There were SIX underwater films released in 1989. James Cameron’s The Abyss, George Cosmatos’ Leviathan, Jaun Simon’s The Rift, and Sean Cunningham’s Deepstar Six. The Abyss may be the best. Leviathan may be the grossest. The Rift was arguably the worst. Cunningham’s Deepstar Six was the cheesiest fun B-Movie Drive-In fun of the lot.
At the bottom of the Ocean, a Naval research facility, a motley crew of scientists and engineers prepare the ocean floor for a Missile Base, awaken something. Something sinister, something angry, something unseen. That unseen something begins to wreak havoc on this Research facility and its inhabitants.
Deepstar Six is, even now, close to four decades later low-budget cult oddity of the highest order. The film spends more time on the foils and relationships of the crew than on the actual scares and the monster attack set pieces. The monster only kills four people if we’re actually counting. Those deaths come from the crew’s idiocy and irresponsible work ethic rather than the monster actually hunting and stalking effectively. Deepstar Six is more about the worst day at a bad workplace than a giant sea monster that the crew just happens to awaken because of bad decision-making.
The cast is populated with the likes of 80s stalwarts like Greg Evigan, Matt McCoy, Nina Peoples, Nancy Everhard, and Elya Baskin. None really shines or excels beyond the plot mechanisms. The exception is the great-great-great Miguel Ferrer, who appears to be having the time of his life as the squirmy tech Snyder. Ferrer understands that as the film goes on, the more overwrought and hammy his performance must become. By the end, Ferrer is at a Spinal Tap-11 as his character comes to an end. That end is one of the most glorious ends of a character in a film of the time.
The creature and its design, like its cast, is okay but nothing thrilling. When we do finally see it, it is neither gross nor scary. It’s a bit of a blank but is goofy enough to be entertaining in the silly third act finale. Deepstar Six is at its end is a bunch of silly, fun (funny) B-Movie malarky that will have you yelling at the screen no matter who you watch it with or how you watch it.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master by StudioCanal – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is an excellent upgrade even from the Kino Lorber Blu-ray release from 2020. The Dolby Vision HDR encoding gives the entire transfer a darker, more luminous image. The nearly flawless image shows no signs of age. There isn’t a scratch, blemish, or issue with the picture. The grain structure, color reproduction, contrast, and black levels are beautifully rendered here, giving the entire transfer the look of a perfect, freshly made 35mm print. Kino Lorber continues to be one of the best boutique labels producing 4K UHD discs.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
NEW Audio Commentary by Horror-Fix.com’s James G. Chandler and Ash Hamilton
Audio Commentary with Director Sean S. Cunningham and Visual Effects Supervisor James Isaac
Audio Commentary with Screenwriters Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller
Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with Composer Harry Manfredini
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
NEW Audio Commentary by Horror-Fix.com’s James G. Chandler and Ash Hamilton
Audio Commentary with Director Sean S. Cunningham and Visual Effects Supervisor James Isaac
Audio Commentary with Screenwriters Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller
Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with Composer Harry Manfredini
From the Deep: Interviews with Creature Effects & Special Make-up Designer Mark Shostrom, Creature Supervisor Greg Nicotero and Creature Artist Robert Kurtzman
The Survivors: Interviews with Actors Greg Evigan and Nancy Everhard
Water Damage: Interview with Stunt Coordinator Kane Hodder
Original EPK
Extended Vintage Interview Clips
Behind-the-Scenes Footage
Image Gallery
Theatrical Trailer and TV Spot
The first of several Audio Commentary tracks is an all-new one by Horror-Fix.com’s James G. Chandler and Ash Hamilton, opening with a bit of history about the Tri-Star Logo before diving into the opening, the unique credit sequence, and Harry Manfredini’s score. Some of the details include a discussion of the underwater feature films that were released in 1989 that including and not limited to The Abyss, Leviathan, The Rift, and others, along with Deepstar Six; what separated Deepstar Sixfrom the other various underwater films of that era; a discussion of the directorial style and career of Sean Cunningham; a discussion of Miguel Ferrer including his career as a very prolific and successful comic book writer – having written for both Marvel and Dark Horse; a Yakov Smirnoff reference – which this reviewer appreciated; the visual style of the picture and how it was of the era – how the style starting in this era began to chance (Batman 89 being what they consider the inflection point); a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; and much more. Chandler and Hamilton provide a lively and informative commentary track that doesn’t take itself too seriously and manages to be highly entertaining.
