The Dam (2025) – Ukrainian Zombie Horror That Punches You in History and Heart
The Dam (original title: Каховский объект / Kakhovskiy Obyekt), directed by Alexey Taranenko, is my first Ukrainian movie of the year and the first film I’ve seen that is actually set during the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war. It starts with real, raw pain—the blown-up Kakhovka Dam, the invasion—and then dives straight into crazy sci-fi zombie horror inside a secret Soviet bunker. Sounds wild? It is. But somehow it works. I walked away shaken, angry, and weirdly proud of this little movie nobody in the West is talking about yet. 7/10, easy.
Starring Maryna Koshkina as Mara and Volodymyr Rashchuk as her childhood friend Dzhmil, this 99-minute Ukrainian-language war-horror-thriller (English subs) mixes real history, Soviet atrocities, and psychic zombies. Yeah, you read that right.
The Plot: From Real War to Soviet Nightmare Bunker
After the Russians blow up the Kakhovka Dam in 2022 (real event), the water drains and reveals a hidden three-story Soviet underground bunker nobody knew existed. One Ukrainian squad goes in to investigate… and never comes out.
Mara—a soldier who has psychic abilities she hates—leads the second team because her brother was in the first group. With her childhood friend Dzhmil and a handful of volunteers, they descend into hell. What they find: Soviet super-soldier experiments from the 1950s gone wrong. Zombie Red Army soldiers who are unnaturally strong, plus female test subjects turned into psychic monsters that can control minds—even the Ukrainians’.
And of course there’s a modern Russian scientist still down there, trying to finish his father’s formula so Putin can have an army of unstoppable zombies and “bring back the USSR.” Classic.
Why This Zombie Movie Actually Means Something
This isn’t just another zombie flick. The zombies are the direct result of real Soviet crimes—people kidnapped off the streets, kids taken from schools in “bread trucks,” women used in psychological torture experiments. For many Ukrainians, the USSR was never “history”; it was trauma, starvation, repression. Now Russian tanks are back, and the movie literally makes soldiers fight the undead ghosts of that same empire. It’s cathartic and brutal at the same time.
Mara’s psychic powers being a “gift” to the squad but a “curse” to her is perfect symbolism—Ukraine today has to use every weapon, even the painful ones, to survive. Watching these soldiers scream at Soviet zombies “You already killed my grandparents, you’re not taking me too!” hit harder than any jump scare.
What I Loved
- The mix of real war footage and locations with full-on horror never feels cheap.
- Psychic zombies that mess with your head, not just eat you—super fresh idea.
- The bunker feels claustrophobic and evil. Lighting, sound, everything is on point.
- Strong acting, especially Maryna Koshkina. You feel her pain the whole time.
- It remembers Soviet crimes while fighting today’s war. That double punch is powerful.
My Only Real Complaint
Some action scenes have little gaps—people move from room to room too fast, or you go “wait, how did the zombie get there?” Script has a couple of small holes and the editing rushes in places. Low-budget stuff shows sometimes. But honestly? When the message and emotion are this strong, I didn’t care much.
Ratings and Reception
- IMDb: 5.0/10 (only 217 votes—so far mostly Ukrainian viewers)
- No Rotten Tomatoes score yet (basically unknown in the West)
- Made in Ukraine, in Ukrainian, released October 1, 2025
It’s flying under the radar outside Ukraine, but the people who have seen it are calling it raw, honest, and important.
A Zombie Movie With Soul and Real Anger
At 7/10, The Dam isn’t perfect, but it’s one of the most meaningful horror movies I’ve watched in years. If you want mindless zombie shoots, skip it. If you want a horror film that actually says something about history, trauma, and fighting the same monster twice—once in the past and once right now—then this is a must-watch.
Proud of Ukrainian cinema for making this. Slava Ukraini.
What did you think of The Dam (Kakhovskiy Obyekt)? Too raw, just right, or did the psychic zombies win you over? Drop your thoughts below—I really want to know!
And please suggest my next movie. After this I need either more Eastern European war stories or something completely crazy to cleanse the brain.
If this review made you curious, give it a like, follow, share—let’s get more people to see this hidden gem. Дякую за перегляд – see you in the next one!
