Creature features have long been a genre that horror lovers liked and devoured whenever the opportunity arose. This has worked particularly well for nasty, slimy, and, above all, lethal alien-like animals. And the creature in the film we are going to speak about today is all of these things and more.
In the year 1998, a creature feature called ‘Deep Rising’ was published. Famke Janssen, Treat Williams, and Anthony Herald feature in the film. Stephen Sommers directed this action-horror film, which follows a well-equipped band of thieves as they attempt to heist a luxurious ocean liner but instead come face to face with a massive, man-eating sea monster.
Sommers is recognized for action films with twists and turns, such as ‘Catch Me If You Can (1989) and ‘The Mummy’ (1999), as well as considerable Disney work. ‘Mummy Returns’ (2001) and ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ are two more intense films in which he has appeared. With all of these films under his belt, it is even more likely that ‘Deep Rising’ will keep you entertained in the suspense and action sector. Without further ado, let us jump straight into the plot and discover how many of the gang members and passengers survive this doomed cruise ship.
What Exactly ‘Goes Down’ in Deep Rising?
It’s not just the big and fancy ocean liner that goes down in this action-packed movie. We have everything starting from a bizarre creature to betrayals, losses, and new love, all in one place. The movie begins with an ominous montage of a large and deep underwater mountain range with canyons under the South China sea.
Text on the screen appears and informs the viewers that lots of vessels have disappeared mysteriously in that deep and unexplored area of the ocean. There is the sound of the water rushing and we see sunken ships and ruins when you hear some creature roaring. The movie was originally titled ‘Tentacles’ as an ode to this creature that will be the main villain for the rest of the film.
We are quickly introduced to the main characters in this movie as we see a crew of men on a boat. Onboard is a gang of thieves whose leader is a man called Hanover and the rest of them are Mamooli, Tray, Viva, Mason, Mulligan, and Billy. Along with them are 3 others who are in charge of transporting this gang of thieves to a specific location in the middle of the ocean.
These three include Finnegan, the captain of the ship, Pantucci, the engineman, and Leila, the deckhand. The interesting fact here is that the role of Finnegan, who is the hero of the film was originally supposed to be played by Harrison Ford but the role went to veteran actor Treat Williams when Ford turned it down. Famke Janssen was also the second choice, behind Claire Forlani.
We are introduced to a massive ocean liner where there is a luxurious party going on with alcohol, beautiful women, gambling, and the works. The ship’s name is Argonautica and it is on its maiden voyage. Built by a man named Canton, it is the largest ever pleasure ship. The camera focuses on a woman in an eye-catching red dress, Trillian, who is pickpocketing the rich and famous on board the cruise and she hears a weird distant wailing from the ocean. This is a sign that things are about to go very wrong. The gang of thieves on the other hand chats and spend time, not knowing that tragedy will soon befall them.
Trillian tries stealing from the cruise ship vault with the Captain’s key card. While the attempt was a brave and slick one, she gets caught and thrown in the brig, where she has no choice but to spend time by herself. Little does she know that this is what will end up saving her life.
Back at the cruise ship, someone goes to the systems room and disengages it and all systems come crashing down.
While the crew tries to fix it, they notice something massive on the radar, directly beneath them, rising quickly. The massive object crashes into them and throws everyone into confusion and chaos. The scene closely resembles that of the Titanic, where the ship sinks as the men and women dressed in gowns and tuxedoes scramble for help.
Funnily enough, ‘Titanic’ washed out ‘Deep rising’ in the cinemas, and this film sunk when it came to the box office. However, we realize that it isn’t an ordinary accident when something comes through the toilet bowl and kills one woman in the washroom during the chaos.
As disorder ensues on the ocean liner, the crew of thieves also face trouble as they crash into a speedboat which results in a hole in the starboard of the ship, and their engine stops working. Desperate for help, Leila notices the ocean liner and they realize that reaching it was their only means of survival.
The gang of thieves take Finnegan, Leila, and Pantucci hostage and make their way to the ocean liner which to their confusion, isn’t moving. While Leila and Billy stay behind on the boat, the rest of the scale the side and break-in. As they make their way inside, they see that the whole cruise ship is a mess and no one is there.
The ship has blood all over its walls and floors but no bodies are to be found. They realize that something isn’t right. We also see that Trillian is still alive, and has survived the chaos in the brig. She hears noises and shaking in the pipes and manages to break through the door and make her way out. Back on the boat, while trying to fix the damage, Leila finds a dead body that has floated in through the starboard hole, and as she looks at it, something pulls her into the water.
T Ray hears the noises on the boat and goes off to investigate and gets torn to pieces by the creature. Blood splatters around the rest of them causing Mamooli to get agitated and they hear more animalistic sounds.
