Alien from the Deep (1989)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Oh, how I loved this movie. It is filled to bursting with everything you could want from Margheritti, and then some! Lots of exploding miniatures, plenty of running through the jungle, and a heroine who keeps finding ways to lose her pants. The real charm of the movie is trying to count the myriad other films it is trying to rip off. Obvious nods to ALIENS abound, (flamethrowers,a battle with a towering monster and a big yellow vehicle), with plenty of allusions to the first ALIEN thrown in for good measure (building the weapons, the chamber filled with hanging chains). Amusingly the first hour seems to be a curious mishmash of either THE CHINA SYNDROME or SILKWOOD with, of all things, ROMANCING THE STONE!!!! It is all daffily endearing.

Antonio Margheriti still is one of my favorite Italian directors (thanks to his 70's & 80's films), but the mix he presents us with "Alien From The Deep", he has done before and much better already. "Killer Fish" mixes a heist movie while cashing in on Joe Dante's "Piranha". With "Hunters of the Golden Cobra" he gave us a hero with James Bond allures in a film reminiscent of an Indiana Jones adventure. In a way, "Aliens From The Deep" fits in perfectly with all other blends of Margheriti entertainment. It's not on par with the films it borrows from, but it tries to redeem itself by going over the top a little further.So what kind of blend does Margheriti present us this time? Obviously, the Italian title "Alien Degli Abissi" (which roughly translates to "Alien Of The Abyss") tries to cash in on James Cameron's 1989 hit "The Abyss". But that's where the comparison ends. Most of the film can be categorized as some type of 'adventure on a tropical island' film. Some military/governmental facility is dumping toxic waste into the earth. Some noble people try to expose this and ultimately stop them. Some action & some shooting. Fair enough.Now what's with the alien-aspect of this film? Well, we have to wait a good 50 minutes for it to show itself, and it's not really an alien, but some mutant giant monster (basically formed by toxic waste, creating a symbiosis of organic material & scrap metal – I know, that sounds way too smart for a movie of this type) emerging from the bowels of the earth. It somewhat looks like a black giant crab-robot monster of sorts. It just gets thrown into the movie's third act so they could rip off the climax of Cameron's "Aliens". Remember Ripley fighting the mother-alien in that yellow robotic worker-unit? Well, it's here too, only it's some type of bulldozer.So "Alien Degli Abissi" is just entertaining Margheriti nonsense (featuring yet again fun miniature effects) and nothing more. It's sub-par, as to be expected, but thankfully it's not boring. Oh, and it has Charles Napier running around in it, mainly behind computers. Other than that, he seems to have little else to do.Good Badness? Yes, fair enough fun & inept action/adventure/monster fodder. 4/10 and 6/10.

...If compared to "Miami Golem","Alien 2 on Earth" and many other fanta-horror flicks from US and Europe.Dawson mixed with a certain success the war cliché with the alien cliché. More and more he threw in some environmentalist morals, as he did in Indio I and II.And all three aren't bad at all.Great shoot-outs,despite they are often useless as "Predator" 's ones.The Alien is not built by the SFX sensation Edoardo Margheriti-Dan Edwards, it we can note it immediately.The creature moves with some sort of stop-motion, so it's a bit strange that he could kill so easily its enemies. The monster, that many lovers of this film have rechristened "Big Claw" -because the remaining claw is its most seen part on this flick-, is the less valuable feature of the movie.Its end in the volcano was a worthy end. Luckily the effects of its venom are ravaging! The explosion are a must.The actors acted decently, especially Pigozzi and Napier. Marina Giulia Cavalli (Actual Italian TV movie and sit-com main actress) offered also a good acting with her great body.I still love you Mari Julia...Oh God what I would have given to see you wrapped into a topless amazon robe or a military outfit. It's entertaining and violent, very violent.It was partially filmed in Latina, inside Recordati industry.But the biggest part of the scenes were naturally filmed in the Philippines that the late,great Anthony Dawson loved so much.See this movie,and taste it. It's so funny! 8 out of 10

Great entertainment here, folks. I had the pleasure to watch the UNCUT Japanese print of this cool Italian "Alien" rip-off. The action sequences are violent and full of automatic weapons. The soldiers are evil in their conquest to stop a man and woman from spilling the secret of nuclear dumping in a volcano. It seems before they can get away, the radiation attracts an evil alien intent on taking over the world. Even tho the alien monster is silly, the movie on a whole is a decent spaghetti-made gory alien monster movie!Rating: 7/10 because even tho the budget was small, director Antonio Margheriti still manages to catch the attention of the audience and the effects are pretty gory. If you liked this movie, also check out "Cannibal Apacalypse" and "Blood For Dracula" for more shocks!