It’s not quite as effective as its inspirations – ‘The Thing’ and ‘Alien’ chief among them – but ‘Leviathan’ still proves to be a satisfying slice of sci-fi horror. It even boasts creature effects work from Stan Winston and music from Jerry Goldsmith, so it’s clear what the filmmakers were trying to emulate here – and that’s not a bad thing.
Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and inadvertently bring back dangerous cargo to their ocean-floor base. What begins as an infection gradually becomes worse, and soon the crew must fight to survive against a genetic mutation that hunts them down one by one…
We’ve seen this type of premise executed in space and on land, so it’s refreshing to see it unfold in suitably claustrophobic fashion under the ocean to deliver some deep-sea terror. The isolation creates an atmosphere of threat: no help can arrive, and escape seems impossible. Throw in a Lovecraftian monster and there’s lots of potential.
Peter Weller heads a solid cast that also includes Ernie Hudson and Daniel Stern, while the production design team do an admirable job of making the location feel authentic, with some neat retrofuturistic touches for equipment that soon substitute for makeshift weaponry in the latter half of the film.
Overall, ‘Leviathan’ is an enjoyable horror. It does lack the visceral intensity, fear factor, and lasting impact of the other genre films it derives its core ideas from, but on its own terms it engrosses and entertains. Good direction keeps you wary of the ever-growing threat, and the practical effects are welcomingly gruesome.
Score = 7.5/10
The SS Criticism 