User reviews

Plot

When a daring mission leads a deep sea submarine team into a mysterious opening on the ocean floor, they uncover a lost underwater world and awaken its ancient race of otherworldly beings.

Cast

The cast, no clue.

However it's made by the same chap who made Vampire Virus, Winterskin, The Barge People and Deadman Apocalypse so I've seen plenty of his stuff and to mixed results.

Verdict

What is it with Lovecraftian-esque movies that seems to render them almost all entirely terrible? For this reason I expected the worst going in, but that cover art really got my attention!

British made but surprisingly not an ITN film, you can tell straight out of the gate the budget is minimal but it does it's best to get over this obstacle.

When they went under water and we get our initial "Action" I was conflicted. I loved what they were doing and applauded their effort but it looked ropey and don't even get me started on their using a generic filter and not even trying for any kind of underwater effect.

Then it all goes downhill, they throw the concept out the window and deliver a very bland horror that can't even be called Lovecraftian.

Points for effort, but simply not enough.

Rants

I love Cthulhu, I love the old gods, I have a degree of megalophobia and therefore such movies should be amazing to me. Why do so few deliver? And when they do they tend to keep it on a considerably smaller scale due to the lack of budget? I have no faith in Hollywood anymore especially when it comes to horror but I'd love to see what they could do with a large budget and a decent Lovecraftian script!

Breakdown

Decent concept A degree of effort was put in Certain areas don't have any effort at all Concept gets thrown out the window about a 3rd of the way through.

So I had to put in my two cents. I should have known better. Once they're magically the submersible (@ 16 mins in), using a collapsible light weight aluminum ladder from Home Depot it gets worse. This is a joke, the set design of the sub couldn't go underwater, much less 37,000 ft.. The acting gets really bad once action scenes start. Skipped thru another 10 mins or so .... then deleted.

I'm a sucker for any flicks which are above or under the seas or oceans. This ain't no "The Abyss (1989)", "All Is Lost (2013)", "In the Heart of the Sea (2015)", Into the Blue (2005), The Guardian (I) (2006) or The Perfect Storm (2000) to name a few of my favorites.

Cheers.

Not sure why they require 600 words now. Maybe just to reduce the quantity of people reviewing - or the quality of people reviewing. Anyway! This movie is like a college project. I read somewhere that they had a budget of three million dollars, mostly spent on catering I would guess. Not one recognizable face. The props were found at the local hardware store. The scientific principles - aren't. But like many "Sci-Fi" efforts, you have to wonder how, in the movie, they selected the participants for such a seemingly demanding mission. How emotionally unstable are you? 'Look, a squirrel! Let's kill it!' "Yes, you'll do." Rubber monsters, no CGI, sub in a bathtub. Thank goodness for Fast Forward. I made it through the movie in about a half hour. I heartily recommend you spend far less.

OK, the good. It looked like the actors tried to make this watchable. They didn't try too hard, but they tried. The camera work was also acceptable. Sorry, not much more to say good.

I wanted to like this movie, I really did. But as soon as they needed to show anything beyond scenes sitting in a conference room, the props, staging, and general direction were HORRIBLE.

The most obvious thing is the director was completely clueless. Anytime he was oblivious to what would actually happen in a situation he would shake the camera. And wow, the 'really cool, cutting edge' technology was SOO bad. To the point that the hatch to the submarine was a trash can lid! ... and it closed the wrong way!!! You make a movie about a submarine and you never saw a single submarine movie??? Do just a LITTLE homework.

I can write pages about how bad this movie was, but that might give the director hints on how to make his next movie better. Instead, I would strongly consider another line of work.

It's possible to make a decent low budget movie with this storyline. These filmmakers did not make a decent low budget movie, though. It's illogical, poorly-acted, and embarrassing. It repeatedly cuts to the same terrible animation in the hope that you don't notice it's exactly the same terrible animation you saw two minutes ago. The "god" in question doesn't do anything beyond shake its head around in a ridiculous fashion as you might expect from a filmmaker who's younger than 12. The craft appears to have been built out of corrugated iron and pipes. Amazingly, none of these world-class experts were bothered by the leak when they first set off. This isn't merely a low budget movie. It's an unintelligent movie.

