I purchased the DVD of War Gods of the Deep recently for 4.99 mainly because it had an interesting looking cover on the package.
The cast was also quite good but I really wasn't expecting much when I popped it into the player. I have to say that I was actually quite surprised and pretty well entertained for the duration of this short but imaginative little film. War Gods of the Deep has several things going for it....I shall attempt to list the key factors!
Vincent Price! Vincent Price! Vincent Price! What a talent that guy was. He is in peak form here. It was difficult to take your eyes off him as he delivered his lines with such power and dark eloquence. I had never really appreciated him until I watched this movie. Now I get it and want more Vincent Price. The man was a giant, what a voice and presence. Wow! The writers also provide him with several nice lines, for example. The
Tab Hunter character asks Price if he undersea city is Atlantis and Price says, "One name is as good as another" I loved that!
There are gloomy undertones of Edgar Allan Poe running throughout the movie. Several shots of the tide crashing against a lonely shore, recitations of Poe poetry by Price (awesome!), and of course there is the ever present sense of impending doom preceded by neglect and decay in every nook and cranny. After watching this I realized it would be nice to dig out my Poe books and read a bit.
The basic concept that drives the storyline is very interesting and stimulated my imagination. It owes a bit to 20,000 leagues under the sea and perhaps the legend of Atlantis but it still manages to be very unique. It goes something like this....an ancient but highly advanced race realizes their great city is sinking into the sea due to an active volcano. They build an incredible machine that pumps breathable air underwater via the power of said Volcano. Untold centuries pass and the city declines but the machines keep working. At last the people mutant into semi-monstrous gill men (the monster of the black lagoon variety) In approximately 1803 a group of smugglers stumble onto the city and use it as a hideout. Unfortunately for them they find the artificial life support system beneath the sea changes their bodies in ways that make it impossible to return to the surface except for brief periods at night. However, the changes in their bodies have incredibly made them immortal as well. They are led by the clever and highly intelligent Captain Hugh (Price) who rules with an iron hand.
The Captain often sends the gill men into the world above to forage for scientific books that he can use to understand the technology left behind by the ancient builders of the undersea city. Not helping matters is the fact that the volcano has become unstable and everything is subject to come crashing down at any moment. At last the Captain's monsters kidnaps a beautiful woman who reminds him of his late wife and mayhem results when hunky Tab Hunter comes to the rescue. Hunter's sidekick plays it for laughs mostly, he carries a pet rooster with him everywhere....ha. Another great line is when Price tells his unexpected guests that he hasn't tasted beef....or chicken in many, many years. The goofy dude with the rooster doesn't take this information very well as you might expect.
This film is very nicely produced. The sets, costumes, editing, lighting, etc are all done well and capture for the most part the dark tone that is needed to convey this weird tale. The leading lady Susan Hart is smoking hot and adds a healthy dose of "jiggle" effect to go along with the quaking caused by he ever present volcano. She and her enormous assets later went on to star in such classic beach flicks as "Ghost in the Invisible Bikini". Hunter doesn't really do that much but here he is in his blond prime. Perhaps the biggest negative in the movie is the long drawn out battles underwater while the characters are in their rather cool looking scuba outfits. This footage mostly comes off looking silly if not downright cheesy as everyone flails about. Other than that I have no complaints except its to short, there were lots of possibilities here that could have, should have been exploited.
I wholly recommend this movie to anyone who likes Vincent Price, Tab Hunter, weird adventure tales, Edgar Allan Poe, and/or vintage horror flicks. It is a lot better done than most B movies and certainly has a fine cast and solid production values. Check it out! Just make sure to bring a snorkel along.