Leviathan (1989)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

George P. Cosmatos

Writers (WGA):

David Webb Peoples (story)
David Webb Peoples (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 March 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Welcome to your worst nightmare, welcome to Leviathan

Plot:

Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results...

Plot Keywords:

Underwater | Genetic Alteration | Man Punching A Woman | Survival Horror | Sole Black Character Dies Cliche

Awards:

1 win

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Nov. 16

6:00 PM

MAX

Cast

Peter Weller	...	Steven Beck
Richard Crenna	...	Dr. Glen Thompson
Amanda Pays	...	Elizabeth 'Willie' Williams
Daniel Stern	...	Buzz 'Sixpack' Parrish
Ernie Hudson	...	Justin Jones
Michael Carmine	...	Tony 'DeJesus' Rodero
Lisa Eilbacher	...	Bridget Bowman
Hector Elizondo	...	G. P. Cobb
Meg Foster	...	Martin
Eugene Lipinski	...	Russian Ship Captain
Larry Dolgin	...	Helicopter Pilot
Pascal Druant	...	Winch Operator
Steve Pelot	...	Winch Operator

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA | Italy

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Adriatic Sea

Company:

Filmauro

Trivia:

In designing the creature of the film, Stan Winston and George P. Cosmatos went through a mini-library of marine life pictures and medical reference books. They were inspired by the physiology of the natural world, and came up with the idea of combining human body parts and elements of deep sea marine life into an unnatural creature never seen on film before.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where the piece of the monster is cut off by the door, the wire that pulls the cut off piece down can be seen.

Quotes:

Justin Jones: [as they wait to be rescued] It's cold out here

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Aquanoids (2003)

Soggy, but Good

This movie is always going to be compared to Deep Star Six and The Abyss, because all three films came out at the same time. It is an underwater "Alien" movie, but it doesn't rip off The Abyss, which came out third of the three and none of them did any real business.

Anyway, this movie was one of those films that is engrossing in the theater and transfers very poorly to television and video. I would venture a guess that a wide-screen DVD version may be able to pick-up most of the considerable detail that was placed into this film. The acting is not awful and the story is well-paced, which is a step ahead of the other two 1989 underwater movies. This isn't Shakespere folks, so don't expect it. A little more polish to the script would have helped this movie greatly, but it is a fairly B horror flick so it was expected.

The cast is Weller, Hudson, Crenna, and Pays doing their things. They don't exactly phone it in, but they aren't expected to deliver that many lines convincingly anyway. Whatever happened to Amanada Pays? After seeing this I thought she had a chance to break through, but instead she disappeared.

The setting and special effects are the keys to this one, though. Visually, it is as tough as they come. Like I wrote before, stick to the DVD version, because I already know the VHS version stinks because it is so cloudy and out of focus. Watch the DVD and I can almost guarantee that you will find this movie to be better than you have been lead to believe by others.