DeepStar Six

1989 Directed by Sean S. Cunningham

Not All Aliens Come From Space. Save Your Last Breath... To Scream.

The crew of an experimental underwater nuclear base are forced to struggle for their lives when their explorations disturb a creature who threatens to destroy their base.

Taurean Blacque Nancy Everhard Greg Evigan Miguel Ferrer Nia Peeples Matt McCoy Cindy Pickett Marius Weyers Elya Baskin Thom Bray Ronn Carroll

Alternative Titles

Deep Star Six - Das Grauen in der Tiefe, The Deep Six, Deep Six, DeepStar Six - Das Grauen in der Tiefe, Deep Star Six

action thriller horror science fiction

105 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Ian West ★★★ 2

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Full on 50’s style sci-fi creature feature horror jam invaded the late 80’s aquatic horror cycle and I am all about it. I love when people get trapped with a disgusting sea beast alien fish crab... plus Miguel Ferrer gets to lose his shit and accidentally stabs a lead scientist with a shark harpoon shortly after setting off a nuclear bomb underwater???
Yeah, I’m in... plus Cunningham and Manfredini? DeepStar the 13th. A silly popcorn muncher.
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★½ 5

1989 gave birth to a plethora of deep sea creature features The Abyss and Leviathan being the cream of the crop, I still managed to find some entertainment value in Deepstar Six!
Cheap production values, so-so script and woeful acting, and dated, less than desirable special effects it still managed to lead us down the primrose path into the realm of suspense and horrifying creature action sequences that tickled my fancy!
Nothing to write home about but suitable for a lazy afternoon lounging on the couch with a bowl of popcorn! Suspend your disbelief, go with the flow and let its cheesy goodness wash over you and you'll have a good time!
Review by Disgustipated ★★★

Hooptober 5.0 - 2018 - Film #29
So, there are a bunch of people in a research/military base at the furthest depths of the ocean. They are doing things like looking for ancient sea creatures and installing a nuclear missile launch pad. Stuff like that. Nothing could possibly go wrong here. Until it does.
It's kind of a sci-fi version of Jaws at the bottom of the ocean. And it shares a director with Friday the 13th. I never really thought about how Sean S. Cunningham might have have directed something else. Well this is one of those something elses. And it's not great, which despite my love for Friday, I guess it is no big surprise.
Deep Star Six…
Review by 🆁🅸🅻🅴🆈 ★★★★

Is it not obvious that I love the fuck out of aquatic horror? Deep sea creature flick directed by Sean Cunningham, scored by Harry Manfredini, with the usual Alien-esque set design, an incompetent crew and some serious eye candy in the McBride character. Sure we could’ve seen more of the monster, it had some dated effects and slow moments particularly in the beginning, but I enjoyed the hell out of DeepStar Six! The opening of the film is what I always envisioned the Deep Blue Sea opening should’ve been. 9% on RT is kinda unforgiving it’s not that bad.... Did I forget to mention HARRY MANFREDINI scores this film??? The guy is so talented, underrated and an overall treasure. I wish studios were brave enough to release more popcorn aquatic horror to satisfy my insane hunger for them. Cannot believe I’m just now seeing this. Instant favorite.
Review by belial_carboni ★★★ 6

I hadn't seen this in a while. Another underwater Alien ripoff that's filled with cheese and low budget vibes. There's still something charming about films like these. I think it's the ambitious nature of trying to make such an imaginative story come to life.
An underwater exploration vessel has discovered a deadly Alien that threatens their mission. Theres a few familiar faces and the performances aren't too bad. I couldn't help but chuckle at seeing Lyoyd Braun from Seinfeld act all serious. Cant take his dopey face seriously at all. There are some pacing issues throughout and the creature only really shows up towards the end.
Not a bad or great film by any means but a good way to kill some time.
Review by claire ❤️ diane 1

i could honestly watch stressed out motley crews of lovable misfits banter underwater or in outer space forever. just enjoy them going about their jobs building missile platforms or wandering around industrial research stations or talking on radios or pressing buttons on blinking panels or talking about how they need a day off or whatever it is they're doing for hours. i am a simple woman.
Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★

