# Deep Rising

Deep Rising is a 1998 American action horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Treat Williams, Famke Janssen and Anthony Heald. It was distributed by Hollywood Pictures and Cinergi Pictures and released on January 30, 1998. While the film was a critical and box office failure, it has been regarded as a cult film.

## Plot

Amidst a storm, Captain John Finnegan and his crew, Joey Pantucci, and Leila are hired by mercenaries Hanover, Mulligan, Mason, Billy, T-Ray, Mamooli, and Vivo to pilot their boat across the South China Sea to an undisclosed rendezvous point. Meanwhile, the Argonautica, a luxury cruise ship built and owned by Simon Canton, is undertaking its maiden voyage. A saboteur eventually disables its navigation and communication systems. Something rises from beneath and rams the vessel, leaving it dead in the water, as the passengers are slaughtered by unseen monstrous creatures.
A speedboat that the Argonautica has shaken loose collides with Finnegan's boat. The mercenaries seize control with the intention of looting the passengers and vault of the Argonautica and then using the torpedoes stored on board to sink the ship. Leaving Leila and Billy behind to repair the boat, the group boards the ship, where the creatures kill them both. The group reaches the ballroom only to find blood and no sign of the passengers. Finnegan and Joey go to the ship's workshop to scavenge parts to repair the boat. Meanwhile, the creatures kill T-Ray as he investigates the unusual noises. The creatures drag Mamooli away from Hanover, forcing Finnegan and Joey to escape. Trillian, an imprisoned passenger, encounters them. Meanwhile, Hanover's group reaches the vault, and Vivo opens it. However, Canton, who was hiding inside with Captain Atherton and three other passengers, mistakenly kills Vivo. Mason and Mulligan panic and accidentally kill off the passengers.
Canton is found to be the saboteur, having hired the mercenaries to sink the unprofitable ship so that he could collect on the insurance. The creatures then attack and eat Atherton. Canton theorizes that the creatures are an evolution of the Ottoia, which drain their victims of their bodily fluids and then eject the bloody carcasses. As the survivors flee, Mason is grabbed by a creature and kills himself by detonating a grenade. Mulligan elects to stay behind in the crew's galley until a rescue party can arrive. The creature eventually approaches Mulligan, who scares it off with fire of the stove in the kitchen before being devoured from behind by another one.
In a running battle, the survivors find themselves being herded towards the ship's bow and find a "feeding ground" full of bloody skeletal remains. Attempting to rid himself of any witnesses to his insurance scam, Canton misleads the others to the bow while he moves towards an exit route. The creatures break through the hull, flooding the lower decks and separating the survivors. Hanover wounds Joey to slow the creatures and is eventually devoured by one. As an act of mercy, Joey leaves Hanover a gun. However, Hanover wastes his only shot trying to kill Joey and is consumed.
Finnegan and Trillian spot an island and return to Finnegan's boat, but—having lost the engine parts—find it useless as a means of escape. Joey returns and begins repairs, and Finnegan sets the boat's autopilot to crash into the Argonautica and detonate the torpedoes. Trillian returns to the Argonautica and locates a jet ski with the fuel they can use to reach the island, but Canton arrives armed with a flare gun. Canton asks Trillian to join him or hand over the keys, but she flees and he chases her. Finnegan pursues Canton to the ballroom on the main deck, saving Trillian. The creatures smash through the main deck and are revealed to be tentacles of a vast deep-sea monster—the Octalus—rather than individual entities. The Octalus grabs hold of Finnegan, who shoots it in the eye, blinding it and freeing himself, and he and Trillian escape on the jet ski. Canton flees the Argonautica by jumping onto Finnegan's boat, but breaks his leg doing so. Crippled, he cannot disable the autopilot and dies as the boat crashes into the Argonautica, detonating the torpedoes and destroying both ships and the Octalus.
Finnegan and Trillian reach the island and reunite with Joey, who they thought had died. A roar then echoes from the jungle. The island turns out to have an active volcano in the distance as something big comes crashing through the trees towards the beach.

## Cast

* Treat Williams as John Finnegan
* Famke Janssen as Trillian St. James
* Anthony Heald as Simon Canton
* Kevin J. O'Connor as Joey Pantucci
* Wes Studi as Hanover
* Derrick O'Connor as Captain H.W. Atherton
* Jason Flemyng as Mulligan
* Cliff Curtis as Mamooli
* Clifton Powell as Mason
* Trevor Goddard as T-Ray
* Djimon Hounsou as Vivo
* Una Damon as Leila
* Clint Curtis as Billy

## Production

Stephen Sommers began writing the script to Deep Rising, then called Tentacle, when he worked at Hollywood Pictures in the mid-1990s. Sommers was inspired to write the script for the film after reading a National Geographic article about jellyfish. Claire Forlani was originally cast as Trillian St. James, but dropped out after just three days, due to creative differences with Sommers, and Famke Janssen was subsequently cast. Janssen almost did not get the part because the producers felt she was too recognizable from GoldenEye. Harrison Ford turned down the role of John Finnegan, which later went to Treat Williams, and the film's budget was later downsized.
Filming for Deep Rising began on June 12, 1996, and lasted until October 18 of that year. The film was originally set for release in the fall of 1997, but was delayed until the following January 1998. Industrial Light and Magic was responsible for the film's special effects while Rob Bottin who had previously worked on The Thing and on Paul Verhoven's RoboCop was hired as the special makeup effects designer.
The exterior shots of the cruise ship Argonautica were created by computer-generated imagery; it is an original design not based on any existing vessel. Two models of the cruise ship were created, a 38-foot (12 m) model for shots of the Argonautica on the ocean, and a 110-foot (34 m) model for the sinking of Argonautica.

## Reception
### Box office

On its opening weekend, the film made $4,737,793 (42% of its total gross), ranking #8. It ended with a total intake of $11.2 million in North America.

### Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 36%, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 10, based on 36 reviews. The website's "Critics Consensus" for the film reads, "Its fleeting glimpses of creature feature mayhem are certainly dumb fun, but Deep Rising cribs from far too many better movies to stand on its own." Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert included the film in his most hated list. Ebert called the film "essentially an Alien clone with a fresh paint job". Variety's Leonard Klady said the film "is an old-fashioned B-movie with A-budget effects, but the quality sheen can't disguise the cheap-thrills hokum."
Ty Burr, writing for Entertainment Weekly called the film "a tightly written, often howlingly funny Aliens knockoff that, in its portrayal of tough men and tougher women under pressure, favorably recalls the work of Howard Hawks", giving it a grade of "B−". Bloody Disgusting wrote, "Excellent cast, State-of-art special effects, and terrific acting, this is a movie that should not be missed."
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.
Deep Rising has gone on to become a cult film. Later, director Stephen Sommers said: "It didn't do a ton of business, but it has a very fervent following."

## Home media

Deep Rising was released on DVD and VHS on October 19, 1998, both of which are now out of print. It was released as a 2-Disc Special Edition on DVD and Blu-ray on August 7, 2007. It was released on Blu-ray as a double feature with The Puppet Masters from Mill Creek Entertainment on October 9, 2012. Kino Lorber re-released the film on DVD and Blu-ray with new special features on August 21, 2018.