Lords of the Deep

I gave my brother 5 bucks to go buy me a used movie because I was unable to go. He came home with "Lords of the Deep". He said he picked it out because I like underwater movies such as "The Abyss", "Leviathan", "Deep Star Six", and "Sphere". I knew I was in trouble when I looked on the credits and found that Roger Corman was the producer. "Lords of the Deep" ended up being so bad that I donated it to the library. What a horrible viewing experience!

Here's a strong contender for the questionable award of most redundant & time-wasting B-movie ever made! I wonder…does Roger Corman even know where his producing funds go? Or does he simply put his signature under the contracts without even reading the synopsis of these lousy Sci-Fi and horror duds? He must have read a little bit about "Lords of the Deep", since the King of the B's plays a minor role as the chief executive of a multinational mining corporation in the year 2020. Around this fine day & age, mankind is exploring the darkest depths of the oceans to create new living environments, because – of course – we careless humans nearly destroyed the earth. The expedition crew led by Captain Dobler made some real progress developing an undersea laboratory, but then they encounter the unknown rulers of the deep blue ocean: large, red-eyed creatures with the ability to influence human thoughts. Or at least something like that, I wasn't following closely. Despite just being 75 minutes long, "Lord of the Deep" manages to be incredibly boring and pointless. The inane dialogs and lame attempts at intrigues between the crew members make this film look like an amateur spoof of claustrophobic Sci-Fi thriller like "The Abyss" and "Alien" but, sadly, all the players take their roles too seriously. The special effects are too miserable for words. The sea-monsters look like fluffy teddy bears instead of menacing creatures and the hypnotizing light-flashes, indicating the monster search contact with the human mind, are headache inducing. Mary Ann Fisher's directing is uninspired and wildly uneven and the majority of the cast has nothing else to do than staring stupidly into the camera. What a totally inept film, avoid at all costs.

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.

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.

I have a great story about the movie. In 1989, I was going to David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Near Lipscomb is 100 Oaks Mall, which at the time had a 99 cent movie theater in one of its strip centers next to the mall.

One Friday night I was hanging with a bunch of friends and we decided to go see a cheap movie. I forget the other show but in theater 1 was Lords of the Deep. It was billed as having the same sfx director as Aliens so we thought it might be good. There were roughly 30 people in the auditorium, including 8 in my group.

Within minutes we realized that we were in for a real gem of a movie. As each minute passed the storyline got more and more ridiculous and the actors looked like they were sleepwalking through the lines fully cognizant that they'd just made a massive career blunder. Within 10 mins. there were the first subdued chuckles from some of the more ridiculous lines and then came snickers, snorts, chortles, and lastly, pure laughter for a supposedly serious Sci-Fi thriller.

After it was over we pledged to try and see the movie again Saturday night. We drove back to campus and told all of our friends. Saturday there were 60 people in the crowd. At the Sunday 9pm showing there were probably 100 people. Monday, the last time I saw it the show was nearly sold out.

If you want a true, blue, so-bad-it-is-good film check out this cinematic calamity at your nearest Blockbuster.