DeepStar Six (1989)

Waste of time

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Pretty Good

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I never have seen this movie. Grew up with Leviathan. This is a 100% rip off of Hollywood. I give it a 4 only due to Alf's mom.

Due to the hype of James Cameron's blockbuster "The Abyss" in 1989, there was a glut of underwater sci-fi/horror thrillers, all lesser productions (not that "The Abyss" was a great movie, just that it was a top level production)."Deepstar Six" is essentially an underwater version of "Alien" and Star Trek, but not as good. The story revolves around A crew of underwater workers/scientists who accidentally breach a cavern and disturb the creature living there. Havoc ensues. The film was directed by Sean S. Cunningham, known for 1980's "Friday the 13th" and 1983's "Spring Break." "Deepstar Six" is essentially Friday the 13th underwater, but with adults and therefore more sophistication.Although this is a Grade B production in comparison to the Grade A "The Abyss," it's not bad at all as far as actors, sets and F/X go. In other words, the sets are convincing, the no-name actors do a quality job and the special effects are effective. The monster is pretty good, it just lacks the iconic stature of the creatures in "Alien" and "Aliens." Whereas the actors are skilled, the character development is lacking and, as such, they're relatively uninteresting people and therefore largely fail to apprehend the viewer's sympathy. Don't get me wrong, there's only one whiny loser in the bunch, but the rest of 'em come off too bland. Nia Peeples is the best, but probably only because she's such a petite babe, who's inexplicably removed prematurely; stupid! Still, there's just barely enough of her.The first half is relatively ho-hum as the characters are introduced and the underwater setting is established, but the second half won me over to some degree. There's a great scene of someone dying because he or she failed to properly decompress; and the ending, although clichéd, is effective. So, overall it's pretty mediocre, but just good enough to check out.The film runs 105 minutes.GRADE: B-

This is an enjoyable show about an ocean floor mission which uses well-delivered, well-made ships and machinery props. The show tries to be realistic in a successful way. For instance, there is truly a danger from too high an increase of atmospheric pressures under water that will infect the bloodstream and cause a person to literally collapse from not equalizing his inner body pressure with the outside sea pressure. This was used effectively here in the movie. The movie is presented in a mood of suspenseful dread, illuminated by a ray of hope for the crew's survival like many good edge-of-your-seat thriller flicks. The acting showed this intensity okay. It features as one of the members, Snyder, played by Miguel Ferrer, who seems to be disturbed and almost neurotic. He causes mishaps which leads the others to compounded disaster after the monster is known to be lurking somewhere around. There is a violent death of just about everyone and their trapped condition worsens progressively. It seems like the blame for the lost cause of their mission should and was put on Snyder and his actions as being the real detriment to the crew. I think this presents the main monster problem in an effectively scary way. I did feel that some of the scenery underwater was pretty and improved the movie. This film was an adventurous and entertaining show with a cast which included some attractive women although they played not as sex symbols but more influential roles comparable to their male counterparts. Watch this movie for unexpected disaster imposed on a seemingly normal sea quest!

I'm really surprised that this movie doesn't have a higher rating than what it does. It came out around the same time as "The Abyss" & "Levaithan," but I really think it is a good film by itself. I think obviously that "The Abyss" was the best of the three and "Leviathan" the worst, but "DeepStar Six" is sort of like that middle child that really gets ignored. It really blows my mind that "Leviathan" is rated higher than this movie and probably only because it had a bigger budget.There are uniformly good performances throughout this film and decent enough special-effects, though they are rather dated. The music is well composed and it has a fairly believable story, so why the low ratings?