Leviathan (1989)

Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results. In a story owing a lot to _Alien_ and _The ... See full summary »

Director:

George P. Cosmatos

Writers:

David Webb Peoples (story), David Webb Peoples (screenplay),

Stars:

Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Peter Weller	...	Steven Beck
Richard Crenna	...	Dr. Glen 'Doc' 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	...	Ms. Martin
Eugene Lipinski	...	Russian Ship Captain (as Eugene Lipinsky)
Larry Dolgin	...	Helicopter Pilot
Pascal Druant	...	Winch Operator
Steve Pelot	...	Winch Operator

Storyline

Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results. In a story owing a lot to _Alien_ and _The Thing_, the crew of the mining base must fight to survive against a genetic mutation that hunts them down one by one. Part of a wave of underwater movies including _The Abyss_ and _Deep Star Six_.

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Plot Keywords:

underwater | mining | mutation | nickname | flare | 

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Taglines:

The true meaning of fear

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 March 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Havets hämnare

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Gross:

$15,704,614 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmauro, Gordon Company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

50 to 60 spec drawings of the potential look for the creature were submitted to director George P. Cosmatos. All the drawings were combined for the final definitive look for Leviathan which was a huge, fish-headed beast with dagger like teeth with the ability to absorb recognizable characteristics from its victims.

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Goofs

After Cobb gets a cup of coffee, he sets the pot down next to the coffee maker. Immediately after, we see Beck get himself some coffee, yet he picks the pot up off the burner of the coffee maker.

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Quotes

Justin Jones: Beck... Save... Yourself.

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Connections

References Alien (1979)

User Reviews

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.