The movie is a B movie with a very low budget. Nevertheless, it was somehow fun to watch until the winged creature showed up that cannot move but just trying to move his hand up. However the best scene is when they decided to smoke cigarette in a submarine that is under 37.000 feet. In fact they smoke it with passion. The scenario is basically a combination of Call of Cthulu of HP Lovecraft and the Aquaman so folks there is nothing new. The high votes to this movie were given rather by trolls who have so much time or people who are related to the production team. Do not waste your time and watch other staff such as The Abyss an oldie but goldie !

Imagine Prometheus combined with The Abyss and set in the H. P. Lovecraft universe of the Cthulhu mythos. Now make it with the budget of a few first year film students' pocket money and also their skill so far and you get Gods of the Deep.

You can't really blame these people, can you? What would you do if you had a dream, but had no idea how to make it happen? You experiment. You try to copy what you know, hoping that some original thought will make an appearance and propel you into your movie celebrity career. It doesn't matter that the actors you can afford can't act or that the sets you can afford are basically a cellar somewhere that you must make look like a submarine. What matters is to put something out there that is not completely crap. And, by the old gods, they succeeded. This is not crap!

On the other hand, it's not much better either. Everything in the film is derivative and the story is really really weak. Hint to future "experiments": first you write it, then you (and as many other people as you can find) read it and only if you like it and they like it do you continue with adapting it into a movie. Because somehow, probably determined by the success of such powerhouses of suck as Marvel, people have got it into their heads that movies and books are different and separate forms of art. No, they are just forms of medium for storytelling. The storytelling IS the art. And unfortunately here, they failed miserably.

And it was almost endearing to see how seriously the film was trying to promote itself because it was starring the famous Rowena Bentley. Only she was not famous. That was pretty funny.

Bottom line: if you consider this the first attempt in a series of incrementally improving projects, then it was a success. Kind of like Elon Musk's first exploding rockets. It promises the possibility of actual film making down the line. If this was their best effort, though... well, it kind of sucked.

I had never heard about this 2023 movie prior to stumbling upon it. But seeing the movie's title and figuring that it was apparently something Lovecraftian, of course I had to sit down and watch it.

Writer Charlie Steeds put together a fair enough script. It wasn't exactly a particular complex script or storyline, but it actually made for an adequate enough viewing experience, provided you have an interest in H. P. Lovecraft's Mythos.

I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list. But I will say that they had a fair enough ensemble of actors and actresses, some more talented than others, of course. In general, however, the performances were adequate enough to help make the movie all the more bearable to sit through.

It was kind of odd that there was ambient light in the scenes where the submersible was roaming about at 38000 feet. At that depth it should have been pitch black. But sure, I get it that in order to show things in the underwater environment for the viewers, then they might have opted to add that ambient light. But it just made absolutely zero sense.

And speaking of the submersible, well at least they tried. The CGI animated submersible was fine, but all of the shots filmed inside what was supposed to be a submersible, just looked like it was filmed inside some kind of cellar or crawlspace. It didn't even remotely pass for being a submersible, and even a blind man would go 'are you kidding me with this?'

Visually then "Gods of the Deep" was a mixed bag of nuts. The practical effects, such as with the writhing tentacles and animated flesh actually looked good and worked nicely. But the rendering of great Cthulhu himself was a bit lackluster and did the Great Old One who sleeps in R'lyeh very little justice. But at least they tried, and that does count for something.

It certainly was an ambitious low budget production, and they managed to succeed some of the way. And you have got to give them credit for trying, and also for somewhat accomplishing what they did with whatever limited resources they had.

"Gods of the Deep" from writer and director Charlie Steeds is worth checking out if you are a fan of Lovecraft's works, for sure. However, this is hardly an outstanding viewing experience. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Gods of the Deep" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

When one thinks of independent horror films, what sadly comes to mind most often is shot direct to video disasters with no budget, no talent, and no enjoyment.

Gods of the Deep drives home that independent film can be of the highest quality, despite lacking studio funding or famous faces. Gods of the Deep is simply better than a number of big studio films I've seen of late.

Gods of the Deep is just a damned fine film. Full stop.

