Up from the Depths

Rubber fish, horrible script, jumbled plot and terrible acting aside this movie was quite enjoyable just for the laugh factor. Meant to be a Jaws type movie, this was just plain bad. Not worth seeing unless you are a fan of B-Movies. If you are a fan though, this movie won't disappoint, all you've come to expect from terrible B-Movies is to be found in large quantities in this one!

Up from the Depths, directed by Charles B. Griffith and "starring" Suzanne Reed and Sam Bottoms - alright I could put any names out there and would get the same recognition. This is one of Roger Corman's New World Picture rip-offs to exploit something that had been successful on screen. This time around we have a Jaws minus credible cast, story, special effects, etc... But this film never really tries taking itself too terribly seriously, and I found it much more in line with another Corman produced film called Piranha. Both films have just enough "comedy" in them to make them almost parodies of the killer fish genre films. Anyway, Up from the Depths is pretty bad. Its weakest point is a terrible script about some rubbery prehistoric fish that we never really get to see too closely attacking tourists at a tropical resort. The script just does not convey any real "threat" nor does it make us take any of the characters or situations all that seriously. Maybe, because the film tries hard at being funny that is why, but some menace is needed to make a film like this work. The actors are not very good either. Sam Bottoms? C'mon. The usual New World Picture format of needless(yet expressively photographed) nudity is here too. I have seen a lot worse films; however, then Up from the Depths. It is an entertaining "bad" film if nothing else. And as a former reviewer noted, this is one of those films that has an awesome poster - a poster that easily out-distances its film in terms of aesthetic quality.

After reading about this film for years in magazines and reference books, I finally managed to track down it down some time ago at a local Blockbusters. I honestly didn't expect it to be good, but I had no idea how truly terrible it would turn out to be. There are a whole bunch of Jaws inspired cash ins out there for your perusal, the original Pirahna being the best, Up From The Depths being the absolute worst. What really gives this film it's claim to infamy is the astonoshingly bad comedy relief that pops up in the last half as all the goofy tourists head out to catch the killer fish. It's so bad that it actualy makes the work of Jim Carey and Adam Sandler look inspired. No mean feat to be sure. The great poster for the film gives you the impression that the creature will be an aquatic dinosaur or sea serpent. No such luck as all it is, is some kind of rare, deep sea fish brought to the upper surface via seismic activity. It's also not very impressive looking and the FX artist who created it regreted (years later in an interview in Fangoria) not having a good enough budget to craft a decent looking creature. One funny thing about the monster fish is that it shares a power that many other type of similar B movie monsters have, namely the ability to sneak right up on people despite being about 20 to 30 feet long. How do they do that? A week before NBC unveiled their terrible adaptation of Peter Benchly's "Beast," a local channel had the bright idea to air Up From The Depths. It's a tough call as to which is worse but I feel that "Up" gets the nod. File it under, "How not to do a Jaws cash in."

This is a nearly completely redone version of Jaws, of course. The monster gets a 1, pretty lame big rubber fish. The script a 2, too much really bad humor that's tried to be passed off as wit. The supporting cast a 3, some are okay some are not, and the boy and girl leads get a 4, they really are not bad and handled their parts in such a grade C film with respect. The nice scenery of a remote Hawaiian island gets a 5 and the all around neat 1970s mishmash decor gets a 7, and not higher because it wasn't planned but was just there to be used. I mean just look at that hotel, with a 1960s angular pointy diner roof and greco-roman columns holding it up!

The price we paid for the success of "Jaws" was a heavy one, with so many other aquatic killer animal features released in the subsequent years. The "Jaws" spoof "Piranha" is one of the better ones, by far. This is one of the lesser ones. It's a crude, ineffective, even boring "thriller" about a prehistoric monster fish released from imprisonment in the sea after an underwater earthquake. It proceeds to feast upon locals and visitors in the area, including patrons of a resort. Ultimately, many expeditions are launched to find and destroy the fishy menace.

It's hard to care much about this trite story, especially when the presentation, and characters, are so lacking in interesting features. Granted, it does get a shade more amusing once the frequency of fish attacks increases. Special effects are as crude as you could imagine - the more you see of the predator, the more unconvincing and laughable it looks. Attack scenes feature a lot of fake blood in the water, and splashing, but choppy editing where you really don't see very much. Voyeurs will appreciate the amount of female flesh displayed.

Fortunately, the atmosphere and flavor of the location (although set in Hawaii, it was shot in the Philippines) help to make it tolerable. Unfortunately, a lot of the acting is incredibly amateurish. Susanne Reed ('Code R') is a gorgeous, sexy leading lady, but the less said about her performance, the better. However, she's not the worst offender. That dishonor belongs to Kedric Wolfe ("Forbidden Zone"), who's utterly annoying as the high strung resort manager. Familiar faces Sam Bottoms ("Apocalypse Now"), as the young hero, and Virgil Frye ("Revenge of the Ninja"), as his scruffy, surly uncle, do what they can; Frye tends to steal the show.

Only recommended to people who just CAN'T get enough of this genre.

Four out of 10.