Creatures from the Abyss

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Creatures from the Abyss
Promotional release poster
Directed byAlvaro Passeri [it]
Screenplay byRichard Baumann
Story byRichard Baumann
Produced by
  • Al Passeri
  • Joseph Holden
Starring
CinematographyDavid Williams
Edited byPeter Jones
Music byElikonia Group
Distributed byProduction Film 82
Release date
  • 8 January 2000 (2000-01-08) (Japan)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
Budget$250,000

Creatures from the Abyss (original title Plankton) is a 1994 Italian horror film directed by Alvaro Passeri [it] and written by Richard Bauman. The film stars Clay Rogers, Michael Bon, Sharon Twomey, Laura di Palma, Ann Wolf, and Deran Sarafian.

Synopsis[edit]

A group of five teenagers, three girls, and two boys get lost in the ocean in a dinghy, and a big storm begins. Suddenly they spot a yacht sitting in the middle of the ocean, and they go to investigate and to find shelter. But in fact, the yacht was a secret laboratory studying mutated fish resulting from radioactive plankton. One of the specimens escaped, killed the crew, and preys on the unsuspecting teenagers.

Cast[edit]

  • Clay Rogers as Mike
  • Michael Bon as Bobby
  • Sharon Twomey as Margareth
  • Laura di Palma as Dorothy
  • Ann Wolf as Julie
  • Deran Sarafian as Professor Clark

Release[edit]

Shriek Studio released Creatures from the Abyss on 31 July 2007 as part of the Mutant Monsters Triple Feature along with The Dark and The Being.

Reception[edit]

Much of the coverage for Creatures from the Abyss focused on the film's production values, acting, and dubbing.[1] HorrorNews.net noted that the film contained poor dubbing, special effects, and acting while also stating "Is this movie worth your time? I’d have to say “Yes!” Is it a new cult classic in the making? Maybe. Don’t really see people flinging caviar at the screen. Still, it is quite quotable, and makes for a great party film with like-minded friends."[2] Clive Davies noted many of the same issues with the film in his book Spinegrinder, however wrote that the stop motion effects were "quite good".[3]

Bleeding Skull called the film a ripoff of Piranha, further writing that the film "looks like it was shot by the team behind Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan and feels like it was written by Lloyd Kaufman between The Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke 'Em High.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Long, Mike (1 August 2003). "Plankton (review)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Film Review: Creatures of the Abyss (Plankton) (1994)". Horror News | HNN. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  3. ^ Davies, Clive (6 March 2015). Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won't Write About. SCB Distributors. ISBN 978-1-909394-06-3.
  4. ^ Choi, Annie; Carlson, Zack; Ziemba, Joseph A. (23 March 2021). Bleeding Skull: A 1990s Trash-Horror Odyssey. Fantagraphics Books. pp. 51–52. ISBN 978-1-68396-186-4.

External links[edit]