Up from the Depths

Rubber fish, horrible script, jumbled plot and terrible acting aside this movie was quite enjoyable just for the laugh factor. Meant to be a Jaws type movie, this was just plain bad. Not worth seeing unless you are a fan of B-Movies. If you are a fan though, this movie won't disappoint, all you've come to expect from terrible B-Movies is to be found in large quantities in this one!

Griffith, Corman's muse on masterpieces like "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Bucket of Blood", tries his hand at directing for a change at the behest of Cirio "Vampie Hookers" Santiago. Guess what, it's a Jaws ripoff, and it's set in Hawaii. Instead of Roy Scheider we get one rather gorgeous woman romping around and clashing with, not the corrupt mayor, but the fershlugginer resort manager, a mind-boggling, thrashing and mincing performance by some guy (Virgil Frye?) Every once in a while there are incomprehensible quick-cut sequences of crap happening underwater including this inflatable fish with Dorito teeth. The climax involves blowing the fish up by completing a circuit by reaching into the giant fish's mouth and connecting two wires. Just like in real life! Don't ask for an explanation. Stupid, yes, and amusing as such, but also kind of aggravating.

After reading about this film for years in magazines and reference books, I finally managed to track down it down some time ago at a local Blockbusters. I honestly didn't expect it to be good, but I had no idea how truly terrible it would turn out to be. There are a whole bunch of Jaws inspired cash ins out there for your perusal, the original Pirahna being the best, Up From The Depths being the absolute worst. What really gives this film it's claim to infamy is the astonoshingly bad comedy relief that pops up in the last half as all the goofy tourists head out to catch the killer fish. It's so bad that it actualy makes the work of Jim Carey and Adam Sandler look inspired. No mean feat to be sure. The great poster for the film gives you the impression that the creature will be an aquatic dinosaur or sea serpent. No such luck as all it is, is some kind of rare, deep sea fish brought to the upper surface via seismic activity. It's also not very impressive looking and the FX artist who created it regreted (years later in an interview in Fangoria) not having a good enough budget to craft a decent looking creature. One funny thing about the monster fish is that it shares a power that many other type of similar B movie monsters have, namely the ability to sneak right up on people despite being about 20 to 30 feet long. How do they do that? A week before NBC unveiled their terrible adaptation of Peter Benchly's "Beast," a local channel had the bright idea to air Up From The Depths. It's a tough call as to which is worse but I feel that "Up" gets the nod. File it under, "How not to do a Jaws cash in."

This is a nearly completely redone version of Jaws, of course. The monster gets a 1, pretty lame big rubber fish. The script a 2, too much really bad humor that's tried to be passed off as wit. The supporting cast a 3, some are okay some are not, and the boy and girl leads get a 4, they really are not bad and handled their parts in such a grade C film with respect. The nice scenery of a remote Hawaiian island gets a 5 and the all around neat 1970s mishmash decor gets a 7, and not higher because it wasn't planned but was just there to be used. I mean just look at that hotel, with a 1960s angular pointy diner roof and greco-roman columns holding it up!

Alright here I go. I saw the video box to this when I was VERY young in the mid eighties and wanted to rent it because it looked good and scary. But my parents would not let me! So fast forward a few years and I see the film Piranha. I see the finale and a shot from this finale is on the back of the vestron box of "Up from the Depths." So I begin to think I was making it up. That I had not seen a movie of this title. That Piranha WAS the movie I saw. Then I find out about a website called imdb.com and I look this title up. Sure enough I was NOT dreaming! I was actually so excited and went to the only Blockbuster in the state that carried this title about an hour away from my home just to finish the life's pursuit! I got home with intense anxiety, plopped the VHS in the VCR and... what? what is this? this isn't scary? why... how... And that is all that was there. This film is a pretty cheap knock off of Jaws and does not know it is! It deals with two stupid people who for some god unknown reason are spending time at the beach WHEN, they run into some(not so)dangerous trouble when a shark that is like, two feet long comes a shore and starts nib nib nibbling at the vacationers. I was so appauled that I, being a hard core film lover, had been thinking about this film all that time and wondering if I would ever see it! No wonder I could never find it one ago. In fact, in an article I read, the production was so in trouble that it began in Malta, which doubled for the Phillipines, which tripled for Hawaii. The list goes on and on. The scenes are so laughable. Like a scene which a supermodel gives gum to a fish, and she later is doing a nudie shoot on a boat that is attacked by the ugly duckling of a fish. The fish looks cardboard and makes a sound that could frighten a muse! What were the cast and crew thinking! However I would watch it if push came to shove because I am a hardcore Corman fan. But in all honesty and sincerety, stay away unless you really want to waste your money or it is on tv and you feel you just HAVE to see it. 1/10