Deep Core (2000)

Director:

Rodney McDonald

Writers:

Jim Christopher (writer)
Phillip J. Roth (story)

Release Date:

21 October 2000 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

As the new millenium begins, the end of the world will come from below.

Plot Keywords:

Oil Drilling | Drunk Scene | Cigarette Smoking | Lava Floe | Private Jet

Cast

Craig Sheffer	...	Brian Goodman
Terry Farrell	...	Allison Saunders
Bruce McGill	...	Sam Dalton
Harry Van Gorkum	...	Alan Morrisey
Wil Wheaton	...	Rodney Bedecker
James Russo	...	Darryl Simmons
Ron Yuan	...	Chin Li
James Lew	...	Lou Chang
Kenneth Choi	...	Wayne Lung (as Ken Choi)
Dean Cameron	...	Head Engineer
Donald Li	...	Colonel Sun Po
Catherine Kwong	...	Phong Li
Joseph Patrick Kelly	...	M.I.B. #1
Dean Biasucci	...	M.I.B. #2
Gary Hershberger	...	Henry

Also Known As:

Deep Core 2000 (USA)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for action violence, language and brief sexuality.

Runtime:

Germany:80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Cantonese | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:PG | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:15 | Germany:16 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Company:

Unified Film Organization (UFO)

Trivia:

The cello concerto written for this film by Erich Wolfgang Korngold was composed as two shorter pieces for filming purposes. After the film was released, they were combined as two movements of a finished concerto, making Korngold's "Cello Concerto" one of the shortest on the concert hall stage, at about 12 minutes.

Movie Connections:

References Armageddon (1998/I)

Boring To The Center of the Earth...

I have a DVD binder called "Inside The Earth," which contains about a dozen films with the same basic plot: scientists must use "futuristic" drilling machine thingy to drive into the center of the Earth to save the planet by either a) realigning tectonic plates b) setting off nuclear bombs c) allowing volcanoes to explode, thus relieving pressure, etc. or some such babble that makes no sense at all. And I've never even taken a geology course. Or, the other plot option is that they are merely exploring the center of the earth find lost civilizations, monsters, etc.

Quickly, here's a list of all the films, and a brief comparison to this one:

The Core: The Gold Standard. Much higher budget than this one, and a fun B-movie that doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as this one.

Journey To The Center of the Earth: I liked this, even though it had Pat Boone in it. A good old fashioned fantasy film from back in the day.

Mesa of Lost Women: See my review here on the IMDb. One of the worst movies ever made.

The Phantom Empire: Fred Olen Ray directed mish-mash of a ripoff of Indiana Jones, a 1950's alien invasion movie, and a 1930's serial. A lovable jumble of insanity. They spend most of the movie running around in the cave in Bronson Canyon, a legendary B-movie location in Los Angeles. Super fun for B-movie fans. Others might get annoyed.

Unknown World: Another machine-thingy must drill into the Earth to save civilization. Actually pretty well done for a no-budget film from 1952. Black and white of course.

Beast From Haunted Cave: Okay, they didn't go down into the Earth that far, only into a cave. But they find a cool monster in there. Enjoyable Roger Corman produced schlockery.

The Incredible Petrified World - Also 1950's black and white. They find a secret underground world (here comes the twist) under the ocean floor! They descend in a diving bell. Zero budget here. Incredibly boring. Only saving grace is John Carradine, but he can only do so much. Rating real low. Skip it.

Village of the Giants - I think there's a cave in this one? Is that why I stuck it in here?

Sound of Horror - Haven't watched this one yet, but I believe it's about people dying in a cave in Greece.

At The Earth's Core - Classic 1970's schlock! Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs. Classic Saturday afternoon fun fare. Worth watching.

The Lost Continent - People enter the Earth and find lost world of dinosaurs..."so bad it's good." Some hilarious moments. Another black and white low budget non-epic from the 1950's.

I need to pick up "The Cave" and "The Descent," two recent films with people dying undernearth the earth.

DEEP CORE stacks up pretty well against some of these. There is a ton of hilariously bad dialog, and the interior of the Drilling Thingy is really bad and low rent.

I'll give it a four for good old yocks. If DEEP CORE had taken itself a little less seriously, it probably would have rated a 6 or 7 for entertainment value. The Core is much funnier. Stanley Tucci's performance alone makes it worth your time.