With so much craziness going on in the world, now seems like the perfect time to stop whatever you’re doing (Zoom meetings permitting) and watch Deep Rising. Seriously. Go. Now. (And since you can watch Deep Rising on Movies Anywhere and the movie is Screen Pass eligible, you can share your love of the film with friends and family as well.)

If you’ve never heard of Deep Rising, that’s fair enough. The movie was originally written in the mid-1990s, when writer-director Stephen Sommers was overseeing a number of charming, adventurous programmers for Disney (including an underrated 1994 live-action Jungle Book that is also Screen Pass-eligible on Movies Anywhere). It had the working title Tentacle and Harrison Ford was courted for the lead role, which eventually went to Treat Williams — and you can understand why, as the character is a roguish, wise-cracking smuggler with a killer, one-of-a-kind vehicle (this time it’s a boat instead of a spaceship). After Ford turned Deep Rising down, the budget was tightened, and production began on June 12, 1996. Claire Forlani, who had originally been in line to play the female lead (a slinky thief), left the movie after less than a week (she clashed with Sommers) and was replaced by Famke Janssen, coming off her high-profile role as a 007 villain. Originally scheduled for release in fall 1997, putting it in the same release corridor as the similarly creature-filled Starship Troopers (co-financed by Disney and also available on Movies Anywhere and Screen Pass-eligible), it fell behind schedule thanks to Disney’s insistence that they use in-house visual effects units, pushing the film into the January 1998 no man’s land. (Industrial Light & Magic was eventually brought on board to bail them out.) When the movie finally came out in late January 1998, critics and audiences were indifferent.

But here’s the thing – Deep Rising is really, really great.

The film takes place in a vaguely futuristic world (it’s the kind of setting a sci-fi novel would describe as “tomorrow”). Williams’ character John Finnegan is hired to transport a band of hardened mercenaries (including Wes Studi, Jason Flemyng and Djimon Hounsou) to intercept a cutting-edge cruise ship called the Argonautica. Finnegan and his motley crew (Kevin J. O’Connor and Una Damon) don’t know what the mercenaries are up to or what they want with the cruise ship. And by the time they get to the Argonautica, they’re in for an even bigger shock – the cruise ship is empty and slick with the blood of the former crew members and guests. Where did everyone go? What do the mercenaries want? And will any of them get off the cruise ship alive?

Image via Buena Vista Pictures

We don’t want to ruin everything but here’s the thing – there’s a monster on that cruise ship. It’s big, it’s scary, and it lives up to the original working title for the movie (Tentacle). Sommers, who grew to an even more distinguished curator of disparate genre conventions with films like The Mummy, cannily combines several elements that you might not expect to work but miraculously do. Early on, the movie looks and feels like a classic 1970s disaster movie, with a wonderful extended sequence of the cruise ship running into something. The Williams character resembles a character out of a peak era John Carpenter joint. (It’s worth noting that Rob Bottin, a Carpenter confederate, supplied the make-up and practical effects.) And the monster is, of course, paying homage to Steven Spielberg’s classic Jaws and any number of “aquatic horror” favorites. There’s a brassy Jerry Goldsmith score and surprisingly sturdy special effects and buckets of gore (occasionally peppered with Halloween store skeletons). Deep Rising is a big, bloody bouillabaisse and a total blast.

Over the years, Deep Rising’s stature has, well, risen. It is now frequently cited for what it is – an unfairly overlooked romp and a potential future cult classic (if it isn’t one already). Williams and Janssen’s performances are witty and knowing, ditto O’Connor and Anthony Heald as the weaselly owner of the cruise ship. And Sommers’ direction is outstanding as he toggles between various genres seamlessly. Like the characters in the movie, you never know what is coming around the corner and what to expect next. You’ll still jump, even if you’ve seen it before. It speaks volumes to the craftsmanship and artistry of Deep Rising that it’s still so effective.

But why now? Why should you drop everything and watch Deep Rising this very second?

Well, because it’s just so much fun. The alternative is not watching a movie in which roughneck characters board a glitzy cruise ship, fight amongst each other, and battle a giant, voracious sea beast. And that doesn’t sound very good at all. If you’ve never seen it before or, like myself, you’ve watched it countless times, watching Deep Rising right now certainly beats the alternative. And if you watch on Movies Anywhere and send a Screen Pass, you can get one of your buds in on the fun. That sounds even better.

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