Leviathan (1989)

1989 was the year of oversaturating the underwater adventure genre. Within eight months of each other, there were six films, all featuring deep sea creatures. Sean Cunningham’s Deepstar Six probably had one of the lower budgets, but it doesn’t affect the quality for me. James Cameron’s The Abyss is a masterpiece that is the most family-friendly, has a massive budget, and has spectacular special effects. Lords of The Deep, The Evil Below, and The Rift were all much lower-budgeted affairs and lived in straight to VHS purgatory for the most part. Then there is George Cosmatos’s Leviathan.

Leviathan had a bigger budget than Deepstar. It also has a more well-known cast and better special effects than Deepstar. Neither could touch The Abyss, of course, but this is unsurprising. Does that mean it is superior to Deepstar Six? Not necessarily. At least not for me.

Leviathan starts with a mining team going about their daily routine when one of their divers has a suit malfunction. Nothing detrimental and gives us our entry to introducing us to all of our characters. Peter Weller plays Steven Beck, the leader of our mining team—who are just a few days out from being able to go back to the surface.

Six Pack ( Daniel Stern) falls off a ledge and stumbles upon a sunken Russian ship. He brings back some items from the ship, including a flask that he believes has some vodka in it. Shortly after taking a drink, he starts to develop a skin rash and some mutation. It’s not long before he is dead, and his corpse starts to mutate. One of the other crew members starts to feel the same, and she commits suicide before she can turn.

The remaining crew, which includes Ernie Hudson and Hector Elizondo, tries to dispose of the bodies in the ocean. Cobb (Elizondo) is scratched in the process, and paranoia sets in. Beck tries to communicate with his boss’s top side that they need to send a medical team, but she states that there is a storm and they can’t risk it. Of course, the eternal she villain, Meg Foster, plays the boss lady. Her piercing blue eyes are unmistakable.

The film plays out like a tongue-in-cheek version of The Thing mixed with Alien but underwater. As our team dwindles, they start to figure out that this creature was the result of Russian genetic testing that got out of control. They sunk the ship to hide their secrets. But it’s too late, and the monster is growing and mutating faster than they can figure out how to kill it. Deep Star and Leviathan have very similar endings as well, which is just a play on the airlock ending to Alien.

I want to talk about my grievances with this film for a second. You have a fantastic cast, special effects, budget, and set pieces, but it doesn’t seem as competently directed as Deepstar. The pacing moves at breakneck speed. Our characters are lackadaisical about their situation in many instances. They seem always to be super upbeat until shit finally hits the fan. It is almost as if they don’t believe giant mutated creatures are trying to kill them. Cunningham’s film seems more believable, paced better, and the characters aren’t as over the top. Sometimes Cosmatos makes it feel like he is simultaneously creating a disaster film, but he isn’t sure where to take it.

For Leviathan, I feel like we see the creature too much. This is understandable since it is a Stan Winston creation, but it seems like this would have benefitted from a less-is-more situation. It has a very strange look to it. Yes, it mutates, but what we see throughout the movie compared to its total exposure at the end is perplexing.

I am not saying I don’t like the film. In fact, I really like it, but I prefer Deep Star Six. Even though Deepstar has lower ratings, accolades, and budget. Even for a horror film, Leviathan is more definitive to the genre. More blood, more boobs, more monsters, but something about Deep Star Six seems more my speed.

Kino Lorber released both Deep Star Six and Leviathan on Bluray within a year or so of each other, with Leviathan being a 2024 release. Even in this department, Leviathan technically wins in picture quality. Leviathan looks fantastic. Deepstar still retained a bit of grain in its release. Deepstar just can’t catch a break. Think of Leviathan as the 80s equivalent of Deep Blue Sea. There is lots of serious stuff happening, but there is always time for a joke or one-liner.

If you love The Abyss but want more horror, look to Leviathan. If you love Deepstar Six but want more boobs, blood, and more humor, check out Leviathan. If you have watched the underrated 2020 Kristen Stewart film Underwater and want to watch something similar. Yes, you guessed it. Watch Leviathan.