After I did the post on The Relic yesterday, I just had to look up another brainless monster film for today’s post. Something about watching senseless monster films just calls to something in my movie watching habits to shut down and enjoy absurdity in the most graphic way possible. Deep Rising, surprisingly sporting a decent cast of “that guy” actors, is a cross between Aliens, heist movies, horror, action, Poseidon Adventure, and every Sy-Fy Original movie out there. It’s a beautiful mish mash of genres that delivers the monster gratification along with the wonderful cheesiness of a high seas monster caper.
On the maiden voyage of the luxury liner Argonautica, pickpocket Trillian (Famke Janssen) is caught stealing jewels and locked up. After the ship’s communication system is infected with a virus, the ship collides with a massive underwater object. When John Finnegan (Treat Williams) and others board the Argonautica, they are surrounded by death. Survivors Trillian, builder Simon Canton (Anthony Heald), and others talk of sea monsters, but Hanover (Wes Studi) doesn’t believe them — until the fanged, squid-like creature (designed by Rob Bottin) extends its huge tentacles and makes its presence known to all. Filmed in Vancouver and the northern Pacific under the working title Tentacles. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
Oh Stephen Somers, I got to hand to this director since he makes some awesomely bad movies. I mean G.I. Joe and Van Helsing were glorious bad, but they fall into that category of so bad it’s good. Deep Rising isn’t a bad movie, it’s an awesome movie. There is nothing bad about this since it knows exactly what it is and just goes for it. Gigantic Sea Monster with spike tentacles that are also somewhat sentient slowly eating and digesting people it captures, I am so there. A movie set on a enormous cruise liner that is desolate and filled with perils at every turn…excellent. Watching a cast of set character types and Treat Williams fighting off this monstrous menace…sold! There is nothing bad about this movie.
Deep Rising is the sort of fun, Saturday drive-in movie that you watch with a beer in both hands and your friends crowding around adding their little bits of commentary to the movie. It doesn’t force you to pay attention to the plot or even logistics as to how this monster and it’s tentacles can move through the ship with unprecedented speed and fluidity. Seriously, the tentacles might as well have been their own separate being since they can move through corridors and rooms as if it isn’t attached to anything. I am not a marine biologist, so I am not certain how this is possible. Anyways, the movie offers up some awesome monster kills such as full blown digestion, tentacle crushing and pulling victims through the smallest openings in the world. Of course the “heroes” aren’t unarmed, they get miniature Gatling guns to carry around and dispense sweet monster killing justice.
I defy anyone to watch this movie and not find something to love about it. It’s not high art folks, it’s a damn monster movie set on a cruise ship with relatively one-dimensional characters that shoot sentient tentacles in enclosed spaces. It’s like mixing Jaws and Aliens together and setting it on the Titanic. It’s a great little recipe and absurdity that I can appreciate without having to dive into the plot line at all. I love this movie for what it is and I kind of wish that they made a sequel to this after the ending of the film hinted at something cool in the King Kong sense. The action is fun to watch and the monster is amazing and creepy to look at. For monster film fans, this is a must see movie. For those horror fans looking for enticing kills and gory violence, Deep Rising doesn’t skip on any of that. It’s just a highly polished B-Movie Matinee that you can sit down, watch and enjoy.