within five days of exposure. Those infected either mutated into this amalgamation of plant, animal, and human creature that will later be known as the Hollow Men or they killed themselves with cyanide. 2,400 soldiers on horse back were sent into the gorge to investigate and report back their findings and not a single soul returned. An alliance between the East and West allies have agreed to keep this gorge contained and hidden from the public.
Despite showing some signs of intelligence, the Hollow Men are not who they once were as their behavior is more animalistic in nature making any chance of communication impossible. However, it was not just the people who experienced this mutation. Plant life and all animals that resided inside the gorge were affected, as well.
Fast forward, a genetics company called Dark Lake takes over operations inside the gorge. Sending in drones, they would collect DNA from the Hollow Men and return the samples back to a Dark Lake facility. While Levi and Drasa were finding their way out of the gorge they come across a bio-lab and a computer that has all of the files from Dark Lake's servers. This is where they learn that they were not working for the military, but rather for this very powerful genetics research corporation. Not only did the pair find out the history of the Hollow Men and the gorge, but found out Dark Lake was using their DNA to experiment in creating a generation of super soldiers. With this information, Levi and Drasa realize that they need to destroy the gorge. This is where Levi learns of Straydog, a protocol which a thermal bomb was supposed to go off in case of a containment leak, but was damaged during the earthquake.
After making it out of the gorge and escaping the hordes of Hollow Men, Levi makes his 30 day radio check in which Bartholomew intervenes informing Levi there has been activity inside the gorge and questions Levi if he and/or his counterpart has been inside the gorge. Levi lies, but Bartholomew already knew from the surveillance cameras. She and a crew of special forces fly to the East tower to terminate Levi and Drasa as protocol to keep the super soldier project secret.
Before Bartholomew arrives, Levi and Drasa line the cloaking satellites with detonators. Once both of them have shot the line and all of the cloakers are down the Straydog protocol was activated, which gave Levi, Drasa, and Bartholomew two minutes to get as far away from the gorge as possible. The bomb detonates killing the Hollow Men and everything inside the gorge finally laying those lost souls to rest.
Even though the gorge is now gone and Bartholomew died from the explosion, Dark Lake still exists and running operations as normal. If a sequel is followed up, what will most likely happen is that Dark Lake will use the research and samples they have to start creating their super soldiers. However, the experiment will not go as planned and will create more Hollow Men, which they will try breaking out of containment to spread dread and horror.
Thank you all for reading this week's post. I have one more post on THE GORGE next week. For now, I want to know what your thoughts are on the Hollow Men and Dark Lake and if you think we may see a sequel in the future. Let me know of your thoughts in the comments section and make sure to follow me Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, and TRUTH Social to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.