philosoraptor42

Leviathan (1989)

I hadn't heard many strong recommendations for Leviathan and many seemed to dismiss it as an Alien rip-off. But a few seemed to speak of it fondly.

The big selling point here is Peter Weller. He was awesome as Robocop. Even in the flawed post-apocalyptic killer robot film "Screamers" Weller's central performance kept me remarkably engaged.

Meg Foster also appears here doing her Evil Lyn thing as the company boss. She has.this delicious coldness to her performance which made "Masters of the Universe" such a favourite growing up.

And let's not forget the appearance of Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson.

This is a very engaging cast. Even though we are following a large deep sea drilling group, we can recognise and keep up with every member of that team.

The story owes as much to "The Thing" as to "Alien". Except with less pointless running down corridors than "Alien" and arguably less interchangeable characters than "The Thing". And while the effects are relatively cheap they are effective.

I had a great time with this film and frankly when done as well as this who cares if its similar to other films? In fact, there's a vampire theme here. The fear is not simply of being attacked but of being transformed.