Ever wanted to watch a movie about a bunch of guys in boat doing absolutely nothing for an hour and a half? Just admit it, we all have. Tonino Ricci (director of Night of the Sharks and Days of Hell) brings us what we've always yearned for in the form of Encounters in the Deep! It's kind of some sort of rip-off of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, set on the sea (Tonino is a bit obsessed with the sea), without the special effects, but with the added bonus of not having Richard whats-his-face in it. Boats and such like keep going missing in the Bermuda Triangle, and once a rich guy's daughter goes missing, it's up to our heroes to head out to the sea and find her! Well, they do a lot of swimming at least. And I suppose they do sort of find her, but not after dodging sharks and dodgy lights set to bizarre moogs outbursts. And
one of them turns a bit strange, which riles their dog
and erm
there's an old man
and
um
Look, this is THE most uneventful Italian film I've ever sat through. Apart from the various boat disappearances at the beginning of the film (a toy boat in a tub, no less), nothing of any consequence happens until the last ten minutes, and even then you'll be thinking 'is that it?'. The film does have a slight naive charm and the effects are pretty funny, but it's lacking in any elements that make for a great Italian genre movie (no action, no gore, no nudity, no style). Tonino Ricci, sadly, doesn't do anything here but waste time. If you want to see something decent (i.e hilarious) from him, watch his action movie Days of Hell.
Unnervingly, this isn't the worst Italian movie I've watched That would have to be War of the Robots, which was so bad it actually caused me physical pain.
