LORDS OF THE DEEP (1989)
The best thing about this film is its VHS artwork. If I wasn't low-key obsessed with the aquamarine slipcase (she's a beauty), I wouldn't have forked over ten bucks to own it. And yet, I'm glad it's in my possession. I dig this sub-subgenre. What kind of micro-niche are we dealing with here? Well, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, Lords of the Deep falls under the category of "undersea sci-fi/horror." Movie studios must have been under the impression that ticket buyers simply craved briny, thalassic entertainment. Either that, or they were staffed by would-be oceanographers because there were no less than six (!) of these brackish b-doodles made between 1989 and 1990. My favorite of the lot? DeepStar Six, which benefits from Miguel Ferrer and a cool monster.
I'll have you know that Ferrer doesn't star in Lords, and the monster? It's a benevolent manta ray. Doesn't exactly live up to the title, does it? I suppose that the effects are shipshape (pun intended), but we don't see them enough for it to matter. The script could have been ghostwritten by AI. There is a submerged laboratory, a mining operation, and several submersibles that...ugh, even the synopsis is bland. I wanted to like this flick. Priscilla Barnes overexerts herself as a goo scientist. Roger Corman appears in extended cameo capacity, and I'm sure that he considered Lords of the Deep a success. I'll let you in on a little secret; I disagree. Recommended to fans of smallbox VHS, reruns of Three's Company (post-Chrissy Snow), and saltwater.
No comments:
Post a Comment