Written with Ian Fried & George Nolfi, the film stars James Badge Dale as DARPA research scientist Mark Clyne, with Max Martini, Emily Mortimer, Clayne Crawford, and Bruce Greenwood in supporting roles.

[5][6] DARPA researcher Mark Clyne is sent to a US military airbase on the outskirts of Chișinău, to consult his created line of hyperspectral imaging goggles issued to US Army Special Forces led by Army General James Orland, who is covertly supporting the Moldovan government in an ongoing civil war against insurgents of the former regime, and to investigate the death of Delta Force operator Sergeant Davis; the goggles used by Davis and several other operators captured an unknown entity that kills almost instantaneously.

The group escapes, but their vehicle are flipped over by a landmine, killing Comstock and forcing them to take shelter in an abandoned factory inhabited by another surviving Utah team member, Chen, and two Moldovan siblings; Sari and Bogdan, whose father died planting iron filings around it to protect them from the entities, known locally as "Aratare".

Using their newly constructed IED's and grenades laced with iron filings, the group race for the abandoned plaza for an alternate extraction point and barely manage to escape, but many troops sent to cover the landing zone, including Bogdan, are killed.

Working overnight with Orland and the surviving military engineers, he constructs ceramic armored suits and makeshift weapons capable of breaking down the condensate entities.

With the apparitions gone, the US and allied Moldovan military continue their work of taking control of the city from the insurgents while the DoD considers reverse engineering the condensate machine for wartime purposes.

[12] Shooting started on August 28, 2014 in various streets and buildings in Budapest, Hungary, relying extensively on practical effects and locations for an authentic, gritty atmosphere.