Trillian also in the meanwhile walks around the ship, investigating. The other half of the crew which included Hanover, find her and they open the vault. The moment they do, Canton kills Vivo, thinking that he is the creature.
Mamooli is also dragged away and killed by the creature and the water inside the ship turns red. Pantucci and Finnegan see this and try to run for their lives. Canton on the other hand asks Hanover for help and tells him that some creature is onboard and the creatures have killed all the passengers. Soon after, all the armed men find each other and agree to get out.
As they use the elevator, it malfunctions and free-fall straight down. They manage to get out and are faced with many skeletons with blood and mucus all over them. Something huge starts trying to break through the door and reach them and they run in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, back in the boat, Billy looks for Leila and gets killed by the creature, leaving the boat unmanned. As they regroup on the cruise liner, Canton tries explaining what happened and it doesn’t take long for Finnegan to figure out that it was Canton who had jammed the communications on the ship and helped Hanover steal from the vault.
But their plan had gone horribly wrong because this Kraken-like creature had shown up to the party. Canton had done all of this because he wanted the insurance money. Additionally, the creature somewhat resembles the Lovecraft horror mythological creature, Cthulu, what do you think?
Pantucci then gets attacked and they spot the giant spiral sea snake-like creature with many tentacles and spikes and mucus dripping from everywhere.
They start shooting at it and as they run in fear, they all get separated. The creature’s tentacles split open to reveal a mouth lined with teeth. Finnegan gets snatched by the creature and Trillian shoots at it, saving him. They make a deal to get each other out of the ship alive and we see the beginnings of a romance amidst this madness.
Canton finally explains to them what he thinks the monster might be. He says that the creature is from the Archaea Ottoia family and is some weird offshoot of the regular species that is known to man. Members of this species can grow enormous in the depths of the sea and are known to eat full-grown sharks. He says that they are mutated sea monsters that hide in burrows, hunt with their spikes, catch their prey in their mouth and suck all the juices and bodily fluids alive.
On hearing this, Finnegan decides to get on his boat and leave. However, things aren’t going to be easy. The power goes off while they search for the exit and they realize that the creatures ripped a hole through the hull and there is no way out, apart from an underwater passage. Finnegan and Hanover decide to be the ones to go into the underwater passage and swim through.
Most of them make it through and all the survivors gather together to regroup and decide what to do and how to get out. Mulligan wants to stay in the crew galley while Finnegan wants to move, which results in a stand-off between Mulligan and Hanover, in true alpha male fashion. As they are making a decision, however, the creature appears right behind Mulligan.
He shoots at it but as the only one who stays back, he gets eaten by the creature. The rest run to find the surface but the hatches start closing all around them, forcing them to the bow of the ship. When the group reaches the bow, they see that it is filled with all the skeletons of those who had died and is the feeding ground for the creature.
Suddenly, water rushes in through the hull and they run back. Here is where we see an epic betrayal, where Hanover shoots Pantucci so that he gets caught by the creatures, slowing them down, giving him a chance to escape. It is definitely interesting to note that ALL of this was shot in a water tank in Vancouver.
Canton, Finnegan, and Trillian soon spot an island near the ship. Trillian and Finnegan begin to look for a way to get to the island.
Canton finds Trillian who was searching for parts in the ship and pulls a gun on her. She escapes but he chases her for the key to a jetski she was holding. Thankfully Finnegan goes to look for her in time and reaches her as Canton finds her and takes the key away. He gets shot at by Finnegan and they hear wailing and explosions all over the ship as things start falling apart. This is where they finally see the entirety of the gigantic creature in all its glory.
It is not many creatures but one MASSIVE UGLY LOOKING THING and they start slowly stepping away. The creature grabs Finnegan and brings him towards its giant mouth all lined with teeth. However, as all heroes do, he shoots the creature right in the eye and manages to escape with Trillian. The CGI is impressive and was done by Industrial Light and Magic after Disney’s in-house artists were unable to complete the project on time.
He returns to his boat to find Joey missing and they assume that he is dead. He leaves the boat and Trillian finds him. They watch as Canton jumps onto their boat and tries to drive away. Finnegan and Trillian however escape on a jet ski as they are chased by the creature, while Canton sits on the boat which has no power and is thus unable to go anywhere. So much for his master plan!
The ocean liner blows up but Finnegan and Trillian make it out in time, and we watch as the creature blows up in the explosion. The next morning, they wash up onshore and the two of them kiss. Luckily, Pantucci also washes up on shore and they make their way into the island. Suddenly they hear ominous snarling and we see an aerial view of lava mountains indicating that their adventures are far from over.
