Product Description

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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22300 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 1998-10-14
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

A little bit of humour goes a long way!
The more I watch this film, the more I like it. I recently re-watched it after seeing DEEP BLUE SEA. DEEP RISING is aimed at a lower level, really, and I think it's better off for it. A B-movie at heart, DEEP RISING conquers DEEP BLUE SEA because it never once takes itself seriously, and the blend of light comedy and horror works well (director Sommers proved it a successful formula later with THE MUMMY).

It's not just the gags that I like, either. There's something about the beginning of the film that I find curiously evocative - this high tech speedboat racing racing racing with single-minded, straight-line purpose toward an unknown destination in complete darkness. The fact that the audience knows what the crew will find when they arrive makes it more tantalizing.

Still, with a B-movie one must have B-movie expectations. The CG effects are only average and often unconvincing. The plot motivations are ridiculous. The acting ranges from extremely engaging (Treat Williams) to labored (Anthony Heald).

The DVD presentation is sparse (typical for a Hollywood Pictures release). The transfer is great, but non-anamorphic. There is a trailer, but nothing else of note. The sound quality is exceptionally good.

Sorry to go back to this comparison, but here I go anyway. Where DEEP BLUE SEA is lofty, DEEP RISING is lowbrow. Both are decent films, and each has its strengths over the other, but since this one is a heckuvalot of fun (and the other just plain isn't), I'd rather watch DEEP RISING again.

I hope you found this review informative! Thanks for reading.

Don't be afraid...
Don't be afraid to admit that you like this movie. Deep Rising is a terrific monster flick that delivers all that can be expected of a film of this type. You get thrills, chills, kills and more than a few laughs. The computer generated creature from the depths, is an ugly and vicious man-eater, that manifests itself in several different forms throughout the film. A twisting shiny gray mass, with numerous slimy looking tentacles, capable of great speed. This terror from the deep devours its victims with zest. All in all, a very cool looking monster, and a formidable opponent.

The human cast is not bad either. Treat Williams as "Finnegan" is a steady, likeable leading man, delivering some incredibly silly lines with an engaging smirk on his face. Pickpocket Famke Janssen, is dynamite in a red dress, and handles a gun like a pro. Comic relief is provided by Kevin J. O'Connor as "Joey", a character you will either love or hate. Anthony Heald as "Canton" the pompous ships owner, provides the "weasel factor". The hard-boiled mercenary group, led by "Hanover"(Wes Studi), ably performs their most critical function, that of being bloody fodder for the monster.

The plot enfolds in time tested fashion. Finnegan is hired to take a group of mercenaries to an unknown location at sea. They rendezvous with the "Argonautica" a disabled cruise ship, expecting to find it filled with passengers, only to discover just a handful of survivors. A mysterious creature is apparently loose on board. As the survivors continue to investigate the crippled ship, the monster makes its presence felt, and the fun begins. The body count continues to rise, and blood flows freely, up until the film's climax, where the monster pursues a jet ski through the ship's corridors. Wild mindless fun.

Writer and director Steven Sommers took the experiences gained from his first "creature feature", and put them to good use in his next films, the more commercially successful "The Mummy", "The Mummy Returns" and the yet to be released "Scorpion King".

Deep Rising is a great choice for pure escapist enjoyment. Jerry Goldsmith's soundtrack also adds considerably to the atmosphere and excitement. The DVD features just the movie and the trailer, and is perhaps a good candidate for the "Special Edition" treatment common these days, especially as this film has been overshadowed by Sommers latter efforts.

Brings a whole new meaning to "Getting Axed"
I absolutely love Action God Stephen Sommers' wild little beast of a movie "Deep Rising" with all my heart, because 1) it entertains me monstrously and never fails to get me out of a black depressed funk and 2) it reminds me of all those gorily juicy, full-blooded, red meat horror films they used to make back in the eighties---except this bloody little romp was cranked out in 1998!

That said, get your sea legs, load the double-barrel shotgun, and let's venture into the hold of this derelict. Is "Deep Rising" worth a look? Well let me ask you a few questions:

Do you like the idea of lots of bloodshed, wanton carnage, and wholesale slaughter?

Do you like the prospect of watching the gorgeous (and water-logged) Famke Janssen clamber around a derelict ocean-liner for nearly two hours?

Do you like movies about voracious, wicked sea-beasties that eat first and ask questions later?

Do you like seeing movies in which Evil Cowardly Villains get their just desserts in exactly the fashion they deserve, screaming and mewling in pain and horror?

Have you ever wondered what it's like to buzz around a luxury ocean liner on a ski-doo?

If you answered "yes" to even one of the questions above, then "Deep Rising" is for you. Sommers is the Leonardo da Vinci of the Action Film, and he keeps the pace taut, the dialogue crisp, the blood flowing like cheap Merlot, and the bodycount rising into the double digits! Best of all, you get the sadly underrated Treat Williams as the gruff and mercenary boat-captain-with-a-heart-of-gold (he'd be wearing a fedora and wielding a whip if Sommers thought he could get away with it)
unwittingly transporting a gaggle of terrorists to a cruise-liner for pillage and plunder.

Plot? You want plot? Fine. The terrorists are after loot hidden away on a luxury cruise liner on its maiden voyage, a liner owned by a greedy shipping tycoon played by Anthony Heald. Fun stuff!

A downside to this Pleasure Ship of Death? The CGI graphics, which nearly undo the movie's creepy, ghoulish, uber-gory vibe: the creature itself looks atrocious and has far too much freedom of movement to be truly scary. Sommers should have recognized that with a film of this type, less is more, and stuck with prosthetics.

But I'm quibbling. "Deep Rising" is a perfect little horror flick and just what the doctor ordered if you're in the mood for hungry undersea beasties, gore galore, amoral and greedy villains, and a healthy selection of panicked victims-to-be, to say nothing of the best axe-killing scene this side of "The Shining." Make sure you get a cabin with a picture window and sea-view---Tickets, please.