Leviathan (1989) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 16, 1989

I saw this at the Presidio and it was one of the more memorable junk cinema experiences of 1989 for me.

Just like DeepStar Six, which came out around the same time, Leviathan was yet another underwater monster movie eager to siphon some cash from the growing excitement for James Cameron's undersea adventure movie The Abyss, which was slated for a late summer release that very same year. And, just like DeepStar Six, Leviathan fell short of profit making expectations.

While most of the necessary elements are there for Leviathan to work, it lacks the most vital creative element. The touch of a director who understands and appreciates the material. George P. Cosmatos, of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra fame, seems disinterested in unnerving the audience and, even worse, reluctant to utilize the impressive creature effects that were designed and created for the film. Which is too bad, as this could have been a creature feature worthy of the films that it so obviously trying to emulate (i.e. 1979's Alien and 1982's The Thing).