Deepstar Six (1989) Review:

The year of 1989 was a strange time. For some reason, the craze was all about underwater horror creature features. As to why that was a thing, it’s hard to say if anyone actually has the answer. It just so happened that's how things fell in place. Right from the very beginning as a matter of fact, in the month of January. The film to start off the conga line of similarities was this movie. Unfortunately, when it was released many were not impressed and the reviews were quite poor. However, upon revisiting it, it's a little difficult to see why it deserved all the disdain. It is by no means perfect, but it's also not horrible either. Now if this was the last film to be released, I think the bad reviews could be tied to fatigue of the genre,...but this literally started the whole thing.

McCoy, Peeples, Pickett & Blacque

The story takes place in the far depths of the ocean, where a group of colleagues are finishing out their months long shift installing nuclear warheads. Lead by Van Gelder (Marius Weyers) and Laidlaw (Taurean Blacque), the two have their team lay the groundwork over one rift on the ocean floor before finishing. Unfortunately for them, they awake something dangerous lurking below. Written by Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller, the problem with this feature is the premise in general and the clichés that come with it. As soon as viewers are introduced to the main cast of actors, it is easily identifiable as to who will survive and who won't. It's troubling when a decent production and cast is bogged down with predictable execution.

The film was directed by Sean S. Cunningham, the same director who started the Friday the 13th (1980) franchise. Geof Miller would later write with Lewis Abernathy directing House IV (1992). Co-starring with Weyers and Blacque are Joyce Collins (Nancy Everhard) and McBride (Greg Evigan) as a close couple who have grown on each other since they began their assignment. Scarpelli (Nia Peeples) and Richardson (Matt McCoy) are also a casual couple. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Snyder (Miguel Ferrer), Diane Norris (Cindy Pickett), Burciaga (Elya Baskin), Hodges (Thom Bray) and Osborne (Ronn Carroll). Thankfully the characters are interesting to watch and do have distinguishable personalities to boot.

The horror aspect to this film was fairly credible too. While the cast is not filled with A list actors, that doesn't mean you can't have fun with the rest of the film. The special effects depicted here are very much practical. With Greg Nicotero credited as creature supervisor, the sea monster itself is very much a sight to see. Not only that but there are miniatures used as well for various scenes, which is all the more credible. The gore itself also very much visible. The amount of bloodshed here is more than Sean S. Cunningham's first film. Even the underwater scenes look very much real, even though they were probably shot on a dry-wet set.

"Open wideeeee"

The cinematography also helps with the look of the movie. Shot by Mac Ahlberg, the same director of photography for Hell Night (1981), Re-Animator (1985), House (1985), House II: The Second Story (1987), Robot Jox (1989) and even Oscar (1991), the camera movements are fluid and capture much of the surroundings our story takes place in. Whether it be underwater or in the containment vessel. Lastly, the film score composed by Harry Manfredini was quite a joy to listen to. Usually, Manfredini's score are a lot cheaper in sound, but this time he sounds like he has a full orchestra at his disposal and it sounds wonderful. The film comes with its own motif and everything.

Sadly, the overall plot and execution of the story is very much been there, done that. It's very cliché. Surprisingly, this doesn't stop the film from being entertaining. The actors make their characters interesting. The camerawork and special effects look very believable. And the music by Manfredini stands out from many other works in the past.

Points Earned --> 7:10