Eat this, you big sack of fish shit!
-Dr. Diane Norris
Sean S. Cunningham brings his Friday the 13th sensibilities to a full blown sea monster movie. The problem is 1989 also saw the release of Leviathan and that other deep sea film by that one-hit Canadian director so it has a tendency to be overlooked in the annals of underwater sci-fi film history.
Here's the deal though, of course this film looks like shit compared to The Abyss, but there's films coming out now, over 25 years later, that look like shit in comparison also. For a late 80s monster b-movie though, this movie looks great. The miniatures are quaint along with the sometimes campy special effects, but most…
Review by Travis Lytle ★★½

Of the three underwater adventure films to grace theaters in 1989, Sean S. Cunningham's "DeepStar Six" is easily the most limited; but, while it may not have the production value of "The Abyss" or the thrills of "Leviathan," it still makes for watchable piece of water-logged horror. It rarely stands out, but it is not completely unworthy of an audience's time.
Its story is straightforward, following the attempts of an experimental underwater installation's crew to survive when its station is infiltrated by a monstrous force. There is not much character depth, and the hideous assailant is not satisfyingly explained, but the plot supplies a solid basis for minor thrills and requisite splatter.
The Cannon production looks a little low on…
Review by The Great Owl ★★★★½ 2

The eleven crew members of DeepStar Six, a U.S. Navy outpost miles below the surface of the ocean, inadvertently unleash a monstrous horror after they uncover a cavern during a missile installation project. Our endangered protagonists have mere hours to abandon their damaged facility before it is destroyed by a reactor explosion, but they must repair the decompression system in order rise out of the depths. Meanwhile, the prehistoric sea creature freed by their exploration is picking them off one by one.
During the glory days of VHS rental stores decades ago, I must have checked out the 1989 sci-fi horror feature, DeepStar Six, dozens of times, marveling at the special effects of the monster, which looks like a massive…
Review by Kaliofthedolls ★★★★★ 3

The sea creature's face was like Demogorgon (you know from Stranger Things) and those were based off Jaws (interestingly enough) so since Stranger Things was set in the 80s I want it to know I See What You Did There.
I could have used more monster and more underwater scenes, if I'm being honest, (monster had like 4 minutes of screen time tops!), there was a lot of stressful bickering that bored me but I get that this slides into that late 80s aquatic horror niche and I'm here for it. I really liked the decompression horror show... I had this scuba instructor assisting on my first day and his name was Klaus and he had a voice just like…
Review by Paul D ★★★ 3

Hooptober V: A New Beginning #1
An experimental underwater facility is installing a installing a nuclear missile launch site when the crew unwittingly open up a massive cavern and the menace contained therein.
Well, I say unwittingly, but actually it's another one of those situations where one person is warning of the possibility of danger and the man in charge ignores the advice because he's got a deadline, damnit!
And wouldn't you know it, not only is there a great big cave but it's got something really big and hungry inside.
Sensibly they chose to keep the monster hidden from the viewer and indeed from the crew until well into the second half of the movie and successfully manage to…
Review by Gibnerd ★★★ 2

What was going on 1989 that people thought we needed so many deep sea team finds something crazy in the water movies? and how come not one of them is really all that memorable? there was Leviathan, The Evil Below, Lords of the Deep, The Rift and even the classiest of the bunch The Abyss failed to click with most audiences. DeepStar Six comes from Friday the 13th creator Sean Cunningham and is pretty much a combination of a slasher in a sea port station thing and a 1950s style giant rubber monster movie. there's not a whole lot of special in this movie except maybe in the last 20 minutes or so when the Chris Walas designed monster begins…

Recent reviews

Review by PatrickRipoll ★★★

Obviously can't touch the craft of something like The Abyss but I never thought Cunningham would even be able to remind me of Cameron as much as he does here. Very pleasant science-jargon collaboration stuff, Miguel Ferrera's depressurization is really gross and cool. Not enough of the creature, though.
Review by 🆁🅸🅻🅴🆈 ★★★★

