Lords of the Deep

This movie came out in June of 1989I was born in July of 1989. So luckily I wasn't alive to witness this. If a middle schooler got a couple of bucks from his parents and had the neighborhood act in the movie, that's kind of what you get with Lords of the Deep. The title is throwaway because it's never mentioned of alluded to. There's like 10 people who work in the underwater lab but everyone has name tags.With first and last names. The aliens look like they were made in an elementary school art class by first graders. The MST3K episode of this trash is awesome, so I would highly recommend watching it. But don't watch this movie alone, your sanity may depend on it.

Here's a strong contender for the questionable award of most redundant & time-wasting B-movie ever made! I wonder…does Roger Corman even know where his producing funds go? Or does he simply put his signature under the contracts without even reading the synopsis of these lousy Sci-Fi and horror duds? He must have read a little bit about "Lords of the Deep", since the King of the B's plays a minor role as the chief executive of a multinational mining corporation in the year 2020. Around this fine day & age, mankind is exploring the darkest depths of the oceans to create new living environments, because – of course – we careless humans nearly destroyed the earth. The expedition crew led by Captain Dobler made some real progress developing an undersea laboratory, but then they encounter the unknown rulers of the deep blue ocean: large, red-eyed creatures with the ability to influence human thoughts. Or at least something like that, I wasn't following closely. Despite just being 75 minutes long, "Lord of the Deep" manages to be incredibly boring and pointless. The inane dialogs and lame attempts at intrigues between the crew members make this film look like an amateur spoof of claustrophobic Sci-Fi thriller like "The Abyss" and "Alien" but, sadly, all the players take their roles too seriously. The special effects are too miserable for words. The sea-monsters look like fluffy teddy bears instead of menacing creatures and the hypnotizing light-flashes, indicating the monster search contact with the human mind, are headache inducing. Mary Ann Fisher's directing is uninspired and wildly uneven and the majority of the cast has nothing else to do than staring stupidly into the camera. What a totally inept film, avoid at all costs.

I had read many of the reviews before deciding to watch this anyway. So, I was not expecting much going in.

Many of the reviewers belch out their complaint that it is an "Abyss" ripoff. I guess it is simpler to condemn something and not research anything. In fact, though, Abyss was released over 2 months AFTER Lords of the Deep. So, if their was any "copying" going on, it looks to me that Abyss was copying Lords.

Abyss had 70 million dollars to stick in to the production, whereas Lords of the Deep doesn't even list their budget. Obviously, it was vastly less than 70 million dollars. And it showed.

That is about it for me defending this movie. It was not very good at all. I'm no director, so I cannot say just what I would have done differently, but the "acting" was more "reciting" than acting.

It is set over 30 years in the future, after humans have obliterated earth's resources, so they have moved under sea. I guess. There must be something still going on "up top" because they are continually referencing a replacement crew.

Most bad movies, for me anyway, have something I can grasp onto and hope for more. This thing never gave me a thing. Nevertheless, I was still prepared to give it a 4 star rate. That is, until the final 2 minute sermon. Honestly, if it had had a British accent, I would have been certain it was Greta Thunberg.

Generally, I can give an "if this" or "if that," then watch it. There is really no reason to watch it. Unless you are like me, and just want to see what all the bellyaching is about. I won't ask for my time back, but if it ever gets to the point that this is the ONLY movie left on the planet...I think I will just read a book instead.

I have a great story about the movie. In 1989, I was going to David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Near Lipscomb is 100 Oaks Mall, which at the time had a 99 cent movie theater in one of its strip centers next to the mall.

One Friday night I was hanging with a bunch of friends and we decided to go see a cheap movie. I forget the other show but in theater 1 was Lords of the Deep. It was billed as having the same sfx director as Aliens so we thought it might be good. There were roughly 30 people in the auditorium, including 8 in my group.

Within minutes we realized that we were in for a real gem of a movie. As each minute passed the storyline got more and more ridiculous and the actors looked like they were sleepwalking through the lines fully cognizant that they'd just made a massive career blunder. Within 10 mins. there were the first subdued chuckles from some of the more ridiculous lines and then came snickers, snorts, chortles, and lastly, pure laughter for a supposedly serious Sci-Fi thriller.

After it was over we pledged to try and see the movie again Saturday night. We drove back to campus and told all of our friends. Saturday there were 60 people in the crowd. At the Sunday 9pm showing there were probably 100 people. Monday, the last time I saw it the show was nearly sold out.

If you want a true, blue, so-bad-it-is-good film check out this cinematic calamity at your nearest Blockbuster.

The main thing I took from this movie was that I want the horrible jumpsuit that they all wear, it's so 80s yet also timeless. The movie was bizarre yet somehow boring. The energy from the cast was as if they were all acting in different movies. The commander was in a Shakespeare play for some reason and all the other men looked exactly the same and I was lost honestly. The only way I could get around this was by giving them all stargate character names since the one guy is called jack O'Neill. It's a good film to make fun of