The Rift (1990)

Remember James Cameron's "The Abyss", well that started a short-lived craze for dangerous Sci-fi/ horror underwater features in the late 80s and branching from that came some monster efforts in the vein of "Deepstar Six" and "Leviathan". Director Juan Piquer Simón (known for the outrageous slasher "Pieces" and enjoyably nasty "Slugs") cash-in "Endless Descent aka The Rift" falls more in the latter crowd. It amusedly knows what it is and keeps to its strengths. Sometimes laughable, but it works.A high tech experimental submarine Siren One has disappeared in a rift and Wick Hayes the creator of the design is asked to return to be part of a team in Siren II in the search of the missing sub. As they dive deeper they come across a black box transmission, but also encounter underwater life forms that might just be more to it than what they were prepared for.After getting off to a slow start setting up the situation, it eventually builds itself up rapidly by rallying up some intense moments, bloody surprises and imaginatively elastic monster designs (largely underwater plant life and roaming tentacles) that really make an impression the further along the film goes. The comprised special effects are neatly realised, adding in some cheaply punishing jolts but still having creativity within them. Obviously a low-budget and quickly produced enterprise, and clunky story takes elements from other films (Galaxy of Terror comes to mind) which took away any sense of narration surprises, but clichés / and predictability aside Simon does a decent job putting them together in a fairly entertaining, if daft mixture. His tightly measured direction works in its favour creating a compact, but arrestingly threatening atmosphere, along with Joel Goldsmith's spine-tingling music score that complements the terrors waiting in the unknown.The acting is far from great and a junky script doesn't help either, but having the likes of dependable stars as R. Lee Emery, Ray Wise, Jack Scalia, Deborah Adair and small parts from Edmund Purdom and Garrick Hagon give it a lot stability. John Toles-Bey plays the token wise-cracking character with the stunning Ely Pouget in a ripe, no-bull turn.It might not match the professional gloss of the other mentioned underwater features, but it's definitely my favourite of its ilk. Generic, but fun.

The underwater sub called Syren 1 is disappeared at a depth of 30.000 feet , and his designer named Wick (Jack Scalia) is sent down by NATO (chief played by Edmund Purdom) to investigate it . The mission on board a sub called Syren 2 is commanded by a stiff captain (R. Lee Ermey) , the crew is formed by a misfit group (Ray Wise , John Toles Bey , Emilio Linder , Ely Pouget , Frank Braña) and a scientific (Deborah Adair) , former Wick's love interest . Tracking a black box signal , the submarine heads to the deep rift where they find several surprises and dangers .This Sci-Fi/fantasy movie is a mingle of various films , as the deep rift with monsters (Leviathan , Deepstar six) , a crew saboteur (Alien) , a giant mother of creepy monster (Aliens) and abysmal underwater mystery with weird beings (Abyss) . Acceptable playing and good acting by Lee Ermey , as always , who brings nice performance as a commandant , his usual role . Secondary cast is full of Spanish actors , such as Frank Braña , Luis Lorenzo , Tony Isbert and even Pocholo Martinez Bordiú , grandson of dictator Francisco Franco . Cheesy but enjoyable special effects and creatures by Colin Arthur (The Neverending story) . Scale models and functional maquette work by Emilio Ruiz del Rio and Francisco Prosper . Passable cinematography by Juan Marine , Juan Piquer's ordinary cameraman . Atmospheric and adjusted musical score by Joel Goldsmith, Jerry Goldsmith's son . It's produced in middling produced by Francesca DeLaurentiis , daughter of the great Dino . Francesca hired David Coleman to rewrite a 250 pages draft by Colin Wilson . At the beginning the story was set in outer space in an earlier draft of the script but then was subsequently considered an underwater setting . After producing Leviathan (1989) for about $30 million , Dino De Laurentiis, albeit uncredited, decided to finance this low budget version of his own bigger budgeted movie . The picture was professionally directed by Juan Piquer Simon (Slugs , Pieces , Extraterrestrials visitors , Supersonic Man), and also producer . The principal shooting for this film lasted eight weeks . Moreover , an additional fourteen weeks was spent shooting the special effects for this movie . Rating : Average but entertaining.

Only good if you are in the mood for an idiotic laugh-fest on the order of Plan 9 From Outer Space.Here are a few of the more brilliant quotes from this movie that takes itself way too seriously:"You're my kind of white boy, Wick""We're passing 45,000 feet!" -- the deepest trench on earth is the Marianas trench at 35,813 feet"Reverse the polarity" and "Divert all power to the main engines" -- what is this, the USS Enterprise?"Here we got nothing but darkness and goose bumps"And some of the stupidest looking movie monsters you will ever see.

ZERO stars out of ****Endless Descent has absolutely no redeeming values, whether it's the ridiculously bad acting, the laughably awful special effects, the incompetent direction, the stupid script, or the gratingly annoying musical score. It's the kind of pitiful production that makes me wonder how a movie like this could even have the slightest consideration for being greenlighted by a studio in the first place.I don't think I'm going to delve into the plot other than to say it's about a bunch of people who are trapped under the water and have to kill a lot of fake-looking creatures.Let me go more into detail as to what is so awful about this flick. First of all, the acting is simply horrendous. Jack Scalia is ten times worse than Sylvester Stallone, a feat that is hard enough to accomplish as it is. The supporting performances aren't really any better. And what is with actor Luis Lorenzo, the guy who plays the cook, Francisco. He has a high-pitched voice and an accent that sounds appropriate for a comedy, not a sci-fi horror film.The special effects are even worse. The creatures range from weird-looking eels to giant starfish and "mostquitoes." The effects look like something you would see in a muppet movie, and I don't believe I need to delve further in this issue.Director J.P. Simon has slight cult status because of all the terrible films he's made. I'm sure some will enjoy Endless Descent in an Ed Wood type of way, but I don't even think it's that good. Everything he does is shoddy, especially the camerawork. The man cannot direct a movie, that's all there is to it.This was the last of four films that took place underwater, and it sure does make Leviathan and Deep Star Six (Both bad films in their own right) start to look masterful in comparison. Either way, just stick with The Abyss.