Main cast: Gina La Piana (Alex), Robert Miano (Russel Marsh), Johann Urb (Petri), Silvia Spross (Ingrid Krauer), Jackie Debatin (Deb), Nicolas Coster (Finley), Kelli Maroney (Ambrose Zadok), Timothy Muskatell (Dr Gene Rayburn)
Director: Chad Ferrin
Director and screenwriter Chad Ferrin loosely bases The Deep Ones on HP Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, Only, this one is set in the present day, and we have a couple, Alex and Petri, renting an Airbnb beachside house and meet such lovely townspeople that, sure enough, are hiding a dark secret. Gee, looking at the title of this movie, I can only wonder what secret that is…
On the bright side, this one has tentacles, rape by a sea monster, and other jolly fun stuff one associates with this kind of story.
On the down side, poor Gina La Piana is going to be remembered as the actor playing a lady that is raped by a dude in a monster outfit straight out of an Ultraman episode from the 1980s, complete with hilariously fake glowing eyes and all. The special effects are really ghastly here, making me suspect that these people only have enough to rent an Ultraman monster costume, a tentacle prop, and whatever leftover to pay some enterprising high school kid to help add in the rest of the effects.
Okay, so maybe the special effects are a dud, but how about the atmosphere? Sadly, the low budget of the movie also means that lighting is off, as some scenes are too bright while others are too dark to set a proper mood. Some characters sport some rather obvious heavy make-up that break immersion, especially when these people are at sea. The overall effect is that I can never forget that I am watching a low budget movie.
Fine, maybe the movie looks and feels cheap. How about the acting? Not much better, I’m afraid. Most of the cast overact and exaggerate their actions and conversations, so much so that I actually wonder whether Mr Ferrin is aiming for slapstick comedy instead of horror. Coupled to the unintentionally hilarious look and feel of the whole thing, this cartoon-y acting from the cast only makes it harder for me to take this thing any seriously.
I feel pretty bad saying all this because I’m sure Mr Ferrin, as a fan and someone that has been involved in the genre for a while now, means well. However, the end result is something that is neither scary nor thought-provoking, just a train wreck of sorts that fail to work at any level.
Well, all things said and done, I suppose some people may find some joy in the brief love scene at the beginning that shows a lot of skin, or some laughter from the scene of some poor woman getting raped by a dude in a rubber monster suit. I’m not sure if even die-hard HP Lovecraft purist fans that collect anything related to the mythos would appreciate this one, though, as Mr Ferrin tries to pass off Cthulhu as Dagon here. Cringe indeed, at many levels—this is what The Deep Ones serves up in abundance, if nothing else.
