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New 'Spiderhead' clip finds Chris Hemsworth playing with a would-be couple's chemistry, literally

The latest look at Spiderhead is all about the experimentation.

By Matthew Jackson
Chris Hemsworth in Escape from Spiderhead (2022)

Director Joseph Kosinski is having a good year. Right now he's riding high with the world's biggest box office champion, Top Gun: Maverick, but he's not done with 2022 yet. Later this month, Netflix will debut yet another Kosinski film, the sci-fi thriller Spiderhead, and the streamer just dropped a closer look at the trippy film to get viewers excited about what's ahead.

As the first teaser revealed last month, Spiderhead stars Chris Hemsworth as Steve Abnesti, the head of the title prison who runs a very unusual facility. Instead of bars and restraints, Spiderhead is all about freedom and comfort, provided the inmates are willing to participate in Abnesti's various experimental drug trials. Through devices implanted in their backs, the residents of Spiderhead are given drugs that can influence basically any emotion and behavior that Abnesti would like to play with, and as the clip below proves, they work fast.

In the new footage, released today as part of Netflix's Geeked Week, we watch as Abnesti brings Jeff (Miles Teller) and Heather (Tess Haubrich) into an observation room, and basically tries to get them to flirt with each other. Things are understandably awkward at first, but that's what the drugs are for. Watch what happens as Abnesti and his assistant play with Jeff and Heather's chemistry. Literally. 

The clip, when paired with other more sinister footage we've already seen, reminds us that Spiderhead is a place that can make you feel good; it's also a place that can make you go crazy, even violently so. It's interesting to see the kind of playful tone Kosinski is working with here, but what's going to be really intriguing to see is just how far Hemsworth is able to push the mad scientist character at the core of the story. We've seen him play comedy before, and we've seen him get dark, but we've never quite seen him like this, blending those sensibilities into something seemingly designed to show off his range. 

Adapted from the George Saunders story "Escape from Spiderhead" by Deadpool and Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Werneck, and also starring Jurnee Smollett, Spiderhead arrives on Netflix June 17. 

Looking for more sci-fi movies? Head over to Peacock for films like Firestarter, Constantine, Twilight, Creepshow, Resident Evil, and Independence Day.