Leviathan

Decent acting by a nice ensemble cast, great skin-crawling (literally) special effects and a terrific score by the master Jerry Goldsmith (who also scored Alien), this is an old favorite of mine. Definitely worth watching at least once.

This review is an excerpt from my book “Killer B’s: The 237 Best Movies On Video You’ve (Probably) Never Seen,” which is available as an ebook on iBooks. If you enjoy this review, there are 236 more like it in the book (plus a whole lot more). Check it out! LEVIATHAN: Three miles beneath the Atlantic, deep-sea miners extract precious metals from the ocean floor during an “extremely hazardous” 90-day shift. When they find a sunken Russian ship, Sixpack (Stern) confiscates the safe, which is filled with the personal effects of numerous crewmembers who died from some mysterious malady. He also filches a bottle of vodka, which makes him deathly ill—then kills him. The Doc’s (Crenna) best guess is a virus causing genetic alteration. Good call: It transforms Sixpack into a slimy, gut-crunching monster, half human, half deep-sea creature. When the thing goes on a rampage looking for new meat and tearing up the station in the process, can any of the others escape? And why is The Company dragging its feet in sending in a rescue? Discussion: Call it “Alien from the Abyss”; when first released, the comparisons were inevitable (and fair). And how could it measure up to either? As a pastiche, however, it’s entertaining enough for those who enjoyed the originals. So the script’s not original. So what? It’s still a solid thriller, and the flick’s main draw lies not in its oft-told story of sacrificed miners versus an alien killing machine and a corrupt corporation, but in its suitably detailed sets, its atmospheric photography, and its cast of second bananas with appeal. And it’s not as though the writers were trying to put one over on us; the fact that it’s a conscious homage to “Alien” is made perfectly clear with the inclusion of a slyly clever shot panning across a big bowl of popcorn just prior to the chest-chomping monster’s first appearance. Enjoy it for what it is: a mutant B-remake of two superior thrillers.

I give this 5 stars because this movie was life-changing for me. I had started to write screenplays before this but this really got me going. Thanks Leviathan.

i skipped classes in high school back in the 80s to see a matinee and this was the movie… was great way to escape / forget about the real life horrors of school bullies and mean teachers. was pretty good i thought. i still enjoy watching it

It's like the thing(80's version) meets aliens, meets the abyss. Only it's not as good as any of those..... It's still a cool flick, but there's just nothing amazing or too original here. The characters are very stereotypical for sci-fi in the 80's, as is the story-line. Still ...I did enjoy it.

James Cameron is not a rip offf wolfman78

I really wanted to see this movie when it was out in Theatres. My parents wouldn't take me, so I got my uncle to take me. I didn't remember anything about the movie other than I knew it was underwater and people died. I thought I liked it. I was 10. I was probably just excited about being in an R rated movie. I just up and bought it on here, watched it for naustalgia... and by the time it was over I realized that I had just wasted $10 on a movie that is as rediculous as it is unwatchable. I understand that underwater effects can be difficult, especially given the limited tech back then. So i'm willing to look past that. But the movie takes so long to get started and get moving that by the time anything happens, the movie is almost over. I mean, even the scriptwriters must have realized they took too long to get there, that they had to invent a reason to keep the people underwater LONGER so that something would actually happen before they went back to the surface.... And considering that was their solution to their problem, instead of, I dunno, cutting out half of the useless Hour and 20 Minute Exposition, it should demonstrate the lack of talent involved in this project. From Top to Bottom.. this movie is boring, and unoriginal (which isn't much of a slam these days anyway)... but I highly recommened you consider something else more Satisfyingly Suspenseful, and More Professionally Done. I submit Alien, and Aliens, (which they admitedly took from, but it's really just Alien underwater)... or Sphere, which actually has it's downpoints too, but, at least there's some talent in that movie.

One word, horrible, i almost fell asleep during the first 45 min of the film, if you want a good sci-fi horror flick, watch sphere, or event horizon, the only thing this peice of junk is good for is watching marv from home alone die.

Okay, so it's a rip-off of "The Abyss" and "Aliens" at the same time. Which is fine, since all James Cameron does is rip-off other peoples' work anyway. But as mediocre as it is, it's still enjoyable for the true Horror fan. There's some cool FX and some bad FX. There's some good acting from Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Ernie Hudson and Daniel Stern, and George Cosmatos ("Tombstone" and "Rambo: First Blood 2") is a talented, legit director. But this just didn't have the budget, marketing or star power it needed to compete with the big films. Still, as far as cheesy old monster movies go, this one is fun and enjoyable.