DeepStar Six

DeepStar [sic] Six (1989)

Dir. Sean S. Cunningham

Written by Lewis Abernathy, Geof Miller

Starring Taurean Blacque, Nancy Everhard, Greg Evigan, Miguel Ferrer

            It’s hardly surprising that a movie as successful and iconic as ALIEN would spawn its own subgenre of ripoffs, but an odd blurring of that inevitability began to set in around the late 80s. For some reason, possibly the upcoming release of James Cameron’s followup to ALIENS, Hollywood really got stuck on the idea of doing “ALIENS but underwater” and for the next two decades it kinda became its own subgenre. I mean, you could loosely include THE ABYSS, DEEPSTAR SIX, THE EVIL BELOW, LORDS OF THE DEEP, THE RIFT, LEVIATHAN, DEEP RISING, BELOW, VIRUS, SECTOR 7 and SPHERE in that category, and that’s pretty much off the top of my head. I’m sure there are more. Obviously it was a concept far too creatively rich to stop with just ten.

            Weirdly, six of those –THE ABYSS, LORDS OF THE DEEP, THE EVIL BELOW, THE RIFT, LEVIATHAN, and today’s subject, DEEPSTAR SIX—came out within a year of each other, from 1989-1990. So I guess I can understand why audiences’ patience for them was wearing a little thin. Still, even with that in mind, the hostility with which DEEPSTAR SIX was met seems unwarranted, particularly since it was the first such film out of the gate, hitting theaters in January 1989. It’s currently sitting at an impressive 0% on rottentomatoes, with excoriating contemporary reviews from Gene Siskel (who called the film “tiresome” and complained that “the women are aggressive”) and Janet Maslin (who called the film “not much more interesting than the average bedroom closet” [?]). Words like “tedious,” “tiresome,” “predictable,” and “derivative” recur. Even the most positive review I could find –Richard Harrington’s short take in The Washington Post, January 14, 1989, calls it “well shot, well edited, and well paced” with a “competent cast” and visual effects which are “often quite good, if not plentiful enough”—can barely summon the energy to defend it, musing, in the end, that it “seems to have gone to the idea-well just a bit too often -- or is that not often enough?”

            That sort of ambivalence seems common to most of the reviews. They’re confident it’s garbage, but they can’t really settle on why, except that it’s broadly derivative. Which is, like, not exactly an unfair characterization, but jeez, if they thought this was derivative, wait til they see THE RIFT. In fact, considering the genre and its pedigree –directed by FRIDAY THE 13th's Sean S. Cunningham, fresh off three immediately forgotten teen flicks--, DEEPSTAR SIX is an almost unbelievably classy joint, with a production and performances which come perilously close to “real movie” level, a result incalculably more unlikely than the odds that it would be derivative. Not that it’s an unfairly maligned classic or anything, but there’s far more good than bad about it.

            Crucially, it’s one of the very, very few post-ALIEN ripoffs to come anywhere near recapturing that film’s unique “truckers in space” aesthetic. Sure, these “truckers” are a mix of military and civilian crew on a experimental deepsea colonization mission, but nevertheless they’re a scruffy, easygoing lot, more CLERKS than THE RIGHT STUFF. They’re mostly young, green, low-skilled, poorly trained, much more experienced with the grinding monotony of submarine life than with white-knuckled danger. Even our blandly attractive co-leads (Nancy Everhard, THE UNTOUCHABLES, the Dolph Lundgren PUNISHER, and Greg Evigan, prolific TV and SyFy channel actor) seem believably blue-collar, pretty but approachable, competent but fallible. They’re backed up by an excellent supporting cast, including Taurean Blacque (Hill Street Blues, inexplicably given top billing for a comparably small role) a very young Nia Peeples (HALF PAST DEAD, 130 episodes of The Young And The Restless, the video for Prince’s Raspberry Beret) Cindy Pickett (Ferris’ mom in FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF!), Matt McCoy (ABOMINABLE!) and most notably, Miguel Ferrer (ROBOCOP, Twin Peaks) as the high-strung dumbfuck who is gonna snap and get everyone killed.

Now, I’m on record professing that good acting rarely contributes much of real value to genre films, which are so much more about incident than character. But here, as in ALIEN, much of the film’s texture comes from its evocation of a believable world populated by workaday, relatable adults (in itself a significant pivot for Cunningham, who had previously worked almost entirely with teen casts) put in a difficult, high-stress situation full of tough choices. That’s where having such a venerable ensemble of character actors, well-versed in taking small roles and making them feel distinct and vivid, pays off; even once the dialogue turns definitively to yelling exposition (“these cartridges expired six months ago!” “What happens when it goes supercritical?”) they still seem like genuine humans and not just expendable body count. MVP indisputably goes to Ferrer, though, who goes way above and beyond to make his hapless fuckup somewhat sympathetic. Entirely through his performance, he informs us that this guy is certainly an abrasive asshole, but he’s in no way a villain; he’s just a dumb kid who’s just barely qualified for his job, cracking up under pressure, and overcompensating by being a dick. And the rest of the cast seems to respond to that, acting sensibly and compassionately instead of sliding into the usual contentious screaming match. Even once Ferrer starts getting people killed, almost everyone is very understanding and forgiving; he’s much harder on himself than they are, but that just pushes him to act more rashly. The character is bedrock standard for the genre and transparently a lazy plot device on the page, but Ferrer’s performance, and the way the cast react to him, feel unexpectedly legitimate and maybe even tragic, turning some plotting which could deservedly be called “derivative” into something more compelling and vital.

