I am and have always been a fan of Italian cinema, especially horror. The Italians used to be the masters of it but sadly that ended in the 1990's.This late 80's monster feature tells the story of an evil cooporation dumping nuclear waste into a volcano on a secluded island. It's down to a reporter, her cameraman and a er.....snake expert to bring them down.But of course things aren't that simple, we have to throw into the mix an alien monster creature....thing.Starring the always excellent Charles Napier, this above average monster film is actually well made but suffers on levels you would naturally expect. From the questionable script to the views of the monster being so restricted Alien From The Deep was doomed from the start but manages to remain watchable regardless.Not one of the many Italian masterpieces but a harmless fluff piece for fans of the genre.The Good:Charles NapierSFX are above parThe Bad:Some of the script is rather badMonster doesn't get enough real screentimeThings I Learnt From This Movie:In order to strike their foes Snakes can jump 6ft verticallyA snake bite to the ankle will cause a wound in the knee
... View MoreA cheap and cheezy sci-fi/horror clunker from director Antonio Margheriti, Alien From The Deep joins the select list of titles that have proved so tedious that they have taken me three successive nights to finish. Congratulations, Antonio!The film stars sexy blonde Marina Giulia Cavalli as Jane, a Greenpeace activist who, along with her cameraman Lee (Robert Marius), sneaks onto a high security island where an unscrupulous corporation has been dumping radioactive waste into the heart of an active volcano, an irresponsible act that results in a stream of pure energy being emitted into space, much to the annoyance of an huge, ugly alien who comes to Earth and smashes stuff with its massive claw.Judging by the amount of recycling that's going on here, Margheriti has clearly taken his film's ecological theme to heart: the director employs well-worn ideas from James Cameron's Aliens and The Abyss for his lousy script, while his monster looks like it has been constructed from old bits and pieces scavenged from a local junkyard. Antonio isn't wasteful when it comes to excitement or scares either, delivering very little of either, the action being repetitive and uninspired (lots of dreary running around the jungle and skulking around a factory) and the horror element almost non existent. The alien doesn't even make an appearance until about an hour in, and when it does show up, it's a massive disappointment, a poorly-conceived bio-mechanical being that looks like it's being wheeled around on a trolley before eventually rising to its feet where it wobbles uncertainly like a newborn baby deer.This kind of trash usually tries to compensate for its many inadequacies with some splatter and nudity, but Alien From The Deep fails to satisfy in both departments, with only one decent moment of gore (a diver emerging from the sea with his face melted off) and Cavalli only going so far as stripping to her underwear Ripley-style, except that her vest is baggier and her panties are bigger.2.5 out of 10, rounded up to 3 for IMDb.
... View MoreAntonio Margheriti's Alien from the Deep is a gonzo Aliens rip-off, to be sure, and one not to be missed by fans of Margheriti's work as well as Italian exploitation cinema! Any film featuring Charles Napier as the tough-talking, no-nonsense, get-it-done military type is worth checking out but only Aliens from the Deep features Luciano Pigozzi doing his best impression of Lucio Fulci and an alien so outrageous, so comedic, that you will never look at crustaceous meals the same way again. There's no denying that Alien from the Deep is an uneven film, it starts out as an action adventure film with cheesy B-movie potential and then steadily declines into an unintentionally hilarious sci-fi horror film featuring a massive crab's claw swinging back and forth.As I mentioned above, cult actors like Charles Napier, Luciano Pigozzi and Robert Marius star in this delightful stinker so expect good to adequate acting. Hit or miss acting aside, there's no denying the quality of the production values in this film, I was greatly impressed with the colors, sets and costumes, despite the low budget. It boggles the mind how far some of these Italian filmmakers were able to go in order to stretch their dollars to get a certain "look" and "feel," even if the film itself was a bomb.Aliens from the Deep is one of those films that you shouldn't over-think, it is what it is and you just have to kick back and enjoy the ride. For me two things really stood out in this production and that was the forehead-slappingly bad creature and the painful dialog. The minute you see the alien tooling about like a remote control car, wildly swinging its claw and, eventually, standing up to reveal its Rickets-riddled legs, you'll fall in love with this film. Before you get to the "good stuff" though you'll be forced to suffer through the dialog which mainly consists of the actors each getting a turn saying, "Balls!" Carpi must have had a rough time writing this gem! From beginning to end, I enjoyed this film. No need to polish a turd, my review is pretty clear. You're either going to be entertained or you won't be. I recommend giving it a rental.
... View MoreGreat entertainment here, folks. I had the pleasure to watch the UNCUT Japanese print of this cool Italian "Alien" rip-off. The action sequences are violent and full of automatic weapons. The soldiers are evil in their conquest to stop a man and woman from spilling the secret of nuclear dumping in a volcano. It seems before they can get away, the radiation attracts an evil alien intent on taking over the world. Even tho the alien monster is silly, the movie on a whole is a decent spaghetti-made gory alien monster movie!Rating: 7/10 because even tho the budget was small, director Antonio Margheriti still manages to catch the attention of the audience and the effects are pretty gory. If you liked this movie, also check out "Cannibal Apacalypse" and "Blood For Dracula" for more shocks!
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