I read "Roadside Picnic" which is the Soviet sci-fi novel on which the movie is based. That has to be one of the bleakest most depressed sci-fi books of all time. It's up there with "A World Made by Hand" or "The Road" in terms of epic bleakness. It's weird that there is a literary style dedicated to exploring profund sadness and depression. It seems that somehow sadness has become obsolete in our society even though the statistics show that suicide rates have been rising sreadily since 2000.
— Stalker
(from the movie Stalker by Tarkovski. A stalker is a guide that leads men to a place where their innermost dreams are fulfilled)