Released: January 1989
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Rated R
Run Time: 99 Minutes
Distributor: StudioCanal/TriStar Pictures/Paramount/Kino Lorber Studio Classics(Blu-Ray)
Genre: Science Fiction/Horror
Cast:
Taurean Blacque: Laidlaw
Nancy Everhard: Joyce Collins
Greg Evigan: McBride
Miguel Ferrer: Snyder
Nia Peeples: Scarpelli
Matt McCoy: Richardson
Cindy Pickett: Diane Norris
Marius Weyers: Van Gelder
Elya Baskin: Burciaga
Thom Bray: Hodges
Ronn Carroll: Osborne
If someone were to ask me what the best decade in film was, I would argue that it would the 80s. Don’t get me wrong, the 70s gave us some of the greatest films of all time and one of those films changed the industry forever: Star Wars. But when it comes to science fiction, horror, fantasy, and action movies: The 8th decade of the 20th century runs away with it. Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Terminator, Predator, Nightmare on Elm Street, Willow, Police Story, The Road Warrior. I could go on and on about the number of outstanding movies that came out during that decade. Why? Newer techniques were being developed, and new up-and-coming film-makers like Peter Jackson and James Cameron were really beginning to make their mark. Not only that, CGI had just barely begun to exist, so everything had to be done in front of the camera: Stunts, miniatures, and other visual effects. This was the decade in which things were truly beginning to change. Budgets for films began to explode and gave us bigger movies, and more risks were being taken. Towards the end of the decade, there were a number of “underwater” movies that were in production: The Abyss, Leviathan, and Deep Star Six. The big one was obviously The Abyss because it was being directed by James Cameron, and it was more of an underwater-adventure film. However, Leviathan and Deep Star Six were strictly on the horror side of science fiction. Earlier this week, Kino Lorber Studio Classics released Deep Star Six for the first on Blu-Ray, and it is this film that I am reviewing for you ladies and gents this fine evening.
In the future, the United States has established a top-secret base at the bottom of the ocean. Populated by a handful of scientists and engineers, the base is a staging ground from which they have to secure a number of nuclear missiles to prove to the US Navy that a permanent colony can exist at that depth. During the last week of their deployment, the good folks led by Captain Laidlaw have run into a bit of a snag. The area where they plan to put the missile sled has a massive cavern underneath it. Against the protests of the young Scarpelli, the head scientist, Van Gelder orders that the cavern be collapsed to place the missiles. When they do, they unwittingly unleash something large that begins to wreak havoc on the crew of Deep Star Six. I’m going to say it: The story is silly as hell. The story is very similar to the ones in Leviathan and other similar films: People exploring parts of the planet/galaxy that were not meant to be explored by humans end up encountering something that sees them as a midnight snack. The recently released Underwater is exactly the same kind of movie. How well the story works, depends on who is at the helm and how well it’s done. Deep Star Six was directed by Sean S. Cunningham of Friday The 13th fame and written by Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller. For the kind of movie that it is, Deep Star Six still manages to work over 30 years after it’s initial release.
In terms of acting, everybody here does a great job, despite the fact that most of the characters are fairly two-dimensional. Greg Evigan is the every-man blue-collar worker McBride while Nancy Everhard is the trying-not-to-be-the-damsel-in-distress Collins, who also happens to be McBride’s love interest. Matt McCoy plays Richardson, the resident jokester. Marius Weyers plays Van Gelder, the guy that designed the station while Taurean Blacque plays the tough-but-fair-and-likable Laidlaw. Everyone is really good, but the real stand-out is Snyder, played by the late, great Miguel Ferrer. Miguel was such a fantastic actor that he gives Snyder a depth and range that the character doesn’t really deserve. Yet, when the character is put in a very stressful situation, he’s almost already at the breaking point, and a lot of people could relate to that. Ferrer plays the character like he’s wound up to the point he’s going to snap, which he eventually does, constantly making the wrong decisions. He actually comes across like a real human being, and I have to give Miguel Ferrer credit for making a weasel like Snyder seem relatable. Yeah, the characters make some dumb decisions, but what would you do in the event you come across a giant undersea scorpion?
