Gods of the Deep

It's possible to make a decent low budget movie with this storyline. These filmmakers did not make a decent low budget movie, though. It's illogical, poorly-acted, and embarrassing. It repeatedly cuts to the same terrible animation in the hope that you don't notice it's exactly the same terrible animation you saw two minutes ago. The "god" in question doesn't do anything beyond shake its head around in a ridiculous fashion as you might expect from a filmmaker who's younger than 12. The craft appears to have been built out of corrugated iron and pipes. Amazingly, none of these world-class experts were bothered by the leak when they first set off. This isn't merely a low budget movie. It's an unintelligent movie.

So I had to put in my two cents. I should have known better. Once they're magically the submersible (@ 16 mins in), using a collapsible light weight aluminum ladder from Home Depot it gets worse. This is a joke, the set design of the sub couldn't go underwater, much less 37,000 ft.. The acting gets really bad once action scenes start. Skipped thru another 10 mins or so .... then deleted.

I'm a sucker for any flicks which are above or under the seas or oceans. This ain't no "The Abyss (1989)", "All Is Lost (2013)", "In the Heart of the Sea (2015)", Into the Blue (2005), The Guardian (I) (2006) or The Perfect Storm (2000) to name a few of my favorites.

Cheers.

A bumbling group of international goofballs dive to the bottom of the ocean in a corrugated tool shed held together with caution tape.

Yeah, this exists.

I don't think it is a parody but that it was actually made in complete earnest Roger Corman-style. So it has a bit of heart as a labor of love. A Lovecraftian labor at that.

And while the sets are very cheesy, the camera work (especially the lighting), the sound and the editing are all actually pretty professional. And most of the cast seems to have attended at least an acting class or two.

But the budget is infinitesimal. Distractingly so.

There is a plot. Of sorts.

Well, at least Tim and Joe are watchable.

I had never heard about this 2023 movie prior to stumbling upon it. But seeing the movie's title and figuring that it was apparently something Lovecraftian, of course I had to sit down and watch it.

Writer Charlie Steeds put together a fair enough script. It wasn't exactly a particular complex script or storyline, but it actually made for an adequate enough viewing experience, provided you have an interest in H. P. Lovecraft's Mythos.

I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list. But I will say that they had a fair enough ensemble of actors and actresses, some more talented than others, of course. In general, however, the performances were adequate enough to help make the movie all the more bearable to sit through.

It was kind of odd that there was ambient light in the scenes where the submersible was roaming about at 38000 feet. At that depth it should have been pitch black. But sure, I get it that in order to show things in the underwater environment for the viewers, then they might have opted to add that ambient light. But it just made absolutely zero sense.

And speaking of the submersible, well at least they tried. The CGI animated submersible was fine, but all of the shots filmed inside what was supposed to be a submersible, just looked like it was filmed inside some kind of cellar or crawlspace. It didn't even remotely pass for being a submersible, and even a blind man would go 'are you kidding me with this?'

Visually then "Gods of the Deep" was a mixed bag of nuts. The practical effects, such as with the writhing tentacles and animated flesh actually looked good and worked nicely. But the rendering of great Cthulhu himself was a bit lackluster and did the Great Old One who sleeps in R'lyeh very little justice. But at least they tried, and that does count for something.

It certainly was an ambitious low budget production, and they managed to succeed some of the way. And you have got to give them credit for trying, and also for somewhat accomplishing what they did with whatever limited resources they had.

"Gods of the Deep" from writer and director Charlie Steeds is worth checking out if you are a fan of Lovecraft's works, for sure. However, this is hardly an outstanding viewing experience. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Gods of the Deep" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

OK, the good. It looked like the actors tried to make this watchable. They didn't try too hard, but they tried. The camera work was also acceptable. Sorry, not much more to say good.

I wanted to like this movie, I really did. But as soon as they needed to show anything beyond scenes sitting in a conference room, the props, staging, and general direction were HORRIBLE.

The most obvious thing is the director was completely clueless. Anytime he was oblivious to what would actually happen in a situation he would shake the camera. And wow, the 'really cool, cutting edge' technology was SOO bad. To the point that the hatch to the submarine was a trash can lid! ... and it closed the wrong way!!! You make a movie about a submarine and you never saw a single submarine movie??? Do just a LITTLE homework.

I can write pages about how bad this movie was, but that might give the director hints on how to make his next movie better. Instead, I would strongly consider another line of work.