Deepstar Six (1989) - Sean S. Cunningham

In the late 1980s, James Cameron's long awaited film The Abyss had reached massive heights on the hype machine meter.  In an effort to cash in on this, a slew of sub-aqueous Alien rip-offs were made in an effort to cash in.  Sean S. Cunningham's DeepStar Six is one of the films, telling the story of a team of engineers who've been working on a missile platform for the navy.  In an effort to get home as soon as possible, they ignore warning signs and unleash a gigantic killer crustacean.   DeepStar Six is a B horror film through and through but unfortunately it's hard to bare at times.  Outside of the always reliable Miguel Ferrer as Snyder, almost all of the characters in the film are bland and generic.  The film relies heavily on the love story between two of the crew members to create an emotional attachment in the viewers but by and large it's unnecessary and poorly written.  In fact the screenplay of DeepStar Six is pretty much unbearable, with an incredible amount of forced dialogue that lacks all subtlety.  There are lines of dialogue that are painful to watch, with the actors delivering lines that are supposed to be comical but are far from it.  A lot of people seem to make fun of this film fort its creature effects but I actually found it to be the high point of the movie.  The effects holds up pretty well considering the year/budget and I couldn't help but enjoy the unique creature design.  Miguel Ferrer really does carry this film for stretches and the sequence where he goes mentally unstable is one of the more entertaining aspects of the film.  If you're looking for a good b-movie with similar subject matter I would recommend Cosmatos' Leviathan.  These films both came out the same year but Leviathan has a much more skilled director behind the lens who is able to create a far more entertaining B-horror film.
5/10

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