The second Audio Commentary track is an archival one from director Sean Cunningham, and Visual Effects Supervisor James Isaac is a little lean. Recorded during the early days of DVDs, the track is a bit sparse with large sections of the film playing without comment. The duo gets better as the film goes along, and their comments hint at a very tough shoot they don’t really elaborate on. The track does suffer from the dreaded “describing” what’s on screen. There isn’t much to really elaborate on beyond that.
The third Audio Commentary is an archival one from the previous KL Blu-ray release by Screenwriters Lewis Abernathy and Geof is a joy. Abernathy and Miller are in fine form discussing the film with enthusiasm and wit. The writing duo begins with a discussion of how they were sued by Warner Brothers and a Famous Author of a “Shark Book”, recording the commentary during COVID, and much more. Both men are constantly making each other laugh, watching what’s unfolding on-screen, and dishing out some truly great anecdotes. The guys discuss The Abyss, Leviathan, writing and being fired (right before the strike), a conversation about typewriters (which is hilarious), taking the piss on the miniature effects, their own plot contrivances, how the production was rushed and the results of that, knocking the Dustin Hoffman classic Sphere, their dialog and technobabble, the nickname they gave to the monster, and generally really take the piss on the movie in the best way possible. This is definitely the track to listen to as it’s as entertaining as the film.
The fourth and final Audio Commentary is actually what KL is calling “Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with Composer Harry Manfredini,” to which this review says is basically a select-scene commentary by composer Henry Manfredini with select isolated sections of his score. Hosted by Michael Felsher, this Interview/Score is a great addition. Manfredini discusses how he came to work with Cunningham, the score, and the origins of the various sounds of the score, and much more. The score selections themselves are great and appear to be the entire score, though not necessarily synced with the picture.
From the Deep (21:17) – featuring interviews with Creature Effects & Special Make-up Designer Mark Shostrom, Creature Supervisor Greg Nicotero, and Creature Artist Robert Kurtzman. This featurette has Shostrom and the KNB gentlemen discussing the creation of the creature, featured very briefly in Deep Star Six. The men discuss how they all got involved with the film at the time when they were all involved with Evil Dead 2 and Phantasm 2. How Chris Wallias was involved, how they were recommended based on the work From Beyond, just how big the monster was, their interesting testing of the effects, and more. They have some great B-roll footage and behind-the-scenes photos.
The Survivors (16:43) – featuring interviews with Actors Greg Evigan and Nancy Everhard. The newly filmed featurette with lead actors Evigan and Everhard discussing the making of the film. The two discuss Cunningham’s directorial style, their respective careers before the film, the other actors, improvising technobabble on the set (and saying, “Close the Flemage!”), the work to get the creature working, and more. They have some great B-roll footage and behind-the-scenes photos.
Water Damage (12:42) – featuring an Interview with Stunt Coordinator Kane Hodder. The newly filmed featurette has the only real Jason Voorhees, aka Kane Hodder, discussing not just Deep Star Six and his work there, but what he does as an actual Stunt Coordinator. Anecdotes include how he came to be the Stunt Coordinator on this film, his work beginning with Cunningham on House and other films, the difficulties with filming stunts in water with actors, and more.
Original EPK (3:36) – is a great cheesy of the era, making-of/EPK that you have seen on HBO or Showtime to hype you for the coming film. The best part of this archival featurette… the voice over NOT done by Don Lafontaine, aka The Trailer Guy. Ironically, though Lafontaine does do the Trailer included here.
Extended Vintage Interview Clips (8:27) – featuring various cast and crew, including Sean Cunningham, Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Nia Peeples, Miguel Ferrer, and more. Most are filmed on set, but some are filmed after production.
Behind-the-Scenes Footage (4:10) – is the raw b-roll footage (Manfredini’s score accompanying the video) seen in the various interviews is here uncut. It’s great look at the creature effects being put together, the actors working on scenes underwater, and more.