Which is good, because it turns out that DEEPSTAR SIX is actually more of a survival-adventure film than a horror flick for the majority of its runtime. I can dig that; the cast is solid enough to keep it functional, and there are a few genuinely well-structured suspense scenes (one of which recalls, in a good way, the terrific "cliffhanging" sequence from JURASSIC PARK: THE LOST WORLD). But I will concede it’s just as well that a giant monster puppet eventually does turn up. It’s obviously better to be a low-rent ALIENS than a low-rent POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Fortunately the wait is worth it; the final critter, designed by Chris Walas (THE FLY, GREMLINS) and built by Mark Shostrom (EVIL DEAD II, THE BEYOND, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3) is great, a practical effect that looks genuinely alive and completely novel (it has a crustacean or arthropod feel to it; some reviews compare it to the extinct "sea scorpion" Eurypterid). It’s obviously a gigantic and impressively detailed puppet, so it’s a real shame that Cunningham doesn’t do a better job establishing its size in relation to the actors. Once you’ve actually built the thing and it looks this good, why not make every effort to put it on-screen with your actors as much as possible? I get it when you’re stuck with a prop that doesn’t work well or doesn’t look great, but by all available on-screen evidence that’s not the case here. I suppose back then audiences were more used to the unmistakable tactile sense that comes from real physical props and just didn’t think much about it, but in today’s world of weightless CG, you wish they’d lean into the physicality a little more, especially since they put in the effort to, you know, make a giant killer crab puppet. But oh well, you can’t have everything.

Anyway, DEEPSTAR SIX has its problems --it’s a little too slow-moving and talky to motivate one to shout its praises from the rooftops-- but in the not-especially-prestigious “ALIEN on a submarine” genre it’s practically LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. If it’s a little shaggy, it’s certainly also likeable enough to go down easy. If the writing can’t exactly be called urbane, at least the performances are winning. If there’s not exactly an avalanche of whammy, both gore and creature effects are gnarly and clearly shot enough to make a strong impression when they finally begin in earnest. But most of all, it’s just solid. At the time it may have been dismissed as a low-rent genre rip-off, but thirty years later, it feels almost destabilizingly serious and competent. It doesn’t comport itself like it’s just a trashy creature feature, it comports itself like a real movie with characters and shit it expects you to actually invest in, not out of some pretension that it has something to say but just out of the basic assumption you would be interested. It even has an august, earnest orchestral score by Harry Manfredini. I guess it says something about how badly standards have slipped that something broadly sniffed at as lowbrow b-movie garbage on its release now seems about on-par with something like EUROPA REPORT, which was released in art theaters to broad critical acclaim a couple years ago. Which I don’t mean as an aspersion on either movie; it’s just kind of sad that a movie like this –a simple, competently assembled adventure story for adults that just wants to entertain in a way that doesn’t patronize its audience—has become something a rare and prestigious commodity worthy of celebration in 21st century, rather than a basic expectation.

But then again, maybe I’m just old and grouchy. Anyway, whatever it’s rightful place in the pantheon of American pop-art, I think it’s safe to say that it’s probably one of the best Alien-on-a-boat ripoffs from 1989-1990.** And that may not be much in the grand scheme of things, but for someone like me, it makes it worth appreciating.

Also, I’d like a little credit for making it through this whole review without a single Sealab 2020 reference, if that’s not too much to ask.

         

           

   

*  Obviously THE ABYSS is better, let’s not kid ourselves here, come on.

               

CHAINSAWNUKAH 2019 CHECKLIST!

For Richer or Horror

TAGLINE	Not All Aliens Come From Space. Which, uh, first of all, a little on the nose, there, don’t ya think? And also, wait, is that even true? If it’s from the Earth, isn’t it de facto not an alien?
TITLE ACCURACY	I’m pretty sure their sealab base or whatever is named DeepStar Six, so sure, fine, whatever.
LITERARY ADAPTATION?	No.
SEQUEL?	None
REMAKE?	None.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN	USA
HORROR SUB-GENRE	Creature feature, ALIEN-underwater
SLUMMING A-LISTER?	None
BELOVED HORROR ICON?	Though not specifically a horror icon, I’m gonna go ahead and count Miguel Ferrer
NUDITY?	None.
SEXUAL ASSAULT?	None
WHEN ANIMALS ATTACK!	Yup
GHOST/ ZOMBIE / HAUNTED BUILDING?	None
POSSESSION?	No
CREEPY DOLLS?	None.
EVIL CULT?	No
MADNESS?	Slight madness
TRANSMOGRIFICATION?	None
VOYEURISM?	None
MORAL OF THE STORY	The only monster on this submarine base is a lack of proper respect for the rules. Although also there’s a 40-ton homicidal crawfish, so I guess that too, now that I think about it.