DeepStar Six (1989) #368

"DeepStar Six" is a disappointing underwater horror tale that fails to deliver a satisfying monster or scares after such a large build up during the first half of the film. There is a fair amount of character development that takes place in the first act, so it's redeeming when someone dies by accident or some other means other than from the creature that's released from it's underground cave. And when the creature itself is finally revealed, the viewer is left screaming at the screen "That's it? That little thing?". The film is not nearly as interesting as "Leviathan" or the handful of other underwater themed films that came out during the late 1980's.


DeepStar Six is an underwater research station that is financed by the US military to install missile platforms on the ocean floor. During a routine excursion, the team finds a massive underground cavern at the site of a planned missile platform. They blow up the cavern and accidentally release an ancient beast that had been trapped within. It quickly kills the various crew members after finding it's way into the station itself. People panic, fight back, die, and eventually escape to the surface. Very standard fair without anything new to add.

Leviathan (1989)

"Leviathan" was one of those cheesy monster movies that I loved to watch in the middle of a summer day when it felt to hot to go outside. It is one the several films that takes place deep underwater that came out in the late 1980's. It's a fun, stupid, and engaging monster flick with some memorable actors from that time including Peter Weller ("Robo-Cop" and "Buckaroo Bonzai"), Ernie Hudson ("Ghostbusters" and "The Crow"), and Richard Crenna (the "Rambo" series). The special effects were decent for the time and the movie holds up fairly well if you are looking for a cheesy monster flick. "Leviathan" is like "The Thing", but underwater but not nearly as cool.


Steven Beck is leading a mining crew deep underwater. During their six month long assignment, one of the miners, a dumb-ass named Six Pack, comes across a sunken Russian vessel named "Leviathan". The crew breaks into the vessel's safe and take the records showing how the crew died and the captain's video log; Six Packs pockets a flask of vodka that was also in the safe. Six Pack drinks the vodka which happens to be tainted with some sort of mutagen that the Russians were experimenting with. Six Pack dies and his body starts to mutate. The rest of the crew is now trapped after Six Pack's mutated body comes to life and begins to attack them. Even after they are able to "flush" out the corpse, a piece of him remains in the base and transforms into a murderous creature. The crew is trapped within as a storm rages above and time is running out....

Pet Sematary (1989)

“Pet Sematary” is a great idea with flawed execution. Most of Stephen King’s earlier novels kept the storyline simple with one thing leading to the next with a natural progression and unfortunately that is not the case with this book/movie. One of the first events in the movie is when a student is hit by a truck and utters a chilling warning before he dies. And then the following night his ghost comes and reveals a major plot point to the movie’s main character. I love when a movie or book has foreshadowing but these scenes are so obvious and leaves the audience asking why is this happening when there is no reason for it to occur. The actions of Mr. Crandall are also just as odd considering that he knows the nature of the pet cemetery. If you watch the movie just for the scares, there are some decent moments in the third act of the film.

The Creed family relocates to a small Maine town where Louis works as a doctor at the University of Maine. Their neighbor, Mr. Crandall, becomes like a father figure to Louis and spends a lot of time with the young family. One day Mr. Crandall shows the Creed family the local pet cemetery that is in the woods behind their house. Then, completely unprovoked, the ghost of Victor Pascow warns Louis not to go beyond the cemetery. Afterwards, the family cat is killed and Mr. Crandall takes Louis beyond the cemetery (because whoever listens to a ghost) to bury the cat. Soon the cat is resurrected and this just causes a domino effect of bad ideas and terrible consequences.

Favorite moment – I love that Mr. Crandall is played by Fred Gwynne, who is best known as Herman Munster in the campy tv series “The Munsters”.

The most intense moment in the film...

Little kids can be so creepy!

The "real" cemetery

Baby Blood (1989)

"Baby Blood" is a fascinating French film from 1989 that is about an ancient alien life form that needs to be developed and born from a human in order to continue forward in its evolution. It finds the perfect host in a woman named Bianca who would at a circus. After the alien becomes impreganted in her, she leaves the circus for the city. Her lover comes to bring her back but she murders him at the alien's command. The alien needs blood in order to grow. She refuses this time but soon gives into its demands as it threatens her life. As the alien grows within, her methods of killing become more blatant and disconnected from her humanity. She eventually gives birth to what looks like a normal human baby, but this is just a shell of the monster within. The movie ends with the alien slipping into the sea to evolve once again.

Favorite moment - When Bianca is working as a taxi driver, picking up a fare and when she sees a jogger, she runs him into a wall and then kills the passenger. Has to feed the baby!