The Undersea Horror Movies of the Late 1980s

This article comes fromDen of Geek UK.

Hollywood film studios occasionally have an uncanny knack of announcing almost identical film projects at the same time.

In the 1980s, we had rival police dog moviesK-9andTurner And Hooch.

We provided a detailed run-down on theserival movies back in 2015.

How do we account for this sudden wave of remarkably similar movies?

Ad content continues below

Director James Cameron was a Big Deal in 1986, following the successThe TerminatorandAliens.

Filming onThe Abysswas, famously, a nightmare.

I wanted to be first or I didnt want to do it.

The real star of the show, we suppose, is the prehistoric monster, designed by Chris Wallas.

Its not quiteScanners, but its still fairly gruesome.

Best line:Dont be an idiot!

Well explode like a bunch of ripe melons!

Leviathan (March 1989)

Of all the sub-Abysswater movies,Leviathanhas by far the best pedigree.

Best line:You dont know shit about skiing, man!

They dont have skiing in Spanish Harlem!

Best line:Yeah, lets trust in the business of science, huh?

Scalia plays Rick Hayes, the beefy, blow-dried designer of an experimental deep-sea vessel named the Siren I.

Descending into an uncharted trench, the Siren II finds a nightmare world of strange seaweed and hidden caves.

The Riftis, therefore, another movie that borrows from the Big Book Of Alien And Aliens.

All the same,The Riftexemplifies whats great about the late 80s brief yet intense rush ofAlien-under-the-water B-movies.

The Rift isnt big, and it sure isnt clever, but its jaw-droppingly entertaining.

Best line:The man has superior judgement, squid face.

Or:Captain, Flemings dead!