Certainly, there are a few places where the smaller budgets shows in effects that would likely have otherwise been done with costly CGI. But CGI isn't a guarantee that something is going to look good or be good... so don't hold that against the film.

The cast are remarkable and turn in powerful and believable performances. You will both love, and hate, some of the characters - and do so for all the right reasons. There are no weak performances here. Everything is spot on.

Writer/Director Charlie Steeds knocks this one out of the park. I was introduced to his work with last year's "Freeze.!", which was good - but felt a bit too long. With Gods of the Deep? The film would hit a beat and I'd immediately think that we'd soon be hitting an end point with no place to go - and then Steeds would take us someplace new. Every time I thought the end was in sight, we'd take another fascinating and creepy detour.

Gods of the Deep doesn't feel to long, instead it left me wanting more, without feeling too short or ending in an overly abrupt manner.

If you are a fan of horror, cosmic horror, or Lovecraftian horror, you want to jump at any chance you get to see this movie.

Incredibly silly. This collection of goofballs descend to 30,000 feet (or something) and discover an HP Lovecraft-style monster that waves at them, which one supposes is supposed to be menacing, and emits some painful noise, and then... well it's kind of hard to tell. The whole thing is supposed to be horror/sci-fi but it's closer to... I don't know... roommates in a dorm fighting. True to form, there is a trick ending which I won't go into it but you will definitely not be surprised by it. There's no real explanation for how they get to that trick ending, do they just throw it in there because, well, movies like this are supposed to have trick endings. Tip: watch it on your computer and use the right arrow to skip ahead.

One of the worst movies I've ever watched. A real low-budget production. The lowest category possible, even lower than class E. It's a waste of time and life to watch such crap. It's good that you can always scroll to the end or simply turn it off. Of course, the poster and trailers are quite interesting, but the rest is total crap and 10 meters of mud. The "underwater rover" was made of plexiglass and covered with tape, the hatch to this submarine looked like the lid of a metal garbage can, it rocked in all directions when the screws were tightened, and there was this whole "control console" like from a post-communist nuclear power plant. Plastic plumbing pipes stretched across the walls. The director of this film caricature should be lynched, and certainly banned from making further pseudo-films.

A bumbling group of international goofballs dive to the bottom of the ocean in a corrugated tool shed held together with caution tape.

Yeah, this exists.

I don't think it is a parody but that it was actually made in complete earnest Roger Corman-style. So it has a bit of heart as a labor of love. A Lovecraftian labor at that.

And while the sets are very cheesy, the camera work (especially the lighting), the sound and the editing are all actually pretty professional. And most of the cast seems to have attended at least an acting class or two.

But the budget is infinitesimal. Distractingly so.

There is a plot. Of sorts.

Well, at least Tim and Joe are watchable.

OMG I want a refund on the time donation I have spent on this cringe worthy farce.

This is the worst film I have ever seen in my life.

The floor hatch: I have the same guttering on my summer house, also the extension lead for the lights, and who have as that bloke with the worms in his mouth, check out the semi lead character who had his eyes wide open for most of the film, I thought they banned redbull energy drinks in that country, I think the budget for the film was £8.00 quid.

The acting, well it wasn't, it just shows advertising is King, to promote such garbage and return a nice profit.

IM IN PAIN Arhhhhhhh.

What's wrong with the movie .just about everything from the script, characters, to the building of what supposed to be a state-of- the-art sub and rover looked like it was cheaply built or a kid made for their science project and the story line has a mix of The Abyss and something else that I can't my finger on. The creature, well its appearance is like an Ood ( a Doctor Who reference with wings and a humanoid in one. I have seen better movies with great storytelling like The Abyss; which is my one of my favorite science fiction movie. This movie is a complete waste of time and it wasted my time by watching it.

Discovering a new object in the sea, a researcher joins a team of scientists to explore the location at the bottom of the ocean, but when they encounter a savag creature in the depths of the ocean while trying to return to the surface are soon faced with an inescapable evil preventing it from happening.

