Leviathan *** (1989, Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, Meg Foster, Ernie Hudson) – Classic Movie Review 7649

Director George Pan Cosmatos’s 1989 sci-fi horror thriller Leviathan stars Peter RoboCop Weller as Steven Beck, the leader of a deep-sea mining crew from Florida who stumble across a sunken Russian vessel used in a disastrous experiment in genetic engineering to produce men capable of living under water.

Weller’s crew start knocking back vodka laced with the gene-altering drug and soon they are mutating into evil, fishy aliens.

This moderate but involving ‘Alien under the ocean’ yarn, written by David Webb Peoples and Jeb Stuart, rattles along to the exciting final showdown between creatures and crew. The performances from a decent, hard-working cast are good enough, and the special effects by Stan (Aliens) Winston (creature effects producer) are excellent, with good visual effects (Perpetual Motion Pictures) and stunts (Rocco Lerro and Randell Widner stunt coordinators) too.

It also stars Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, and Ernie Hudson. Also in the cast are Meg Foster, Michael Carmine, Lisa Eilbacher, Hector Elizondo, and Eugene Lipinski. Tom Woodruff Jr plays the lead creature.

Cosmatos reunites with his Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) star Crenna.

Leviathan is directed by George Pan Cosmatos, runs 98 minutes, is produced by Filmauro, Gordon Company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, is released by MGM (US) and 20th Century Fox (UK), is written by David Webb Peoples and Jeb Stuart, is shot by Alex Thomson, is produced by Luigi De Laurentiis and Aurelio De Laurentiis, is scored by Jerry Goldsmith and is designed by Ron Cobb.

A US-Italian co-production, it is filmed at Cinecittà Studios, Rome, Italy, as well as at the Mediterranean Film Studios, Kalkara, Malta; the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico (for the ocean exteriors); and the Adriatic Sea.

Perhaps through the lack of big stars, it did not do too well. Costing $25 million, it grossed $15 million in the US.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7649

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