Is it not obvious that I love the fuck out of aquatic horror? Deep sea creature flick directed by Sean Cunningham, scored by Harry Manfredini, with the usual Alien-esque set design, an incompetent crew and some serious eye candy in the McBride character. Sure we could’ve seen more of the monster, it had some dated effects and slow moments particularly in the beginning, but I enjoyed the hell out of DeepStar Six! The opening of the film is what I always envisioned the Deep Blue Sea opening should’ve been. 9% on RT is kinda unforgiving it’s not that bad.... Did I forget to mention HARRY MANFREDINI scores this film??? The guy is so talented, underrated and an overall treasure. I wish studios were brave enough to release more popcorn aquatic horror to satisfy my insane hunger for them. Cannot believe I’m just now seeing this. Instant favorite.
Review by Jake ★★½

Being a fan of underwater set science fiction and horror films with The Abyss and Leviathan released the same year as this being particular favourites, so I was excited to see this even more so when I realised director/producer Sean S. Cunningham was involved but sadly this was deeply underwhelming. That said the majority of the production is great, the score is well-done, the final half hour or so is really fun and the cast is decent but the rest of this film undermines what could have been an entertaining effort.
Review by GoreDad ★★½

Miguel Ferrer (RIP) truly carries this movie. Some interesting and inventive kills make it worth watching. The creature itself is serviceable at best. The filmmaking is decent. If you’re a fan of the genre, watch it for sure.
Review by ratkingsfinest ★★★

"Eat this you big sack of fish shit"
My favorite thing about DeepStar Six is how the monster is only responsible for like 20% of the destruction while the majority of death and disaster is caused by the crew!
I fell back and forth between liking this and not caring for it a hundred times during my watch before landing on it as just being okay since that's it, it's just OKAY. For the first hour and twenty minutes this is just watching a group of people do their job and try to get out of an underwater mishap with very very little creature action but a lot of other intensities to make up for it. Even once the ancient…
Review by CaputMortuum ★★★½

I watched this entirely because there’s an atmospheric diving suit on the poster. It’s an alright movie! It’s about a bunch of researchers in a deep sea station filled with blinking lights and wires. They have to go up against a monster crustacean and also their coworker who keeps accidentally making bad decisions that put them in danger. There were some fun, the-ocean-is-scary kills (especially when someone was crushed by explosive decompression). At one point a JIM suit was used and as an atmospheric diving suit enthusiast you know I loved that. Overall a fine 80s underwater monster movie
Review by Dee ★★★

The monster looks like it's made of paper maché and yet this is still a childhood favorite. It just has that certain cheesy stink that never got old to me.
Review by TomSteffler ★★★★

All the camp and violence of Friday the 13th but in an aquatic creature thriller. Fun practical effects, exciting set pieces, and explosive decompression. This one’s a banger.
Review by blak_katz ★★★★

A good movie with named actors.
Review by Alex Dawson ★★★

Can’t quite determine if this or Leviathan is the superior Abyss rip (of course everyone agrees The Rift is a league above). Has some boring parts, but it’s not as bad as its reputation. Would’ve been even better if "Give me rent!" was the main guy.
Miguel Ferrer gets to apply his stock and trade, and "Serenity now" lends his charm. Pretty good aquatic action sequences, some undersea eroticism, a couple wild gore moments, and a cool practical giant crab monster. I remember catching the shark harpoon scene on tv when I was very little, which fucked me up slightly.
Review by volt1up ★★★

Miguel Ferrer was great in this. Movie is like precursor to Underwater (2020), which I also liked.
Review by Brendan Shelton ★★★

Surprisingly fun after the very slow and awkward first 20 minutes. I get that they were going for an Alien feel but it just doesn't land.
Once the crew starts having to solve problems and such though, it ramps up! Miguel Ferrer is great, and the monster is really cool (though it does seem to change size whenever the plot needs it to).