Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113377 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-01-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 71 minutes

Customer Reviews

NOT A BAD SCI-FI...
Terrible plots, bad acting, hilarious dialog and effects that aren't so special not withstanding, I'm a fan of bad science fiction movies. For the most part, I'm not the type to make fun of them. There's just something about them that pulls me which I really can't put into words. So I bought this movie (more accurately, I bought a three dvd/9 movie package dirt cheap specifically for this movie) because it sounded intriguing. I found it to be rather captivating. A billionaire, his wife and lawyer go scuba diving while on vacation only to emerge and find it impossible to breath. Luckily, they have several hours worth of oxygen in their tanks. The boat's engine doesn't fire, matches don't light and they can't breath. It's become apparent that somehow, the oxygen supply was completely drained while the three were submerged. From that point, the movie turns from its sci-fi premise to a case study of human behavior during an apocalyptic event. The actors involved performed their roles professionally. I detected no campiness and because of this, they made the love triangle and dire uncertainty aspects of the plot believable. Interestingly enough, I don't consider this to be in the bad sci-fi category for a number of reasons. The acting was good and because the movie was more of a psycological study of human nature in extreme situations, there weren't any special effects but the cinematography was done very well. There were a number of shots that I made me think "that's pretty creative". Even the fight scenes weren't too laughable. This movie is almost entirely dialog and I thought it was very well done. The ending was a little, shall we say, limp wristed but this doesn't ruin the movie. All in all, I was surprised to find this movie to be this well done.

Post Apocalyptic Gab-Fest...
This one starts off fairly well. We are introduced to the three main, and as it turns out ONLY characters at a cockfight (!) in Puerto Rico. Antony Carbone (Bucket Of Blood, Pit And The Pendulum) is a self-made zillionaire, Betsy Jones-Mooreland is his wife, and Robert Towne is their lawyer. The trio heads out for a day of fun and scuba-diving, unaware that while they are busy swimming below, the world has come to an end! Upon surfacing, they realize the air is unbreathable, so they use their oxygen tanks to survive until they reach the safety of the shore. It appears that the jungle fauna has replenished the oxygen supply in short order. Corman shows us some desolate, semi-disturbing shots of the aftermath of whatever holocaust has occurred, including a dead child on the side of the road and a ghostly car hitting a curb. Unfortunately, this all happens within the first twenty minutes. The final hour and ten minutes is like an episode of the world's most tedious soap-opera. The three characters argue, fight, pout, and talk-talk-talk their way to the final credits, mostly whining about their "love triangle" situation or waxing philosophical about the evils of money. There is NO action or intrigue (unless you consider half-hearted fist-fights exciting), just excrutiating oration and endless bloviating! I was tempted to throw a lamp through my own TV screen! Good luck with this one...

Dull
Having finished Creature From the Haunted Sea early, Corman decided to put the locations and talent he still had on hand to work on another film. Robert Towne wrote the script in a rush at the same time it was being filmed (and at the same time he was acting in it), so don't expect another "Chinatown". A mobster, his wife, and a lawyer are scubadiving when some disaster (maybe an atomic war) burns out the oxygen in the air. They are saved because they still have about an hours worth of air in their tanks and are near an oxygen producing jungle. At first they work together, but a love triangle forms. Some intelligence shines through, but ultimately the film is little more than talking heads and arguments. Nothing profound.

As for the picture quality, the colour has mostly faded to shades of red.