If you somehow have failed to catch the 1998 movie “Deep Rising,” go do so now.
It is one of those rare unabashedly goofy horror movies that is just plain entertaining. And it’s really entertaining for one reason… the banter from Finnegan (Treat Williams) and Joey (Kevin O’Connor) is at times “Firefly” level.
The short form: Finnegan is the captain/pilot of a privately owned PT-boat (or something like one), hired to transport a team of mercenaries out into the middle of nowhere in the South China Sea. The destination is a giant cruise liner, with the plan being to raid and loot the joint. But when they get there, they find that the ship has already been attacked… by initially unidentified sea monsters. Essentially the entire load of passengers and crew are most distinctly dead. Eminently quotable hijinks ensue.
The critters are CGI, and the passage of nearly 20 years does show some weaknesses. But on the whole they are servicable, and there is one especially ick-tacular scene with a not-quite-dead victim that is entirely effective and presages Two-Face from “The Dark Knight.”
I’ve been a fan of this flick since I first saw it nearly 20 years ago. It is one of the inspirations for at least some of the tone I shoot for in my Zaneverse tales.