DeepStar Six: Das Grauen in der Tiefe

Deep Star Six is not a brilliant film although it is worth watching. It is a classic science-fiction B movie. The special effects and the sea creature are just about acceptable. It is clear though that this film had a pretty small budget.

I don't see why people keep on trashing this movie which has no more shortcomings or implausability than most blockbusters.

Maybe because, as everybody seems to think, everything that has no big stars and isn't the latest multi-billion brainless disaster can't be good ? This one is more disaster movie than monster movie, since the giant crab is only one amongst many problems the survivors has to face. Nothing great, nothing to lose sleep over, just cheesy B fun. So why all this hate when "Leviathan" was a bigger-budgeted but even more stupid and derivative heap of ....

Okay, it's no The Abyss or anything, but for a knock-off of a knock-off, it's pretty damn decent.

The effects, though pretty low budget, are nonetheless well done. The creature design is pretty cool. The characters are likeable and well-written enough to keep me invested in what was happening.

It's no game changer to be sure, but if you're looking for some b-movie monster fun, you could certainly do much worse than this.

I remembered watching DeepStar Six on TV as a kid, about the same time I first watched "The Abyss." While this movie is not as suspenseful, dramatic and adventurous as "The Abyss," I still found it to be quite entertaining and fun.

The film starts off with a crew in a sub doing some sort of experiment on an underwater nuclear base. However, their presence then disturbs an unidentified giant sea creature, which I thought resembled a large lobster. The creatures attacks the sub and crew and then the rest of the movie is basically a struggle for survival with some intense monster action.

The movie is sort of predictable and the cast of characters weren't as memorable as I recalled, but it has a quick-paced plot with good special effects and intense monster action one might find enjoyable.

Grade B-

"DeepStar Six" is just another "Alien" clone, to be ranked with all "Alien" clones as just another time waster. This might be what it deserves, however, it can be noted as a few notches above other "Alien" clones for its excellent cast, which, even when the story and writing become pretty silly, sticks to it and keeps things running smoothly. The characters are pretty convincing as well, epecially for such low standards as this. And while most of the film is talkly and uneventful, I will proudly state that the last half hour are great and very tension-filled. I was very pleased with the climax, and even the monster was acceptable. If the whole film had been as surprising as gripping as the last half-hour, this might have been the greatest "Alien" clone around. Instead, it's just a pretty good, low-budget flick that's worth watching once or twice if it comes on cable.

**1/2 out of ****