February 12th, 2004
Something about deep, dark waters has always instilled fear in men. Perhaps it's because it's an entirely alien World we really have no business in, perhaps it's because there are more ways to die in the deep than anywhere else, or maybe...maybe it's because there's something down there. Watching. Waiting. Hungry... Whatever it is, the horror genre has no shortage of aquatic nightmares. Tonight we're going to look at some recent films that were unfairly overlooked upon their initial releases, some of them are much better than their well known counterparts, others may only appeal to the bad movie lover inside us all. Either way, we're going to sink into those dark waters again, and see what's waiting...
A small coastal town is being terrorized by fish mutations that are killing the men and taking the women - something fishy's going on around here... It's up to Robert Carradine, Clint Howard, and Emma Samms to find the fish men and stop their evil plans (which involve raping the local women to further their species, killing small dogs, and being a general nuisance to the male population). Because of the rather touchy subject of fish raping people, Humanoids From The Deep has always enjoyed somewhat of a reputation - which, deserved or not, is more than the other films in this grab bag can claim.
During a daring sea heist, a group of criminals run across something nasty that's wiped out most of a luxury liner - and now it's after them. What follows is the division of the group (between the true criminals and the "heroic" ones) as they are devoured by a writhing menace that's taken up residence in the belly of the ship. The creatures themselves are a great idea, unfortunately the budget doesn't really keep up with them. If you can get by the effects though, you'll find a very entertaining monster movie with some neat ideas and one of the best endings I can think of.
It seems the sharks have something in their brains that can cure alzheimers, so we open on an isolated facility in the middle of the ocean - the home of scientists, shark ranglers, LL Cool J, and genetically enhanced sharks. It's not long before a storm shuts the facility down and the sharks are loose, being smarter than the average fish, they decide to take revenge on the people who've trapped them and been poking at their brains. Like most movies of this nature, what follows is a siege movie, only with mean fish and a slowly sinking laboratory. The only low point of Deep Blue Sea is the comic relief from LL Cool J, which quickly wears thin. He's not as bad as most rappers turned actors however, and thankfully doesn't feature too predominantly throughout the film. Even if they aren't "classics", these movies still float. You tired of the water analogies too? I figured as much. |
Humanoids From The Deep [TV 1996] is a remake of the 1980 original. Roger Corman produced this one for Showtime at the same time as many of his other, older films were being redone for modern audiences. The others didn't turn out nearly as well as Humanoids though, which actually manages to be better than the original film.
Deep Rising [1998] features what appears to be Great Old Cthulhu himself, only on a cruise ship, and being fought by Treat Williams. It's also one of the funnest genre movies that's been released in the last decade, not that fun stops it from annihilating most of the cast and slapping some sea Graboids on the screen.
Deep Blue Sea [1999] stars the best looking sharks I've ever seen on film, they may be CGI for the most part, but they do a great job of blurring the line between what's real and what's pixels. You know we couldn't do a sea monster movie without including the true terrors of the deep, sharks. They may not be as big as Jaws, but these sharks are more athletic than anything you've ever seen, and a Hell of a lot smarter than the scientists they're hunting.