I'm surprised to see so many 1 star reviews on here. As someone who enjoys a large range of films, I sometimes find myself in the mood for some easy lazy afternoon cinema, and that to me describes much of the Roger Corman output that was released during the Concorde era of his films. Many of them were cheaply made cash in films, eithering following along with a popular genre trend, or attempting to rip off a current hit and pick up some of those loose coins left in its' wake.
This film falls into the latter group, and joins the ranks of several other undersea cash in films, such as Leviathan, Deepstar Six, and The Rift, all of which came out near the release of The Abyss. I've not seen Deepstar Six, but of the other two, I'd say I like this film the best. This is a Corman flick produced near his direct to video era, so this was never going to be great, or perhaps even good. But I do think it finds its way to being enjoyable for most of it, even if it begins to feel labored in the climax. I think at 78 minutes, the movie barely holds it's runtime. So that tells you something right there. But I'm always partial to an undersea setting, and I think a lot of the alien elements work okay, although at times it does play as unintentionally comedic. As a big fan of 2001: A Space Odyssy, I enjoyed the bizarre way this film displays its influence by it. It also uses this element to get across a somewhat preachy global warming message, but in its a way, I find it kind of charming. I think the alien set that we see later in the movie also has this charming quality.
The actors are no great shake, and the story is a jumble of recycled elements we've seen many times before, but I was going with it enough to not mind the clear influences. Again, this is a Corman picture made in 1989, I wasn't expecting art. I will say, Corman's cameo put a smile on my face, so perhaps that shows some bias of me being predisposed to his work, which is true. But if you find yourself in the mood to watch some cheap Charles Band, or Corman style junk, you can do a heck of a lot worse than Lords of the Deep. And who knows, maybe you'll even find yourself enjoying it.
This film falls into the latter group, and joins the ranks of several other undersea cash in films, such as Leviathan, Deepstar Six, and The Rift, all of which came out near the release of The Abyss. I've not seen Deepstar Six, but of the other two, I'd say I like this film the best. This is a Corman flick produced near his direct to video era, so this was never going to be great, or perhaps even good. But I do think it finds its way to being enjoyable for most of it, even if it begins to feel labored in the climax. I think at 78 minutes, the movie barely holds it's runtime. So that tells you something right there. But I'm always partial to an undersea setting, and I think a lot of the alien elements work okay, although at times it does play as unintentionally comedic. As a big fan of 2001: A Space Odyssy, I enjoyed the bizarre way this film displays its influence by it. It also uses this element to get across a somewhat preachy global warming message, but in its a way, I find it kind of charming. I think the alien set that we see later in the movie also has this charming quality.
The actors are no great shake, and the story is a jumble of recycled elements we've seen many times before, but I was going with it enough to not mind the clear influences. Again, this is a Corman picture made in 1989, I wasn't expecting art. I will say, Corman's cameo put a smile on my face, so perhaps that shows some bias of me being predisposed to his work, which is true. But if you find yourself in the mood to watch some cheap Charles Band, or Corman style junk, you can do a heck of a lot worse than Lords of the Deep. And who knows, maybe you'll even find yourself enjoying it.