Image Gallery (16:15) – The image gallery contains about 195 production stills, behind-the-scenes photographs, posters, lobby cards, and home video boxes. All set the music of Henry Manfredini.
TV Spot (0:34)
Rounding out the special features are trailers for Deepstar Six (1:58); Leviathan (1:54); Deep Rising (1:25); Below (2:27)
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has upgraded their own filled it to the gills with special features to 4K UHD with great success. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS!!
Sean Cunningham’s underwater epic Deepstar Six gets a shiny new 4K UHD Upgrade thanks to the folks at Kino Lorber.
The Film
There were SIX underwater films released in 1989. James Cameron’s The Abyss, George Cosmatos’ Leviathan, Jaun Simon’s The Rift, and Sean Cunningham’s Deepstar Six. The Abyss may be the best. Leviathan may be the grossest. The Rift was arguably the worst. Cunningham’s Deepstar Six was the cheesiest fun B-Movie Drive-In fun of the lot.
At the bottom of the Ocean, a Naval research facility, a motley crew of scientists and engineers prepare the ocean floor for a Missile Base, awaken something. Something sinister, something angry, something unseen. That unseen something begins to wreak havoc on this Research facility and its inhabitants.
Deepstar Six is, even now, close to four decades later low-budget cult oddity of the highest order. The film spends more time on the foils and relationships of the crew than on the actual scares and the monster attack set pieces. The monster only kills four people if we’re actually counting. Those deaths come from the crew’s idiocy and irresponsible work ethic rather than the monster actually hunting and stalking effectively. Deepstar Six is more about the worst day at a bad workplace than a giant sea monster that the crew just happens to awaken because of bad decision-making.
The cast is populated with the likes of 80s stalwarts like Greg Evigan, Matt McCoy, Nina Peoples, Nancy Everhard, and Elya Baskin. None really shines or excels beyond the plot mechanisms. The exception is the great-great-great Miguel Ferrer, who appears to be having the time of his life as the squirmy tech Snyder. Ferrer understands that as the film goes on, the more overwrought and hammy his performance must become. By the end, Ferrer is at a Spinal Tap-11 as his character comes to an end. That end is one of the most glorious ends of a character in a film of the time.
The creature and its design, like its cast, is okay but nothing thrilling. When we do finally see it, it is neither gross nor scary. It’s a bit of a blank but is goofy enough to be entertaining in the silly third act finale. Deepstar Six is at its end is a bunch of silly, fun (funny) B-Movie malarky that will have you yelling at the screen no matter who you watch it with or how you watch it.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master by StudioCanal – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is an excellent upgrade even from the Kino Lorber Blu-ray release from 2020. The Dolby Vision HDR encoding gives the entire transfer a darker, more luminous image. The nearly flawless image shows no signs of age. There isn’t a scratch, blemish, or issue with the picture. The grain structure, color reproduction, contrast, and black levels are beautifully rendered here, giving the entire transfer the look of a perfect, freshly made 35mm print. Kino Lorber continues to be one of the best boutique labels producing 4K UHD discs.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
The first of several Audio Commentary tracks is an all-new one by Horror-Fix.com’s James G. Chandler and Ash Hamilton, opening with a bit of history about the Tri-Star Logo before diving into the opening, the unique credit sequence, and Harry Manfredini’s score. Some of the details include a discussion of the underwater feature films that were released in 1989 that including and not limited to The Abyss, Leviathan, The Rift, and others, along with Deepstar Six; what separated Deepstar Sixfrom the other various underwater films of that era; a discussion of the directorial style and career of Sean Cunningham; a discussion of Miguel Ferrer including his career as a very prolific and successful comic book writer – having written for both Marvel and Dark Horse; a Yakov Smirnoff reference – which this reviewer appreciated; the visual style of the picture and how it was of the era – how the style starting in this era began to chance (Batman 89 being what they consider the inflection point); a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; and much more. Chandler and Hamilton provide a lively and informative commentary track that doesn’t take itself too seriously and manages to be highly entertaining.
