Set in the near future, Hell or Tidewater is a thrill a minute underwater action/sci-fi film told through the eyes of Lt. Cmdr. Allan Parker, a 40 something Sea Dog with a chip on his shoulder. The action surrounds the controversial Canadian energy industry and their longing to bring a pipeline to Tidewater. In Hell or Tidewater, this long-time dream has come true but there’s a twist; once the oil makes it to the shores of BC, it is not being transported by traditional tankers but by giant submarines called S.U.L.C.C.s or Submersible Ultra Large Crude Carriers. Things start to get interesting when a camera crew shows up to film an episode of Humongous Boats and encounter more than just the run of the mill giant ship overview they were hoping to film. Turns out the Russians view the Canadian enterprise as a threat to their energy hegemony in the east and they dispatch their submarine fleet to reign in the Canadians. Not only that but they have infected the mostly automated S.U.L.C.C.’s Artificial Intelligence robots with a virus called “Subroutine Menshevik” making them malfunction and go completely rogue.