Lords of the Deep

In the future, the government has established colonies on the bottom of the ocean to contend with the threats of global warming. Priscilla Barnes plays a scientist who becomes dazzled by what discoveries she makes living underwater.

This is dull, dull, dull. There is no action, no violence or nudity, and Roger Corman has a cameo. The special effects are passable, but some of this stuff is lifted from past Corman flicks, which ads to the cheapness. Mostly, the characters just talk a lot, and argue.

This is no way to spend 79 minutes, unless you like looking in at fake aquariums.

The main thing I took from this movie was that I want the horrible jumpsuit that they all wear, it's so 80s yet also timeless. The movie was bizarre yet somehow boring. The energy from the cast was as if they were all acting in different movies. The commander was in a Shakespeare play for some reason and all the other men looked exactly the same and I was lost honestly. The only way I could get around this was by giving them all stargate character names since the one guy is called jack O'Neill. It's a good film to make fun of

I appreciate so much that this 1989 Roger Corman production in no small part demonstrates film-making sensibilities and production values of no later than the 1960s. Imagine if 'SeaQuest DSV' was a contemporary of the original 'Star Trek,' and you start to get a good sense of what's going on here. Despite obvious poor reception to the picture, I don't actually think it's half as bad as everyone makes it out to be: there's a distinct difference between a low-budget, low-grade feature with which people apparently refuse to engage on its chosen level, and a feature that's so poorly written or made as to demand abject vilification. 'Lords of the deep,' I believe, falls neatly into the former category, and not the latter. Yes, of course it's far from a major blockbuster, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun in its own right!

Recognizing the nature of this little flick, I think it's reasonably well made for what it is. I think the crew put in good work all around - production design, art direction, effects (including the creatures), and even the sometimes excitable editing and over the top cinematography. Mary Ann Fisher's direction seems perfectly competent to me in realizing Howard R. Cohen and Daryl Haney's screenplay, which of anything here is the sticking point for me. The story is fine in the broad strokes, even as it plays in some familiar territory. The scene writing is a little more thorny, I think, especially in those moments of '2001'-style "far-out" tripping. Such moments are overindulgent, and moreover require "spaced-out" acting and direction that I think constitute the weakest parts of the picture. Elsewhere, such as leading into the second half, scenes as written manifest some slothfulness in the pacing that bogs down the experience in some measure. And more than anything else, I think 'Lords of the deep' quite struggles to find just the right tone at any point, oscillating between "it's inspiring!" and "it's horrifying!" and back again, or sometimes just failing to carry much of a mood at all. If Fisher's contribution is to be condemned for anything, then maybe that's it - the writing fails to deliver a major spark, but so does her direction.

With all this in mind, the cast make what they can of what they are given. None of the acting makes any special impression; if anything, like the lacking immediacy of the film overall, the performances are just kind of flat. Again, however: this isn't to say that the movie isn't enjoyable. It's flawed, but modestly interesting and entertaining even such as it is. All the right ideas were here as far as I'm concerned - imagination, and intent, and skill - only, the result is less than vibrant, at best equal to the sum of its parts but not greater, and possibly lesser. When all is said and done I can honestly say that I like 'Lords of the deep,' and I'm not entirely sure why it's been the subject of such denigration over the past 30 years. In my mind the worst that can really be said is that it fails to evoke earnest thrills or otherwise active responses, but seeing as how the same is true of many more robustly financed genre flicks, well, I can't specifically blame this title. All told there's maybe no need to go out of your way for this, but if you happen to come across it, I think 'Lords of the deep' is a fairly good time, and worth checking out.

It's the quickest cash-in on a popular sub-genre you'll ever see, appearing less than a year following "Leviathan", "The Abyss" and "Deepstar Six", starring the once-attractive Priscilla Barnes as a scientist aboard a deep-sea station who discovers a sinister plot to overcome the occupants of the expedition by a superior alien race via mind control.

Bradford Dillman plays the mothership's long-suffering skipper on his last voyage before a well-earned retirement, and among the otherwise undistinguished cast is John Lafayette as the commander of a satellite shuttle before his career accelerated culminating in back-to-back Tom Clancy inspired films ("Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger").

Imagine "Alien" meets "The Abyss" while channelling "The Thing" on a tenth of the budget, and in half the time and you're somewhere in the vicinity of "Lords of the Deep". Claustrophobic with clunky cardboard sets (the eponymous creatures are truly absurd), limited (though sometimes gory) special effects (some of which is also blatant plagiarism) and astonishingly overwrought acting, it's tremendously bad, but if you're a fan of these types of C-grade rip-offs, and especially those conceived by the great Roger Corman, then it should nevertheless be enjoyable.

I maintain that the films in the preemptive strike against The Abyss's freshness are all more entertaining than James Cameron's odiously idealistic and cliché-ridden special effects bonanza of the same year. I can't stress enough, however, that Michael Biehn's performance as Coffi is the best performance out of the many films of this nature released that year.

LORDS OF THE DEEP is no exception despite the hindrances of its low production value. Unlike the other fairly rushed efforts it deals with peaceful aliens, much like THE ABYSS, and the problems come from its villain, played very well by Bradford Dillman. It deals with environmental issues and doesn't do it with the same nasty insubordinate tone of James Cameron's disgustingly evil ideas in the propaganda that is THE ABYSS.

The aliens themselves are a treat when you see them and they're quite cool to look at.

The plot itself, especially the actions of Dillman's villain, is absolutely serviceable, as is the music.

I wouldn't rate it as good as LEVIATHAN, DEEPSTAR SIX, or even THE RIFT, because it doesn't have much re-watchability, owing to the lack of special effects, but it's fine for chilling out to.