Director Sean S. Cunningham, who called the shots on the original “Friday the 13th,” dives well below the depths of Crystal Lake and replaces Jason Voorhees’ vengeful mama with a giant sea monster in this subaquatic horror flick. DeepStar Six is a deep ocean station funded by the Navy, with the crew (including Greg Evigan, Nia Peeples, Miguel Ferrer, Nancy Everhard, Matt McCoy, Cindy Pickett, Taurean Blacque and Thom Bray) performing scientific studies while simultaneously constructing an underwater missile silo; they inadvertantly release an aggressive reptilian creature after discovering a centuries-old cave, with the situation soon going nuclear after the weapons are detonated and the station’s reactor goes super-critical. “DeepStar Six” hit theaters in January 1989, making it the first film in the water in what would end up being a very crowded year for underwater sci-fi thrillers; indeed, James Cameron had asked that screenwriter Lewis Abernathy delay the release of the film to avoid competition with “The Abyss,” a request that was ignored and thereby caused a rift in their friendship. – IFC Staff
DeepStar Six