The second Audio Commentary track is an archival one from director Sean Cunningham, and Visual Effects Supervisor James Isaac is a little lean. Recorded during the early days of DVDs, the track is a bit sparse with large sections of the film playing without comment. The duo gets better as the film goes along, and their comments hint at a very tough shoot they don’t really elaborate on. The track does suffer from the dreaded “describing” what’s on screen. There isn’t much to really elaborate on beyond that.
The third Audio Commentary is an archival one from the previous KL Blu-ray release by Screenwriters Lewis Abernathy and Geof is a joy. Abernathy and Miller are in fine form discussing the film with enthusiasm and wit. The writing duo begins with a discussion of how they were sued by Warner Brothers and a Famous Author of a “Shark Book”, recording the commentary during COVID, and much more. Both men are constantly making each other laugh, watching what’s unfolding on-screen, and dishing out some truly great anecdotes. The guys discuss The Abyss, Leviathan, writing and being fired (right before the strike), a conversation about typewriters (which is hilarious), taking the piss on the miniature effects, their own plot contrivances, how the production was rushed and the results of that, knocking the Dustin Hoffman classic Sphere, their dialog and technobabble, the nickname they gave to the monster, and generally really take the piss on the movie in the best way possible. This is definitely the track to listen to as it’s as entertaining as the film.
The fourth and final Audio Commentary is actually what KL is calling “Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with Composer Harry Manfredini,” to which this review says is basically a select-scene commentary by composer Henry Manfredini with select isolated sections of his score. Hosted by Michael Felsher, this Interview/Score is a great addition. Manfredini discusses how he came to work with Cunningham, the score, and the origins of the various sounds of the score, and much more. The score selections themselves are great and appear to be the entire score, though not necessarily synced with the picture.
From the Deep (21:17) – featuring interviews with Creature Effects & Special Make-up Designer Mark Shostrom, Creature Supervisor Greg Nicotero, and Creature Artist Robert Kurtzman. This featurette has Shostrom and the KNB gentlemen discussing the creation of the creature, featured very briefly in Deep Star Six. The men discuss how they all got involved with the film at the time when they were all involved with Evil Dead 2 and Phantasm 2. How Chris Wallias was involved, how they were recommended based on the work From Beyond, just how big the monster was, their interesting testing of the effects, and more. They have some great B-roll footage and behind-the-scenes photos.
The Survivors (16:43) – featuring interviews with Actors Greg Evigan and Nancy Everhard. The newly filmed featurette with lead actors Evigan and Everhard discussing the making of the film. The two discuss Cunningham’s directorial style, their respective careers before the film, the other actors, improvising technobabble on the set (and saying, “Close the Flemage!”), the work to get the creature working, and more. They have some great B-roll footage and behind-the-scenes photos.
Water Damage (12:42) – featuring an Interview with Stunt Coordinator Kane Hodder. The newly filmed featurette has the only real Jason Voorhees, aka Kane Hodder, discussing not just Deep Star Six and his work there, but what he does as an actual Stunt Coordinator. Anecdotes include how he came to be the Stunt Coordinator on this film, his work beginning with Cunningham on House and other films, the difficulties with filming stunts in water with actors, and more.
Original EPK (3:36) – is a great cheesy of the era, making-of/EPK that you have seen on HBO or Showtime to hype you for the coming film. The best part of this archival featurette… the voice over NOT done by Don Lafontaine, aka The Trailer Guy. Ironically, though Lafontaine does do the Trailer included here.
Extended Vintage Interview Clips (8:27) – featuring various cast and crew, including Sean Cunningham, Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Nia Peeples, Miguel Ferrer, and more. Most are filmed on set, but some are filmed after production.
Behind-the-Scenes Footage (4:10) – is the raw b-roll footage (Manfredini’s score accompanying the video) seen in the various interviews is here uncut. It’s great look at the creature effects being put together, the actors working on scenes underwater, and more.
Image Gallery (16:15) – The image gallery contains about 195 production stills, behind-the-scenes photographs, posters, lobby cards, and home video boxes. All set the music of Henry Manfredini.
TV Spot (0:34)
Rounding out the special features are trailers for Deepstar Six (1:58); Leviathan (1:54); Deep Rising (1:25); Below (2:27)
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has upgraded their own filled it to the gills with special features to 4K UHD with great success. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS!!
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD Edition of Deep Star Six is out June 17th
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