Frankly, this was a fairly decent if somewhat troublesome genre effort. When this one works the best is the initial setup and arrival of the group journeying out to the structure discovered at the bottom of the ocean. The first half here setting about getting the group together for the expedition and their qualifications to go on the trip, the first stages of the actual expedition with the struggles they encounter while down there, and the revelations made about the society they've stumbled upon all work quite nicely to bring about a rather fun starting point for this kind of film. None of this is all that original or unique for anyone familiar with Lovecraftian storytelling with the discovery of the long-gone civilization buried at the bottom of the sea, a series of monstrous beings guarding it, and the exploits that arise once it all mixes together, there's still plenty to like here by getting everything together quite nicely. There's also a lot to like here with the various encounters at play offering some wholly intriguing scenarios. The first encounter when they arrive at the underground city where the gigantic creature arises from behind a mountain to torment the crew during the mission which results in some massive safety-threatening scenarios to put everything in jeopardy is a fantastic sequence to get a sense of the scale of the creature and the mission itself. The aftermath of that encounter sets the film on a solid route as the escape mission is further thwarted with the crew trying to keep the compromised sub afloat during the trip back to the surface but the numerous sabotage efforts that are soon discovered to be the cause of the recovered part of the creature taking over their minds to inflict psychological damage on everyone aboard. This sends the film into a frantic series of encounters with the creatures possessing the crew physically and mentally to carry out their mission to stop them leading to some fun encounters, plenty of great goopy gore gags, and some shocking outcomes to have a lot to like. This one does have some drawbacks about it. The main issue here is the surprisingly obvious low-budget factors on display that make the film far cheaper than it tries to be. The majority of the film attempts to be far more impressive and grandiose than it should be with the idea of what the group's trip is set out to do and how everything falls apart, but when it sets about doing this is flimsy equipment for something supposedly set to descend to the ocean depths deeper than any point on the planet it all tends to undermine the credibility of this somewhat. Other factors, like unrealistic behavior while trying to stay alive in a situation where not freaking out about something to a degree that a trained individual in that condition would never react to or a series of questionable behavioral tactics that don't have any logical foundations, make up for some troublesome issues here and bring it down somewhat.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

My family has a thing for watching B movies and this one was a barrel of laughs for the most part. Do not take this movie seriously but please enjoy it. Acting aside this movie has a plethora of entertaining set pieces and design. From your submarine standard collapsible hatch ladder, garbage can lid hatch cover, and extendo grab hands attached to their little submersible is just the bare minimum of fun set design. There's so many more that entertained us enough to see this move through to the end. While the monster does next to nothing while they're busy squabbling amongst themselves it mostly roars going unnoticed or worried about by the majority of the crew. Fun to watch if you're in it for laughs.

Sure, this is a movie that suffers from an incredible low budget, but the story and will to tell it is there.

I have no idea on why it is so difficult to make a Lovecraft movie that include the mental thrill and feeling that something is really wrong in the beginning, the weirdness and terror when people realize what they are up against, and the final pure horror when they see how insignificant humanity are in a cosmic sense.

This movie made a brave affort to do the last two parts at least, and in part actually did it well.

Finally, i must say i absolutely loved the final ten minutes and the final scene. So with some popcorn, and with some love for any attempt to do a Lovecraftian movie, not the worst movie to spend an evening with.

Gets a star for a decent idea and a star for trying. As others have said, The budget on this one wasn't very big. I can get past that if the plot and the acting or decent enough. When one of these types of movies has so many plot holes, It's just hard to finish. The crew they send on this ultra daring mission is baffling. When anything "exciting" happens, they all begin screaming at each other, and it's hard to follow what is going on. Doesn't do a good job of setting up the plot, or explaining what's going on. I mean it's a free movie so it's not like I had to pay to watch it, So that's a bonus. But too many things that just don't make sense, and bad decisions make this hard to even watch.

Taking elements of HP Lovecraft and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and mixing in a tired plot twist from Leviathan, Gods of the Deep tries hard to thrill, but seldom succeeds.

While I enjoy practical effects, and the creature looks good, it isn't effective in its movements and interaction with the submersible. Acting is pretty good, but the script suffers from stereotypical characters who behave in the most incredibly stupid and unbelievable ways. Who fires a machine gun in a sub? And who smokes cigarettes when the oxygen on the sub is running low? This is ridiculous behavior that takes you out of the story. The constantly droning musical score really gets on the nerves after a while.

Not the worst film of its kind that I've seen, and a few fun moments, but overall not great.