Leviathan (film)
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| Leviathan | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | George Pan Cosmatos |
| Produced by | Charles Gordon Lawrence Gordon |
| Written by | David Peoples Jeb Stuart |
| Starring | Peter Weller Richard Crenna Amanda Pays Daniel Stern Ernie Hudson |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Alex Thomson |
| Editing by | John F. Burnett Roberto Silvi |
| Release date(s) |  Mar 17, 1989 Sep 22, 1989 |
| Running time | 98 min. |
| Country | USA Italy |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Leviathan (1989) is a science fiction horror film about a hideous creature that stalks and kills a group of people in a sealed environment, in a similar vein to such films as Alien (1979) and The Thing (1982). It is one of many underwater-themed movies released around 1989, including The Abyss, Deepstar Six, The Evil Below, Lords of the Deep, and The Rift (Endless Descent).
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Peter Weller as Steven Beck
- Richard Crenna as Dr. Glen Thompson
- Amanda Pays as Elizabeth 'Willie' Williams
- Daniel Stern as Buzz 'Sixpack' Parrish
- Ernie Hudson as Justin Jones
- Michael Carmine as Tony 'DeJesus' Rodero
- Lisa Eilbacher as Bridget Bowman
- Hector Elizondo as G. P. Cobb
- Meg Foster as Martin
- Eugene Lipinski as Russian Ship Captain
- Larry Dolgin as Helicopter Pilot
- Pascal Druant as Winch Operator
- Steve Pelot as Winch Operator
[edit] Plot
Tri-Oceanic Corp hired a crew of undersea miners to do a 90 day mining operation. Martin hired Steven Beck, a geologist, to assist in mining operations as well as command the undersea mining station. While outside their vessel in a pressure suit, Sixpack tripped and stumbled upon a wrecked ship. Because he didn't respond to hails over his radio, Williams went to look for him and found him excited over "treasure." Dr. Thompson understood Russian and identified the ship as the "Leviathan" from its markings. When checking on records of Leviathan, the crew discover that it is still marked as an active ship on duty in the Baltic Sea.
Meanwhile, Sixpack and the rest of the crew open a safe from The Leviathan and find several crew records relating to deceased crew members, as well as a video tape from the doctor of Leviathan. Among the materials, Sixpack found a flask of Vodka. There being no alcohol on their own ship, he hides this for his own use later. Bowman figured out Sixpack had hidden away the Vodka and persuades him to share it.
That night the doctor and Beck review the video of the Russian doctor of Leviathan and believe his medical log was cryptic over the crew's poor health condition. They also went through the video tapes of Leviathan and noticed the hull was possibly hit by a torpedo.
The following morning Sixpack awakes feeling sick, with lesions throughout his back. The doctor is unable to offer any explanation for why Sixpack ended up like this. He asks the computer for an opinion, and it respondes with a "guess", suggesting "genetic alteration." Sixpack dies eight hours after first feeling sick, but the doctor and Beck hide news of his death to avoid a panic amongst the crew. Dr. Thompson carries out routine medical checks to make sure no one else is sick, but doesn't have the chance to examine Bowman.
While Beck and Dr. Thompson have a video conference with Martin (on the surface), Bowman has already began to feel the effects just like Sixpack. She becomes emotionally distraught when she begins losing hair. She accidentally stumbles upon Sixpack's corpse and witnesses it mutating right in front of her. Meanwhile Beck and Dr. Thompson don't want to take risks and ask Martin to execute an emergency medical evacuation. Martin makes the excuse that the evacuation will happen, but there is a possible severe storm on the surface which will hamper efforts, and may delay things for another 12 hours.
Dr. Thompson finds Bowman. Unable to cope with the idea of dying like Sixpack, she has committed suicide by slitting her wrists in the shower. Her body is taken to sickbay, where Beck and Thompson find Sixpack's body mutating. They decide to dump both bodies without the crew's knowledge. As they are about to "flush" the bodies, the crew try to open the bag as they see the mutating corpses writhing through the body bag, and believe someone was alive inside.
The creature that is forming inside attacks and claws Cobb before they succeed in ejecting the body. The surviving crew are finally informed of what has happened and realise that the Leviathan (ship) was experimenting with mutagens to the unknown crew. The ship was scuttled when the experiment(s) went out of hand.
Despite the bodies being flushed, a piece of Sixpack's mutating leg remains on board and continues to mutate into a lamprey/leech-like creature. This attacks Dejesus in the kitchen. Jones tried to get help, but the creature assimilats Dejesus and begins growing tentacles that randomly attack the crew. Cobb's injuries cause him to mutate as well and he infects Dr. Thompson.
As his last act of free will, Thompson ejects the escape pods so that no one can escape whilst there is a potentially dangerous mutagen on board. Jones, Willie, and Beck are the only ones left and consult with Martin for emergency evacuation. Martin assures them that they won't be left behind, but that she cannot carry out the rescue yet because of the poor weatheron the surface.
The crew, suspicious, try accessing weather information through the computer, but it is blocked. Williams is smart enough to not ask the computer for a weather report, but a financial one from the company itself. They discover that the Tri-Oceanic Corp has already declared them dead, labelling it an accident. With the station suffering structural damage because of the creature, they decide to use their special dive suits as a means to escape, leaving the creature behind.
The creature attacks them while they are escaping, but they make it to the surface where they are met by the coast guard. However, the mutant creature surfaces near them and attacks Jones. Jones stalls it at the cost of his life and Beck uses the opportunity to end the creature by throwing an explosive into its mouth.
After they are hauled onboard a ship, the two survivors are greeted by Martin. Martin tells them she believed they would make it, smiling insincerely. Without breaking stride or pausing as he walks past her, but Beck punches her in the face, knocking her out, for obvious reasons.
[edit] The Monster
The creature in the movie was a byproduct of bad Russian genetic engineering in their attempts to make a human fully adapted to marine life. They slipped marine-based mutagens into the crew of the Leviathan which cost them their lives. The creature itself is made up of several marine life forms and the most visible of its makeup is octopus, eel, lamprey, and viperfish. While strong and able to adapt to the harsh pressures of deep ocean, the creature itself needs blood for nutrition. The creature doesn't eat any of its victims, but assimilated their bodies into a single entity. Victims that didn't die from the mutation process retain only their minds; their bodies will become part of the monster itself.
