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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: Walt Disney Video
Salesrank: 12145
Released: October 14, 1998 |
| Our Price: $7.96 |
| Used Price: $5.15 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Buckle up for edge-of-your seat excitement with the explosive hit DEEP RISING, an unstoppable high seas action thriller that moves at full scream ahead! When a band of ruthless hijackers invade the world's most luxurious cruise ship, they're shocked to discover the passengers have mysteriously vanished! But that doesn't mean they are alone! Something terrifying is lurking just out of sight: a deadly force from the unexplored depths of the ocean that begins to snatch the horrified intruders one by one! Treat Willliams (THE DEVIL'S OWN) and sexy Famke Janssen (GOLDENEYE, ROUNDERS) lead a group of survivors who must overcome incredible odds in their breathtaking battle to escape the doomed ship alive!
Description of Deep Rising:
Following in the reptilian slime trail of Anaconda, this derivative monster movie from early 1998 plays like a cross between Titanic and Tremors, with parts of Aliens tossed in for good measure. Director Stephen Sommers couldn't recognize an original idea if it swallowed him whole--which, by the way, is exactly what happens to a lot of passengers on a luxury ship that is attacked by a giant serpent-like sea creature with a voracious appetite for human flesh. Treat Williams plays the leader of a mercenary crew whose members discover the ravaged ship and wage war on the creature; Famke Janssen joins him as an onboard thief and con artist who just happens to be highly skilled with automatic weapons. Of course, the action grows more intense as the body count rises and along the way the monster is gradually revealed in all of its gruesome glory. A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Deep Rising arrived in theaters shortly after another waterlogged thriller, Hard Rain, and if nothing else it provides proof that the B-movie monsters of the 1950s are alive and well and as cheesy as ever in the age of digital special effects. --Jeff Shannon
Deep Rising Reviews:
Let this ship sink... 
2008-08-22 - When I first saw `Deep Rising' I was young and foolish and I thought that it was the coolest horror monster adventure movie out there. Then, recently, I saw it again and had all these awesome memories of what was going to be seen, yet it seemed like a catastrophic failure to me the second time around. None of the chills were there, the special effects, while decent, were not the crazy eye-poppers I remembered. The acting was stiff (on most accounts at least) and the script was dreadful. It was as if I was watching a completely different movie than the one I remembered with such fondness.
The film follows a group of hijackers who bust into a luxury ocean liner expecting to strip it of its valuables only to uncover that only a handful of passengers are still alive and the ship is infested with these tentacle looking monster things that are draining the life out of the humans on board. Armed with some heavy artillery the surviving men and woman (a con artist who happened to survive through a stroke of circumstantial luck) decide to take on the beast in order to escape.
The problems with `Deep Rising' lay in Sommers' hands. He wrote and directed this debacle. There is absolutely no originality to be found within the film, at all, and that is disappointing because it could have been really interesting and or exciting. Instead it comes off rather boring and predictable. The acting is atrocious on most fronts (Treat Williams actually turns out a decent performance and Famke Janssen tries to save her character from inevitable clichés) which is mostly chock up to the horrendous script and dialog they are given to work with. I know that a film in this genre is filled to the brim with one-liners (which I'm never really fond of) but these ones rarely land right.
In the end `Deep Rising' comes off as a stupid, mildly entertaining distraction from better more fulfilling films. Sure, there is some excitement value here but really, why bother? There are many films that have more going for them; films that are original and exciting and entertaining. `Deep Rising' just doesn't stack up, it doesn't offer the audience enough of anything to sustain them or warrant their adoration. I understand that not every movie has to be award worthy or of such prestige caliber, but every movie should at least deliver the best it can, and `Deep Rising' is far from the best of its breed.
Bad in a bad way 
2008-06-29 - The studios make lots of trash that gets buried in unmarked graves, showing up on local channels with lots of commercial interruptions (but showing the same couple of commercials over and over), leading us to wonder, "was this movie ever in theatres?" This movie is just bad. It is very suspicious that this unremarkable bad movie should attract so many reviews, and that they are overwhelmingly positive. There are a few inexpensive special effects created with care (the ocean liner model that gets blown up, the computer graphic tentacle monster). The monster is an extremely slithery version of the alien in Alien, you know, it opens an orifice in what is supposed to be its head and then there's another head (or whatever). Every time the creature bursts into a room, it looks the same. The riding around on the jet ski in the boat at the end is some terrible low budget movie making. Not a classic bad movie, but bad enough to regret wasting time watching it.
CONTRIVED TO SAY THE LEAST, BUT STILL A FUN HEART POUNDING EXPERIENCE! 
2008-04-20 - It's hard to put this movie down, as it tries so hard to pay homage to the sci-fi and horror movies from the past. This film borrorws from several other movies like 'Alien' and 'Poseidon Adventure', but it is one heck of a ride. The action is tense, Rob Botton's(The Thing remake)FX are very good and just the right amount of tongue and cheek humor thrown in to make this a very good monster movie, that's right up there with the original 'Tremors'.....not quite. The DVD transfer looks good, but this film deserves an upgrade with some interesting extra material.
As good as anything in the genre 
2008-04-17 - I tend to write reviews of films I really like or films that engage my mind. Deep Rising is alot of the first and a teeny bit of the second.
I agree with any one who says that this is a fun picture. I think the sets, particularly on board the ship, are gorgeous. The PT boat they arrive in feels authentic. I'm not one to care too much about special effects, so all I can say is that these do fine--the monster is monstrous.
In general there is something of the spirit of "Tremors" in this movie. It's a buddy flick with convincing monsters, witty dialogue, and good pacing between the scary bits.
I venture to say that if you liked "Tremors" you will like "Deep Rising."
Humans vs. Man-Eating Monster: Cheesy But Still Fun 
2008-01-17 - "Deep Rising" is a kind of action/horror film that you watch on midnight TV. You may not be particularly impressed with the impossible story, but you keep watching because anyway it keeps entertaining in its own way. It is not the greatest horror film in the movie history, but is not the worst either. Director is Stephen Sommers, the guy responsible for much better "The Mummy."
Treat Williams is an adventurer hired by the group of the pirates led by Wes Studi. Their target is a luxury ocean liner which is just attacked by a man-eating creature(s?) with huge tentacles. It is a typical B-movie premise (though the effects are superb), but it is fun nonetheless. Listen to Treat William's character repeatedly say with a self-mocking tone "Now what?" and we all know that we are not supposed to take the film seriously.
"Deep Rising" understands the rules of monster flicks: they need beautiful ladies and some occasional comic touch if possible. Famke Janssen is the beauty and Kevin J. O'Connor provides laughs. The film also includes the supports like Djimon Hounsou, Jason Flemyng and Cliff Curtis, but don't expect character development or something like that. You just don't have one - the good is always good while the bad is always bad - and all that is intentional.
I have seen the film in theater about 10 years ago. Then I was not impressed very much (though not disappointed either). Since then I have seen it several times and I started to like it more. It is cheesy fun certainly, but it is still fun.