Gigantic Sea Creature ‘Octalus’ Explained
The star of the show is not the beautiful Trillian or the handsome hunk that is Finnegan, it is in fact the massive, ugly, beastly, man-eating octopus-like creature. The fancy cruise ship had become infested with creatures that looked like huge worms that consumed and digested their prey alive, according to the passengers.
Canton had suggested that they are members of the Ottoia family of deep-sea archaeopriapulida worms, which have grown to enormous sizes in the oceanic trenches’ deepest depths. It was, in fact, a unique creature with multiple tentacles that digested the crew while it itself stayed within the ship’s central area and spit out the skeleton remnants.
The monster’s tentacles were capable of tearing open and swallowing a fully grown person, who was then digested with acids and spewed forth. The creature had high intelligence and could herd its prey into traps and dead ends. It lives in the ocean’s depths and only comes to the surface on rare occasions.
The prologue of the film suggests that ships from all eras have inexplicably vanished into the South China Sea and that the creature is to blame. Until today, no one has ever seen it, or rather, no one who has seen it has ever lived to tell the tale. It is definitely not an alien and is referred to as a mutated sea creature which in many ways resembles the Kraken from Greek Mythology.
Members of this species have been known to consume full-grown sharks and can grow to be massive at the depths of the sea. He claims that they are mutated sea creatures who lurk in burrows and hunt with their spikes, catching their prey in their mouth and sucking them alive by swallowing all of their body’s liquids and fluids.
It uses its massive size to its advantage and is also understood by the people on board to be intelligent. It is compared to the octopus species by Finnegan, as he explains that octopuses are highly intelligent when it comes to trapping and catching their prey. This makes it an even more formidable enemy, as if the razor-sharp teeth and skin melting, acid-like saliva wasn’t enough already.
The creature can be compared to the Lovecraftian horror creation, Cthulu as there is a striking resemblance between the two when it comes to the slimy tentacles, massive size, and emergence from the depths of the ocean. The creature also looks similar to the Kraken and adds to the lore of giant sea octopuses. It is true that as humans, we have barely explored the depths of the sea and we don’t know what might be lurking in these underwater canyons or in the Mariana Trench.
That is what makes this creature extremely real and entirely terrifying. The idea that it is in fact not an alien but a mutated version of an existing species adds to the dread. Would you go on a cruise ship that sailed over these depths? After watching this one, you might just reconsider.
Is Deep Rising 1998 a King Kong Prequel?
The only way to escape the creature-infested ship was to somehow make it to an island that Trillian and Finnegan had spotted while on the cruise ship. They managed to make it there on a jet ski by the end of the movie and were relatively unharmed as they reached the island. Their friend, Pantucci also reached the island safely and washed up ashore.
As they reunited and made their way into the island, presumably in search of civilization, food, and means of communication, we get a view of what lies ahead of them in the island itself. We see dense jungles and flowing lava along with a volcano that is spewing it.
The island on which the survivors are stranded at the conclusion of the film is more than a passing reference to ‘King Kong and Skull Island’. It was supposed to be a prequel to a King Kong remake, which would have also been directed by Stephen Sommers. An idea for a modern-day Kong reboot began circulating among Hollywood Pictures in the late 1990s.
It was supposed to be a response to Tri-Star Pictures’ ‘Godzilla’, which was released the same year and got mixed reviews. Sommers, who is already tied to the next Mummy reboot, showed a strong interest in being a part of the project when it was first picked up. The reboot ended up in what is known as “Development Hell” and was later passed on to other studios, finally becoming the foundation for Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake.
Why should you watch Deep Rising?
While at first glance ‘Deep Rising’ might look like your regular, run-of-the-mill action-adventure movie, it is far more than that once you do watch it. The characters and the actors add spice to the film on various different levels and the elements of betrayal, both from Hanover and Canton, adds to the suspense. The ending which keeps alive some of our favorite cast, along with delivering justice to both Hanover and Mastermind Canton is also equally satisfying. The film is well on its way to being a cult classic and is already considered one by many.
Deep Rising’s reputation has grown throughout the years. It’s now widely recognized for what it is: an underappreciated romp with the potential to become a cult classic in the future if it hasn’t already. The performances of Williams and Janssen, as well as O’Connor and Anthony Herald as the cruise ship’s weaselly owner, are amusing and knowledgeable. Sommers’ direction is also remarkable, as he fluidly transitions between genres. You never know what’s around the corner or what to expect next, much like the characters in the movie.
You should watch ‘Deep Rising’ for the action, the gory deaths, and the violence that gave this film its R rating; Sommers’s only R-rated film at the time. You should also watch this for the amazing VFX effects and an absolutely terrifying monster. Sometimes, old is gold, so definitely check this one out!