Plankton (Video 1994)

Five teenagers embark on a boating trip off the coast of Florida. The teens get hopelessly lost at sea after they get caught in a fierce storm. Fortunately, the quintet stumble across an ... See full summary »

Director:

Massimiliano Cerchi

Writers:

Richard Baumann (screenplay), Richard Baumann (story)

Stars:

Clay Rogers, Michael Bon, Sharon Twomey

Cast

Cast overview:
Clay Rogers	...	Mike
Michael Bon	...	Bobby
Sharon Twomey	...	Margareth
Laura di Palma	...	Dorothy (as Loren DePalm)
Ann Wolf	...	Julie

Storyline

Five teenagers embark on a boating trip off the coast of Florida. The teens get hopelessly lost at sea after they get caught in a fierce storm. Fortunately, the quintet stumble across an abandoned yacht in the middle of the ocean with a mysterious biology lab on board it. Unfortunately, there are also ferocious mutated prehistoric fish running amok on the yacht. Will any of the teens survive this harrowing ordeal?

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Plot Keywords:

yacht | product placement | laboratory | creature feature | rain | 

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Taglines:

Sit right back and hear a tale, A tale of a frightful ship

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, violence and some nudity

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

8 January 2000 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Creatures from the Abyss

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$250,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Production Film 82

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

Beer Will Help

This is actually a surprisingly nihilistic little modern day B monster movie shot on DV, with a premise so stupid that no matter how idiotic the execution it still worked. A group of teenage dingbats stage their own private party on a deserted excursion yacht found floating aimlessly in the middle of a raging storm. The reason the yacht is deserted is because mutant fish monsters have evolved in about two days from a radioactive toxic waste spill and first mutated with the crew, and now they are ready to breed.

The slimy prospects of the lustful monster fishies is indeed realized during a hilariously over the top transformation scene that stands as the film's centerpiece: While attempting to score with one of the chicks, one of the guys (who has been exposed to the mutating waste) suddenly starts growing tendrils & spines and heaving out gobs of muck. What makes it funny is that the girl starts to like it, and the animated stop motion & prosthetic effects do not pause to consider how fake they look and instead concentrate on getting a few laughs plus gross out factor. The film has a reckless abandon to it crossed with a perverse sense of humor, nudity, and gross out gags.

In other words this is a party movie, not SCHINDLER'S LIST, and should be consumed only in the company of friends at social settings where alcohol is served and consumed in what might be deemed as an irresponsible manner. You'll need it for most of the warm up portion of the film -- after a nice frenetic Lost In The Storm sequence the movie settles down into cliché mid 1990's teen party footage for a while, but once the kids start disappearing and the monsters (interestingly depicted as first by only a fish-eye view of their own perspective as they stalk the idiots) start trying to glom onto them it starts to be actual fun. The "bad" or dated or low budget effects make it all the more enjoyable, including a downright nihilistic conclusion for this sort of fare.

Colorful, slimy, and over quickly -- try adding beer for optimal effect.

6/10 for this kind of stuff.