Let’s talk about that monster and some of the effects here. For visual effects, there’s a lot of miniature work here. It’s even more evident when you watch the film in high-definition. This was the late 80s, so CGI really wasn’t an option, and considering that Deep Star Six was a low-budget movie at the time, they could only do so much. What really sells some of that was how they shot dry-for-wet for certain exterior shots. They kind of had to, so people could see what was going on, but they added particles and other elements to make it look like it was underwater. It’s basic stuff, but it’s effective. Some of the matte paintings are incredible, like the exterior of the main base. It’s pretty cool. The creature itself doesn’t show up until about an hour into the movie when everything else is going wrong for the crew. When it shows up, it makes an impression. The creature is based on an extinct arthropod called the eurypterid. Basically, it’s an ancient sea scorpion. Having one of those suckers show up suddenly would be pretty terrifying. It was done practically and on set. It’s remarkable how cool this thing is. But it does bring up an issue that I have with the sets and overall design of the film. I’ll get to that in a moment. The make-up effects and gore were handled by Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero who would go on to form their own effects company called the KNB Effects Group. This was one of their earlier efforts, and it’s pretty good.
I was watching the special features on the Blu-Ray for this film and they brought up a lot of interesting things. There’s a lot of inconsistencies here and most of it has to do with the size of the creature and how it moves through the base. For a creature that size, hiding in a bay that is small as Deep Star Six is damn near impossible, especially given the amount of water that was in the bay. Not only that, the creature managed to not only get out of that bay but it also managed to find its way through the command center and fit through the med bay door. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for a bit, but there are some things that just aren’t physically possible. Not only that, the monster survives a nuclear explosion. How do you figure that one out? Obviously some film-trickery was used to try and convince the audience that it’s possible. This is where the writing kind of takes a nose-dive. There’s a lot of gaps in logic in how the characters behave and in how certain situations just happen. Snyder constantly screwing up? Once, maybe twice, I would be okay with, but almost every single time? To be fair, the writing for this movie occurred during a writer’s strike during the late 80s. As a result the script wasn’t complete when they started shooting. Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller pretty much tear this thing apart in their commentary that they did for the film. While it was highly amusing, it definitely revealed a lot of issues that this film had in getting made, especially when it came to the script and the writing. The fact that the film still manages to be tense and entertaining is a testament to Sean S. Cunningham’s talents as a director and the performances of the cast. The visual effects and creature designs were also really good, considering the various problems. Ultimately, I think the film still holds up despite its issues and remains one of the more entertaining creature features from the 80s.
I’ve had Deep Star Six on DVD for years. I bought it used at GameStop when they sold used movies. Sadly, the visual quality of the film was god-awful in a cheap-looking 4:3 format. It looked like they had just ripped it from the VHS tape and added a menu to it. No special features or anything. Thankfully, Kino Lorber Studio Classics released the Blu-Ray edition of this film earlier this week. Say what you will about the film itself, Kino Lorber has gone above and beyond with their special features. The film comes in a 2.35:1 widescreen format, which is about normal for widescreen. For special features, we have two audio commentaries, one with Sean S. Cunningham and Visual Effects Supervisor James Isaac. The second and the best commentary is with screenwriters Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller who pull no punches with the film. There is also an isolated score selection and audio interview with Harry Manfredini, the film’s composer. From The Deep has interviews with Creature Effects and Special Make-up Designer Mark Shostrom, Creature Supervisor Greg Nicotero and Creature Artist Robert Kurtzman. The Survivors includes all-new interviews with Nancy Everhard and Greg Evigan. Water Damage is an interview with the film’s stunt co-ordinator Kane Hodder. The disc also includes vintage interview clips with the cast and crew as well as the original EPK(electronic press kit), behind-the-scenes footage, an image gallery and the film’s original teaser and theatrical trailers. As a bonus, the disc also includes a trailer for Deep Rising, also released by Kino Lorber. It’s a really solid offering for a movie that wasn’t the biggest or most-liked when it was released. Thankfully, I think that time has treated the film a bit more fairly. If you’re a fan of Deep Star Six, you need to pick this up. It’s worth going in your collection. I honestly would still recommend the film as pretty good way to spend 99 minutes of your time.
My Final Recommendation: Stop trying to explore/exploit the bottom of the ocean! It never ends well.
Movie: 8/10
Blu-Ray: 9.5/10