M.A.L. : Mutant aquatique en liberté

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 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 ....

Yes, this movie isn't that awful. It does have some questionable physics, and a whole bunch of plot holes. It even has some bad actors! But in the end, it keeps going well enough to maintain interest, albeit sometimes only to see what foolishness comes up next.

The main star (I guess) is Greg Evigan, of BJ and the Bear fame. He doesn't have a chimp side-kick here, though. In fact, there are a whole bunch of people who filmgoers will recognise, if not be able to put a name to. But the real star is Miguel Ferrer, who has a kind of Hudson-from-Aliens role. He gets increasingly manic as the film progresses until he finally loses it totally. The movie is worth watching for him alone!

The plot is the usual "science tampering with nature" deal and the ensuing onslaught of nature on science. Nothing remarkable. Nothing that isn't predictable. The creature, however, is refreshingly different and done well enough with the effects of the day to not look pathetic in this age of CGI.

As I mentioned, there are some dodgy plot holes and physics, but the movie entertains enough that you can overlook them (for the most part) and just enjoy it.

All in all a film worth a look in on a quiet day.

The late eighties were full of Aliens rip offs and this is one of the better versions. Obviously it was never gonna be as good as it's more illustrious brother but it's not a total waste of time. An underwater team are exploring the bottom if the ocean when they discover what could be a mysterious cavern. Some of the crew want to explore it but the teams leader wants to plant detonators to collapse the cavern. This is a bad idea as soon creatures appear from the cavern and it's now a battle of the fittest, or most sane to be honest.

It's not a terrible movie, it's just not good enough to be classed as great. The cast are ok but it's pretty obvious who is going to survive so the tension is not a great as it could've been.

"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 ****