Deep Rising Review (1998) Worth Watching?

It’s about a group of heavily armed hijackers board a luxury ocean liner in the South Pacific Ocean to loot it, only to do battle with a series of large-sized, tentacled, man-eating sea creatures who have taken over the ship first.

Deep Rising was directed by Stephen Sommers (Van Helsing and The Mummy Returns) and stars Trent Williams (from 127 Hours and Venomous), Famke Janssen (from Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and 100 Feet), Anthony Heald (from Alone and The Silence Of The Lambs) and Kevin J. O'Connor (from Exorcism At 60,000 Feet and The Cleanse).

This ain't no pleasure cruise

The 90’s horror movies gave us some great titles, just a few that come to mind are Scream, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Candyman… but in all honesty this period is best known for action packed blockbuster movies starring Arnold, Bruce Willis, Will Smith, Keanu Reeves. With so many of these coming out, horror movies tried to adapt and implemented their own subgenre creature features filled with tense action scenes.

Deep Rising is a representative of the action packed sci-fi genre that went under the radar of many horror fans. The acting can get a bit campy from time to time and you get your stereotypical crew so the choices they make during the film can be easily predicted. The CGI and monster design are good, the plot holds its ground without a lot of holes and the actors did a great job showing the dread of being confined on an empty cruise ship that is slowly sinking. And of course there is a presence lurking from the shadows while our main cast explores the ghost ship.

It starts out slow and it gradually increases the tension but it is in no way a snooze fest. It keeps the viewer on the edge and once chaos ensues it is non-stop action. Without venturing into spoiler territory let’s just say there are numerous scenes that make this a worthy watch for fans to enjoy.

There was also an interesting idea where the ending was originally meant to be a prequel for King Kong but since Sommers went on to make The Mummy this Kong sequel never happened. Eventually in 2005 Peter Jackson gave us the King Kong remake but it was in no way linked to Deep Rising.