Director: Juan Piquer Simon
Year: 1990
Country: Spain/USA
Alternate Titles: Endless Descent
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
After hearing of an accident, a man is tasked with joining a Navy expedition to investigate the wreck of another submarine only to find that the cause of the disappearance is due to a series of sea creatures living in a special underwater rift and must find a way to get back to the surface.
Review:
This was a decent and enjoyable enough creature feature. One of the more enjoyable areas of this one is the fact that the overall setup of this one allows for a rather fun adventure storyline. The exploits of the crew onboard the submarine, with all the different storylines and situations that are brought up at that point, provide the launching point for the adventures to be had as they head out to sea which provides this one with some rather creepy sequences that manage to merge the horror with the adventure-based sci-fi style of scenes.
The other rather likable aspect in the film is the few amounts of creature action present throughout here. The first inclining that we get here, with the giant cloud-like creature attacking the sub and dragging it down into the depths starts this off rather nicely while the most mileage in the film comes out of the exploration of the underground cave. The shots of the creatures coming out of their tunnels, snatching and grabbing others or getting blasted to pieces by their weaponry is quite fun, offering some rather fine gore and miniature work as the fun action and great sets bring out some enjoyable moments. Even without the monster action the first half carries a watchable pace to it, causing this one to hold up nicely over it's few flaws.
The main issue to be had with this one is the fact that the time of the film's release forced this one into being far less interesting than it could've been. The idea of confronting a race of deformed sea creatures in a special underwater cavern really could've been cheesy fun, but the idea of forsaking that in favor of a series of back-and-forth political debates and submarine strategies for the situation before even getting to the creature feature action. This is shoehorned into the film based on the time it came out, as the back-and-forth nature of the need for his involvement and the backstabbing nature of what's going on keeps this one from really doing much with the main creature feature action.
As well, the other big detriment to be had is the fact that there's just no real sense of satisfaction to be had in the finale which is especially rushed and lacks the kind of impact it really could've. By adding in all the human drama and the action/adventure style twists introduced during this part of the film, there's just no stakes in the end when it finally unveils the true nature of the threat as the lack of interest in what's going on just really ends up doing nothing for the film. Coupled with the somewhat shoddy production values and a carbon-copy feel to the majority of the material, these here are what end up keeping this one down.
Overview: ***/5
While it does have a few solid and enjoyable facets to be had here, the fact that so many of it's flaws are rather detrimental actually manage to drag this one down to the point of being a watchable enough affair. Give this a chance if you're intrigued by the other similar efforts out there or are interested, while those looking for more intense and straight-forward monster movie action should look elsewhere.
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