Greg Evigan (Hoboken Hollow, House of the Damned), Nancy Everhard (Urban legends – Bloody Mary, Demonstone) and Miguel Ferrer (Night Flyer, The Stand, Robocop) head up a made-for-TV cast in this by the numbers underwater creature feature from director Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th, The Last House on the Left, House).
A group of military types in an underwater sea base are trying to position nuclear silos on the seabed when part of the ground they are working on gives way into a huge underwater cavern that hasn’t been opened since the time of the dinosaurs. Oh, and something huge and hungry swims out and makes for the nearest tasty humans…
Made at the same time as the more enjoyable Leviathan to cash in on the buzz surrounding The Abyss, this movie surfaced for only a short time before sinking back into the watery depths of obscurity (no more sea jokes, honest), which is a shame as this is actually a little gem of a creature feature that can hold its head above water (okay, just that one) with the best of them.
One thing I really enjoyed about this film was Miguel Ferrers thick-as-pigshit character who basically fucks up everything for everyone. His name is ‘Snyder’ in the film, quite apt really because in Glasgow the word ‘Snyder’ basically means ‘shite’; i.e. ‘that mobile phone you have is a fucking Snyder’. He basically goes off and gets his head popped in a nasty decompression scene as the viewer goes ‘YAY!’.
If anyone deserves to die in such a horrific manner it’s this asshole, trust me. Let’s go through some of his more costly fuck-ups one at a time:
- Snyder delays relaying a message because he’s a slow asshole, which causes the holdup in reaching and possibly saving crewman Burciaga in the process, who dies. Well done.
- Snyder detonates the nuclear bombs rather than disarming them, nearly destroying the entire base and trapping everyone on board at the mercy of the monster. He says it’s the computers’ fault and not his, and that he’s just following protocol. What a cunt…well done.
- Snyder ‘accidentally’ kills Dr. Gelder by stabbing him in the back with a harpoon gun whilst hunting the creature. He then runs away crying like a big girl, leaving his crewmates to fend for themselves. So now he’s not only a cunt, but he’s a coward, too. Well done.
- Snyder ignores the clear warnings about decompression and jumps ship before the escape pod is fully ready, trapping the remaining survivors onboard with no way of getting to the surface and killing himself in the process. Cunt. Coward. Idiot. Well done.
At last, Snyder is removed from the gene pool and is unable to return to the surface to possibly destroy the world in a chain-reaction of complete incompetence.
Credit where credit is due though; his character may be a total wanker, but Miguel Ferrer (as usual) steals every scene he’s in and is clearly a rung above everyone else in the acting ladder in this one. With that said, however, the story is not too bad. The monster is suitably all teeth and bullet proof skin, and the crew is dispatched with total disregard to the usual slasher/creature feature pecking order so some of the deaths are actually kind of surprising when they come.
Bad points:
- Plot holes bigger than Mick Jagger’s mouth - like how in fucking god’s name does a monster that big hide in four feet of water when it gets inside the base?
- A terrible music score that sounds more like a television drama than a horror.
- Clichés come so thick and fast that at points during the movie I thought to myself, ‘Have I seen this film before?’. I hadn’t; I’ve just seen lots of better movies that this one is trying to emulate.
All in all, I would say this one is definitely worth a watch.
Hell, it’s even worth a viewing just to seethe with hatred at the stupidity that is Snyder…
OFFICIAL REVIEW
Far below the surface of the sea, the crew of Deep Star Six is on a mission to establish a navy base on the ocean floor–until they unwittingly disturb an undersea monster. Inspired by classic 1950s B-monster movies and directed by Sean S. Cunningham (director of the original Friday the 13th), Deep Star Six is a watery nod to the man versus monster genre.
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This post is tagged accidental death, bitten in half, Creature Feature, miguel ferrer, Monster, ocean horror, sea creature, underwater
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