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.

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.

Pathetically poor production from Roger Corman and directed by Mary Ann Fisher about sometime in the future when more habitable living space is needed - so a company is trying to mine the depths of the oceans as a future home for mankind. We get to look in on the daily lives of a small group of scientists led by Bradford Dillman as they find another living form hitherto unknown to man. The plot pretext doesn't sound all that bad, but you are in store for a real "treat" as we get nowhere fast with the plot, some inane dialog, some incredibly poor special effects, a pace that would make the tortoise bored, and acting from a paper bag by Dillman and even worse pretty Priscella Barnes trying to convince the audience and the camera that she can act dramatically. There are a couple scenes, where Priscella has just witnessed a killing or heard of one, and she still looks like she smiles throughout the whole proceedings. But worst of all - this film is just plain boring. Nothing of any real note happens, and it has some ludicrous end to try and wrap it all up.

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.

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.