Alien degli abissi (1989)

Director:

Antonio Margheriti

Writer:

Tito Carpi (writer)

Release Date:

7 March 1990 (France)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Horror

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Chemical Factory | Forbidden Island | Giant Monster | Helicopter | Snake

Cast

Daniel Bosch	...	Bob
Marina Giulia Cavalli	...	Jane (as Julia McKay)
Robert Marius	...	Lee (as Robert Paul Marius)
Luciano Pigozzi	...	Dr. Geoffrey (as Alan Collins)
Charles Napier	...	Colonel Kovacks
John Anthony Kater
Frank Wannack Dieter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Roberto Dell'Acqua	...	Guard

Also Known As:

Alien from the Deep (Philippines: English title)

Runtime:

France:90 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:U | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Latina, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Dania Film

Quotes:

Bob: I sell snake poison. The medical community calls it "venom" and pays very well for it.

Thoroughly amusing Italian-Filipino giant monster movie

Not exactly Margheriti's shining moment on screen, but it's still loads better than a lot of his other mid-to-late 80's work like CODE NAME: WILDGEESE or INDIO thanks to some energetic editing and rich special effects. Not to say the the effects budget was all that high, it was awfully low with plenty of painfully obvious miniatures blowing up in slow motion to make them look big. The goofiest effect has to be the full-sized robotic alien at the ending, which has lots of cool tubing and steam vents all over it but looked as though the crew had little or no control over it. When the alien first pops out of the woodwork it's legs dangle limply as though a crane is hoisting it up (and that's exactly what the crew probably used too).

To my knowledge, this is the only time Margheriti worked for Franco Gaudenzi, who usually worked fairly exclusively with Bruno Mattei. In comparison with most of Mattei similar work from the same period, this film seems almost classic. There's a fair amount of cheesy gore and horrendous acting. Co-star Robert Marius from AMERICAN COMMANDOS and COP GAME has to be the worst actor in the history of cinema. Aside from a pretty passive cameo by Charles Napier and Luciano Pigozzi wobbling around in his last role, the acting was all pretty uniformally hopeless. However, I don't see how this film earns the status as "Margheriti's worst film" even though it does flagrantly lift musical cues right out of Larry Cohen's Q - THE WINGED SERPENT. The film is exciting and action-packed enough so that it's never boring, and the finale isn't too big an ALIENS rip, with them using bulldozers instead of robotic lifters of course. Low budget in the extreme, but with enough amusing dialog and funny special effects to earn it a certain place in history. Not nearly as bad as Gaudenzi's other ALIENS ripoff produced the same year, SHOCKING DARK aka TERMINATOR II, which has to be an all new low.