The Andromeda Strain
7.268%72%7.0
Top scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what killed the citizens of a small town and how the deadly contagion can be stopped.
Richard reviewed
October 19, 2025•
Saw this one on Dutch TV in the mid ’80s, back when serious sci-fi still got prime slots.
I was old enough to follow the plot, young enough to be unnerved by the sterile labs and eerie silence.
It’s a slow burn procedural wrapped in a biohazard thriller.
A satellite crashes near a small town, everyone dies mysteriously and a team of top scientists is rushed to a secret underground lab to figure out what went wrong.
No aliens with tentacles, no laser battles, just microscopes, decontamination chambers and the creeping dread of a microscopic killer.
Robert Wise directs with clinical precision and the cast, Arthur Hill, David Wayne, Kate Reid plays it straight, which makes the tension simmer.
The tech is vintage ’70s: blinking lights, punch cards and a computer named “Piedmont” that looks like it runs on coffee and panic.
But it works. The film respects science, and that respect makes it scarier.
I loved the concept and the execution. It felt like a documentary gone wrong and the realism made it linger.