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I can’t stop thinking about Deep Blue Sea (1998), what makes a good creature feature? (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by nifty to c/movies
25 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I guess the modified sharkos in DBS could be called “creatures”. I also attached a pic of two my favorite characters from the movie.

Creature features I’ve seen (which I remember):

Almost everything on this list: https://the-line-up.com/best-creature-feature-films

And almost all of this list: https://m.imdb.com/list/ls560720658/

Cloverfield, Eight Legged Freaks, Spring (2014), a Korean one I am forgetting but has a monster based twist in it.

I wanna watch the movies in this list, have seen Host: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/colossal-essential-korean-giant-monster-movies-9235430

If you disagree with some of these movies as creature features, feel free to say so. For example, I don’t like the inclusion of alien type movies on this list. I think sentient, extraterrestrial beings (even if hostile towards humans) aren’t “creatures” per se.

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[–] RizzRustbolt 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Evolution is a good creature feature.

They gotta be a little bit goofy.

[–] 7355608 8 points 9 months ago

"There's always time for lubricant"

-Man with aliens in his butt

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Samuel L Jackson getting eaten whole is always good.

[–] ummthatguy 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

[–] Raiderkev 4 points 9 months ago

I came here for this.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Oh man, I loved this movie! Time for a rewatch!

[–] mikezane 5 points 9 months ago

I always like the quote in the movie, "We enlarged the size of the sharks brains. As a side effect, the sharks got smarter."

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

For me, DBS stands the test of time because of the writing. Like, this is a shark movie, a genre that apart from a couple of hits is full of the schlockiest B-Movies you've ever seen. But DBS is very aware of the tropes and uses them to subvert your expectations.

Chef alludes to the fact that black guys don't live through horror movies several times. Then he lives through the horror movie because he's like the most precious, down-to-earth character in the show.

The lead scientist is sort of set up to be the final girl, but she also fails the morality test several times, so by the rules of horror movies she's got to go.

There's also this undercurrent through the movie that bosses make things worse for the people who work for them. Chef has literally nothing to do with the production of super sharks, but they still eat his bird and maul him anyway. Yet despite all that, the people who make it through the crisis and do their best to help each other are the blue collar guys with the sketchy past doing their best to make their way in the world.

Also, the biggest star in the show gets suddenly eaten by sharks at a time when you both most and least expect it. It's brilliant.

[–] nifty 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

All well said! It’s not a particularly thoughtfully made creature feature like The Thing or Cloverfield or The Descent or Ginger Snaps, but like you said there’s lots to appreciate about it.

I also like the idea of underwater labs, it was super interesting to me when I first saw it as a kid, I remember that 😁

[–] Quetzalcutlass 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The lead scientist is sort of set up to be the final girl, but she also fails the morality test several times, so by the rules of horror movies she's got to go.

I remember reading that she was originally supposed to survive, but test audiences hated her character so much that they switched the survivor role around at the last minute.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

A good creature for starters, which is seemingly hard to do. You either show the monster and it looks like crap, or you don't show the monster and rely on the fear of the unknown to do the heavy lifting.

I really like a well done monster that is actually seen on screen. Like The Thing. Or Jeeper Creepers, which actually manages to be a hybrid of all 3. It's both good and bad looking, and they do a lot of vague not showing things until the end.

I also heavily disagree that aliens are not "creatures." Intelligent, humanoid aliens with culture and civilization, like the Predator or martians from Mars Attacks aren't creatures; but a xenomorph and whatever the hell The Thing is sure as hell are creatures.

[–] Ballistic_86 5 points 9 months ago

Deepest Bluest, my head is like a sharks fin

[–] Yankee_Self_Loader 3 points 9 months ago

A good creature feature definitely needs my boy Burt Gummer

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Does the first Jeepers Creepers count? I love that movie.

[–] Beetschnapps 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

The first Jeepers can work as a creature flick. The creeper seems supernatural, but it’s physical and real and has wings and drives a cool old timey murder van.

I say the first film with a vague hand wave though because the director Victor Salva is a convicted pedophile who filled the second movie with scenes of the “creeper” making O faces while watching teenage boys pee.

After you see that, looking back to the first one feels kinda gross. So creature or not it often gets ignored in lists like these cause then you’d have to mention the director.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

So I ended up learning about Salva way after seeing the film. That was a weird sour punch in the gut. Feeling like I’d been supporting such a terrible person. I try to separate the art and the outcome from the originator. Because 🤮

[–] nifty 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Hmm no I’d think. I think creature has to be humanoid or animal, but that’s my pov. Perhaps was human at one time, like in Ginger Snaps. Those are excellent movies, now that I recall them!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The creature in the film is vaguely human? But I think it actually just imitates a human to blend in, so maybe it doesn’t work. Now I’m thinking through films that might fit the bill 🤔

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's a great movie. It's the only horror movie I know of where the characters consistently make smart decisions to survive.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I’ve always liked how generally simple it was. Not a massive amount of set or scenery changes; fairly straightforward plot; not too much given away too early about the creature. Plus Justin Long is fun.

I’ve actually driven down the road where most of the driving scenes were filmed, and have driven by the church. It’s a weird back road in Central Florida that is surprisingly hilly. The hills are cool because they obscure the fact that everything around that area is otherwise flat and very Florida lol. It’s just subtle and creepily obscure enough that it works really well.

[–] nifty 1 points 9 months ago

Okay, I have to it see it then!

[–] littlebluespark 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Those are the only two characters worth watching the flick for. 🤘🏽

[–] nifty 2 points 9 months ago

Yeah I love em 🥲

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Does "The Mist" count as a creature feature? It has more than one creature, but the creatures are all just aspects of the mist itself.

[–] nifty 2 points 9 months ago

For sure! I rewatch that movie annually