Leviathan (1989) discussion Horror-Sci-Fi

[jefferiestubes8]

Leviathan (1989)

I watched it this week for the first time. I've seen the VHS tape box for years at video stores since it came out in 1989.
Yes the same year that those other underwater scifi films came out The Abyss & DeepStar Six .
If you want a film that is basically Alien/Aliens set on an underwater deep-sea mining station with a little bit of The Thing you've got Leviathan.
The creature special effects were pretty good but not great. Stan Winston's company did them.
The music didn't seem to fit the film really. The climactic music seemed a decade or two older than the late 1980s film.
The production design was great for the deep-sea mining station. Really it looked like a spaceship inside. Beatup and dirty. lots of textures & layers. good lighting. Very lived in.
the underwater shots shots dry for wet looked pretty good with some hazy smoke and sound rumble.
Unlike the very expensive The Abyss which shot wet for wet 40 feet underwater for weeks at a time.
Nice character building scenes early on which reminded me of Sphere & Aliens setting up the relationships and kooky & strong characters.
Some of the action scenes were good. some were not good. I blame the directing. Some good suspense in the climactic scenes.
A few of cheap horror film loud scares just like The Thing.
The ending was terrible. Really just a cheap horror film ending.
I haven't seen DeepStar Six but reading the synopsis it sounds like it was 1989's Volcano/Dante's Peak style competitor the same year. Almost the same plot!

What did you guys think of Leviathan?

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

I thought Leviathan, although definitely an Aliens rip-off, was decent. I have to say I thought Deep Star Six was not great, but more fun than Leviathan. DSS is just a purely fun b-movie, without all the Aliens baggage.

 

[swaaye]

Deep Star Six is very corny but Leviathan is a classic sci-fi horror flick, I think. I like Leviathan. Peter Weller is usually fun to watch and I think he definitely carries Leviathan. I enjoy it more than The Abyss because of its horror aspects. Sure it has some work that is clearly derivative of Alien, but that's ok with me.

I too think Leviathan's effects were generally good and convincing. I have a hard time seeing a quality difference between it and the work in The Abyss.

 

[Pingfah]

I too think Leviathan's effects were generally good and convincing. I have a hard time seeing a quality difference between it and the work in The Abyss.

The Abyss had ground breaking digital effects that took about 6 months work for two minutes of film, and Leviathan had moderately cheap prosthetic and animatronic effects. I would say they were very different indeed.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I liked that the creature "incorporated" its victims (bodies and memories) into itself.

 

[swaaye]

The Abyss had ground breaking digital effects that took about 6 months work for two minutes of film, and Leviathan had moderately cheap prosthetic and animatronic effects. I would say they were very different indeed.

I like animatronics and prosthetics more than CG in most cases. But the Abyss had that neat alien water manipulation which was a cool creation. But otherwise like I said I think Leviathan wasn't bad at all.

 

[swaaye]

I liked that the creature "incorporated" its victims (bodies and memories) into itself.

Yea it was creepy stuff. The monster work was also inspired by Carpenter's The Thing, I'd say.