FAQ

The creature in the movie was a by-product of bad Russian genetic engineering in their attempts to make a human-fish hybrid fully adapted to underwater marine life. Russian scientists slipped marine-based mutagens into the drinks of the crew of the Leviathan which cost them their lives and the ship somehow escaped from the Baltic Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean. It is speculated that the Soviet government decided to send a navy destroyer out after the Leviathan which then somehow caught up to and sank the ship with torpedoes to try to stop the creature from spreading to anyone else. The creature itself is made up of several marine life forms and the most visible of its makeup is octopus, eel, lamprey, and viper fish. While physically strong and able to adapt to the harsh pressures of the deep ocean, the creature itself needs blood for nutrition in order to survive. The creature doesn't eat or kill any of its victims. It assimilates their bodies into a single entity which causes the creature to grow larger. Victims from the mutation process retain only their minds; their bodies and intelligence will become part of the monster itself.