Leviathan (1989)
How long can you hold your breath?
There was a time when underwater movies were the rage. There was around four of them that I normally remember that all came out in the same relative window, and all have their own little charm in one way or another - and all have at least one actor with which I can recognize. It’s also funny, given that nowadays a lot of people would probably look at them as derivative of other movies - like “It’s Alien underwater” or “The Thing” underwater. Those people might not be entirely wrong -let’s face it, if someone had a good idea, it’s inevitable to influence others whether they intentionally are re-using the idea or it’s just a subconscious play. Well, get on you deep diving suits and prepare for the briney deep - tonight we look at Leviathan.
As is typical, this movie is about some underwater miners. Deep down in their underwater station, these busy little beavers spend their shifts blasting and drilling for silver and other good stuff while contained inside their big old sturdy pressure suits. Sure, it’s not without it’s dangers - being that deep can have a pretty crushing effect on your sanity and your physical self, and corporations aren’t know for spending the big bucks to keep their lower-waged workers the safest. The rambunctious crew is left to it’s own devices for a while - mostly just to set up the personal dynamics between them all and give you a person or two to like or not like. Where the plot really kicks in is upon the accidental discovery of a sunken Russian ship - a right ghost ship that’s harboring a terrible secret. It turns out an experiment was going on in that ship, and the miners have just unwittingly become the next stage - will any of them be able to escape the monster they’ve unleashed?
If nothing but being honest, this movie harps a few similarities to one of my favorite movies, John Carpenter’s The Thing. It’s light weight and only in passing - but a creature that can assimilate other creatures, some minor throw-away bits like the creature eating their blood supply and of course the various body-horror element involved in a creature that’s slowly making you part of it are all things that some would use to right out accuse the movie of being a water-set rip off, but it is still a different movie. It’s not an alien movie as much as a “what has science done” movie. It’s not a movie about distrust and chaotic impersonations as much as a slight mystery followed by a pressure filled survival against an unknown beast and nature itself. Likewise, there’s plenty of little moments that you could say were (at least possibly) “inspired” by other movies - such as the cramped corridors and sudden use of flamethrowers in an underwater setting being more akin to how the crew of the Nostromo tried to deal with their own alien invader. None of these elements make the movie intrinsically worse or better, but could tamper with your thoughts on the movie depending on if you feel it a loving little nod or a blatant cash grab.
The cast here is by and large the biggest gathering of names I recognize in either of the four-set of underwater movies I think of from that time - the others being Deep Star Six, The Abyss, and The Rift. Here, we have actors that almost anyone should know - such as Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), Peter Weller (Robocop), and everyone’s favorite wet bandit Daniel Stern (Home Alone). There’s also plenty of other actors whose names I don’t recognize, but acting isn’t one of the weakest points of the movies. In fact, you are more likely to just not like a character (such as Stern’s) than you are to feel the character is poorly acted. Even in moments when things are getting heated, the actors still do a fine job displaying their chops, and I’d argue the worst it normally gets is a little bit dry in delivery (which feels intentional) or dare I say average. This is actually only to the movies benefit - although by the end it becomes a creature feature, most the front end of the movie is entirely character drama and interactions, so if they were all bland and delivering lines in a horrible fashion, this movie would be much harder to enjoy than it is.
Underwater or Space?
The effects work is well done here as well. Before the creature even enters the movie, we have plenty of exterior shots that could easily convince a person it was supposed to be set in space instead of underwater (particularly when no bubbles are seen). The interior of the station is both claustrophobic and open at the same time - similar to something like the Nostromo, albeit with a lot less random chains hanging down from the ceiling. Of course, continuing with the comparisons to Alien, the cast all has their own relatively uniform but unique looks to their costumes, giving it a real working-class vibe to the crew. In line with the costumes, the pressure suits are both a bit unique while also not being too drastically off from a deep diving bell-suit that you’d picture for a movie that has an underwater mining base. Also again, you could easily mistake them for spacesuits, but I guess that’s the nature of underwater and space - so different yet so much the same. They look good, and include little bits like replaceable hand mechanisms for drilling or grabbing things - even if that doesn’t really come too much into play at all in the movie after we start dealing with the monster.
The monster itself ends up having a lot of different phases. Starting off as a simple disease of sorts, allowing plenty of applications of make up to those affected for that skin-rash sort of look. This of course works it’s way up into some grosser things, like exposed veins that pulse and plenty of discolored oozy bits, and another scene that feels a bit homage to The Thing. We get little monster forms - looking a lot like a lamprey or an oversized leech - and we get bigger monster forms that look like some mutant angler fish squid man with people faces sticking out of it randomly. The effects are good, but it’s also probably for the best we don’t have a ton of screen time of the “final” monster form, as it does look a bit silly in the final scene of the movie.
The music does some fun things with inserting noises similar to whale-song. There are actually no whales in the movie, nor do whales factor in at all, but it’s a nice touch that does give the impressions of the ocean and helps give that feeling a depth when you hear it. Outside of that little detail however, the music really doesn’t stick around with me. It picks up nicely when action is happening, it stings fast when it wants a jump scare (of which there are a few), and it builds up in anticipation to help stress you out when things get spooky. Overall, it does exactly what it should - and it’s no surprise that most music doesn’t stick around with my limited memory of a brain recorder. Actor line deliveries are done well, with plenty of emoting as wanted. Audio effects also play quite well into the movie, particularly the use of moans and groans of the structure everyone is in as it’s effected by the external pressures and just general currents and the likes so far undersea. It’s a real nice touch, and not one you see that often unless a movie just wants to show something is going wrong - so it’s nice to have it as an ambience.
Just your normal miners.
Leviathan is pretty good, but not for everyone. You could almost think of it as The Thing light - if you aren’t a fan of things getting kind of gross without going too nuts, you might not be a fan of this one either. The cast is good, the effects are good, but the plot itself doesn’t bring a whole lot new to the table (especially if you are comparing it to everything that’s been out since). That said, I still enjoyed watching it, and it’s a much more threatening feeling movie when compared to something like The Abyss (which makes sense given who directed that one). If you want that dangerous, slightly slimey underwater thriller, this one isn’t a bad option to check out.