Gods of the Deep

Imagine Prometheus combined with The Abyss and set in the H. P. Lovecraft universe of the Cthulhu mythos. Now make it with the budget of a few first year film students' pocket money and also their skill so far and you get Gods of the Deep.

You can't really blame these people, can you? What would you do if you had a dream, but had no idea how to make it happen? You experiment. You try to copy what you know, hoping that some original thought will make an appearance and propel you into your movie celebrity career. It doesn't matter that the actors you can afford can't act or that the sets you can afford are basically a cellar somewhere that you must make look like a submarine. What matters is to put something out there that is not completely crap. And, by the old gods, they succeeded. This is not crap!

On the other hand, it's not much better either. Everything in the film is derivative and the story is really really weak. Hint to future "experiments": first you write it, then you (and as many other people as you can find) read it and only if you like it and they like it do you continue with adapting it into a movie. Because somehow, probably determined by the success of such powerhouses of suck as Marvel, people have got it into their heads that movies and books are different and separate forms of art. No, they are just forms of medium for storytelling. The storytelling IS the art. And unfortunately here, they failed miserably.

And it was almost endearing to see how seriously the film was trying to promote itself because it was starring the famous Rowena Bentley. Only she was not famous. That was pretty funny.

Bottom line: if you consider this the first attempt in a series of incrementally improving projects, then it was a success. Kind of like Elon Musk's first exploding rockets. It promises the possibility of actual film making down the line. If this was their best effort, though... well, it kind of sucked.

My family has a thing for watching B movies and this one was a barrel of laughs for the most part. Do not take this movie seriously but please enjoy it. Acting aside this movie has a plethora of entertaining set pieces and design. From your submarine standard collapsible hatch ladder, garbage can lid hatch cover, and extendo grab hands attached to their little submersible is just the bare minimum of fun set design. There's so many more that entertained us enough to see this move through to the end. While the monster does next to nothing while they're busy squabbling amongst themselves it mostly roars going unnoticed or worried about by the majority of the crew. Fun to watch if you're in it for laughs.

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.

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.

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.