Deep Star Six
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Movie Reviews of Deep Star Six
Movie Review: Deep Down Drama!
Summary: 5 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I watched it every time I could catch it on TV. Now I don't have to wait, I can view it anytime I like! The movie has plenty of action and deep water thrills, I highly recommend it if you like this type of feature! The characters are memorable as well as the under water scenes so purchase it, and sit back and enjoy!Movie Review: Deep Star Six
Summary: 5 Stars
Good movie if you can appreciate its time. It holds nothing to these new space age special effects horror movies. I love the horror movies of the 80's and early 90's and Deep Star Six is one of my favorites.Movie Review: Deep Star Six
Summary: 5 Stars
A very good science fiction movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat.Movie Review: shows signs of age, but still an entertaining undersea monster tale . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
Although some of the special effects have not aged too well, DeepStar Six (1989) is a still a solidly entertaining sea monster movie, that unfolds like classic science fiction from the 50's, as an unknown creature is released from an undersea cavern. Directed by Sean S. Cunningham (Friday The 13th, A Stranger Is Watching), and co-executive produced by Mario Kassar (Terminator 2, Cliffhanger), the film has pretty good production values.
DeepStar Six is a government run underwater facility, whose unlikely task is to locate a suitable site for a missile platform. The craft Seacat is ordered by to set off an explosive charge to prepare a prospective site for use. The explosion releases an unknown creature, from a cavern below. The creature is attracted to light, and extremely fast, and quickly takes out Seacat. The remote station Seatrack is the next victim, and is in danger of falling off a shelf, after being struck repeatedly by the creature. Mini-sub DSRV2 links up to Seatrack, and manages to rescue survivors, just before it topples from the shelf. Returning to DeepStar Six, the remaining crew regroups and is preparing to depart for the surface, when yet another catastrophe strikes, and they finally come face to face with the monster.
There are some far- fetched aspects, but the overall story holds together fairly well, and moves along briskly. One result of keeping the monster so completely under wraps, is that DeepStar Six seems more like a disaster movie, where bad things just keep happening, rather than a true monster movie. There isn't anything solid for the audience to fear, so is difficult for any level of suspense to build up.
The underwater exteriors and shots featuring models, probably weren't that impressive when the film was originally released, and now looking severely dated, are something of a distraction. Fortunately the interior sets are more modern and realistic, although the design of the underwater facilities are extremely prone to flash flooding. When the monster finally appears, it looks like something from an Irwin Allen production. Ugly, and not too mobile, it's hard to imagine that this creature is capable of great speed. The film seems to make the most out of the beast's brief appearances.
The cast may not have any big stars, but even those in minor roles do a very good job here. We get a quick impression of the characters in everyday life, before they are plunged into crisis. Their interaction and the dialog seems mostly believable, and not too clichéd. Captain Laidlaw (Taurean Blacque) is in charge of the operation, Dr. Van Gelder (Marius Weyers) the expert on underwater facilities and missile, and Dr. Norris (Cindy Pickett) the medical officer. Also in the crew are Scarpelli (Nia Peeples), Jim Richardson (Matt McCoy), Snyder (Miguel Ferrer), Burciaga (Elya Baskin), McBride (Greg Evigan) and Joyce Collins (Nancy Everhard).
Greg Evigan, is still mostly known for the TV series BJ and the Bear, is pretty good here as McBride, one of the crew forced to assume leadership. McBride is romantically involved with Joyce Collins, who similarly has to step it up. Nia Peeples as Scarpelli, provides words of caution and background information, before the disaster strikes. When put to the test, the crew functions and adapts fairly well under pressure (with one exception). Miguel Ferrer steals much of the spotlight as Snyder, a tech in a key position, who gradually falls completely apart. Between setting off an explosion that critically damages the station, to accidentally killing a colleague, to totally freaking out, it is just a really bad day for Snyder.
Although some of the special effects are weak, and the logic flawed, DeepStar Six is still a pretty entertaining undersea adventure. The monster isn't a major visual factor until near the end, but the tightly written script, and crisply executed action sequences, keeps things interesting until you get there.
Movie Review: Not particularly impressive.
Summary: 4 Stars
I mostly bought this film (in R2, though, since that release is in widescreen and with a commentary) because I liked "Leviathan" a lot, and the parallels between the two were obvious... unfortunately, "Deep Star..." proved quite inferior. It opened well enough and, for a while, actually managed to be atmospheric, suspenseful and convincing (even the low-budget sets and sub models looked realistic). Unfortunately, literally the minute the creature was shown (which happened surprisingly quickly, in a seen-it-coming-for-a-mile "shock" scene), the film tumbled down rapidly, turning into a dull, predictable schlock flick... rather like a slasher movie under the sea, albeit with a huge (and *very* cheap-looking) rubber crab (I'm not revealing any mystery here - the "identity" of the creature is even stated on the cover) instead of Sean Cunningham's most famous icon, Jason. It's a shame, really, since the film obviously had much potential... Anyway, keep in mind that the R1 release is much worse than R2, as it's in full screen and seems to lack the extras, such as the commentary. (In fact, the presence of those features and the low price of the R2 release are the reasons why I'm giving the film 4 stars instead of 3 or lower...)