An oil rig opens a hole on the ocean floor while drilling, releasing ferocious creatures which attack humans seemingly for the hell of it. The creatures have scales down their backs and tails, a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, slimy black bodies, alien eyes, and long talons to rip into flesh. These ocean monsters also shriek and move really fast so it's hard to pick them up on the security monitors or hunt and kill them. During a stormy night, a skeleton crew on board the rig are savagely butchered one at a time(as in most horror movies, it is when each character is separated from the group or working alone in an area without prior knowledge of the monster's existence), and it will take the remaining survivors formulating a plan to trick the creatures into an isolated area to hopefully set up an explosion which will kill them using gas and flares. William Forsythe turns in his 15 minutes of performance, boosting the film's credentials with a shot in the arm before leaving in grisly fashion, as the boss of the oil rig crew, very protective of his bright daughter who also works alongside him--she is dating a member of the oil rig crew much to his disapproval. Not an original bone in its body, THE RIG is what it is, a creature feature on board an oil rig in the middle of an ocean where a motley crew of blue collar workers find themselves in a fight for survival. Art LaFluer(TRANCERS) has a small but important part as the head honcho over a number of oil rigs which mine the ocean for precious resources, Forsythe one of his most revered crew bosses(he mentions that men are waiting in line to get on Forsythe's oil rig). A heavy, often overbearing orchestral score rarely stops and there are precious few moments of silence to allow the viewer to hold their breath anticipating the next monster strike on a potential victim. I've always felt quiet can be just as effective as a loud score which doesn't let up. While the attacks are over with relatively quickly, I do believe there's probably enough graphic violence to satiate the appetite of gorehounds, at the very least you get quite a bit of blood shed. The acting isn't the film's strong point, but I did come away admiring the attempts by the writers to inject the film with some characters(the sibling dispute between brothers, one tired of living under the other's shadow, the loving bond between a father and his daughter, the experienced army man with wisdom he shares with others, etc)that aren't just introduced and killed right off the bat(there are some characters, however, who aren't as developed who merely service the film as fodder for the beasts). The oil rig itself is quite massive, a perfect playground for voracious creatures to run rampant. The movie has some really underwhelming moments of CGI fire and explosions. I will say that I think fans of creature features might want to check it out. The director keeps the creatures fairly hidden, only bits seen on screen..and they bleed blue that is actually flammable! Fans of Forsythe see a different side to him than you are normally accustomed to, his personality not as much hostile as stern, a very demanding employer, but reasonable if expecting efficiency and order from his crew. The loving and devoted father isn't a character we are used to seeing the formidable Forsythe portray.