My intention was to dive into the 1950s for some cheesy monsters. I still will, but I had to get this one up on my blog. In it, Peter Weller, who did "RoboCop" two years earlier, stars in a big budget monster movie. The high-priced creature f/x would give us a monster worthy of a big budget. Or will it? To my glee, though no one else's, we get a cheesy monster...but an imaginative one at that. To give this film more credit, it came out at the same time as the over long, preachy, and annoying James Cameron epic, "The Abyss." James Cameron is an idiot, and if you don't believe me, see "The Abyss." Back to our cheesy monster feature, today we look at the 1989 horror movie "Leviathan" directed by George P. Cosmatos. By the way, Stan Winston created the monster in this one.
Beck (Weller) is the unlikely boss of a deep sea mining colony, say 10,000 feet down on the ocean floor. Their 90-day tour is coming to an end, so they think, and everyone is happy about that. Uh oh...while walking on the ocean floor with special suits, Elizabeth (Amanda Pays) and Buzz (Daniel Stern) find a sunken Russian freighter called "Leviathan." Buzz goes aboard and finds vodka. Back at the colony, Beck chews them out for going on this search and bringing vodka back. They also brought back a video log from the captain of that Russian ship. Idiot that he is, Buzz drinks some of the vodka with some of his mates. Yep, the ones who drank the vodka begin...changing. Beck and Doc (Richard Crenna) decipher the logs and figure out that a horror befell the crew of the Leviathan. Doc digs a little further and realizes what really happened...genetic engineering changing humans into...well, you'll see.
Yep, Buzz is the first to change. He becomes the creature and hunts the others. Others begin to change. Poor Bowman (Lisa Eilbacher). The pretty miner becomes unpretty real fast and...well, you'll see. Now tentacled creatures infest the mining colony. Even worse, Beck calls the company on the ocean surface and figures out they have no intention of bringing them back up. Now Beck, Elizabeth, Doc, and a few crewmembers who did not drink the vodka battle the ones who did, which are no longer humans. Sweet, Beck and Elizabeth fall in love...so cute. Doc realizes the danger of any of them reaching the surface and...well, you'll see. The monsters? Cheesy, but to the credit of the people who made this film, very reminiscent of "John Carpenter's The Thing."
Will the tentacled creatures win and make it to the surface? Will Beck, Doc, and Elizabeth figure out a way to kill the things or escape to topside? Can anyone hear you scream 10,000 feet below the surface? This is a good one that works best if you are looking for a cheesy creature flick, as opposed to a serious big-budget monster film. Watch "Leviathan" and see if Beck and Elizabeth can kindle their love affair in the midst of tentacles.
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