The Screen Addict | The Abyss

James Cameron, the king of the world, has made more game-changing films than any other director I can think of. With the possible exception of Piranha II: Flying Killers (1982) – I wouldn’t be true to the No. Bad. Films. philosophy if I were to dismiss this film completely – Cameron has had an incredible run so far.

Just look up his independently financed, proof-of-concept short Xenogenesis (1978) on YouTube, and you will clearly see the seeds of brilliant ideas that would eventually lead to seminal films like The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009).

Fans of Cameron will undoubtedly notice that I left one film out of this string of planet-shaking hits. It is the subject of my No. Bad. Films. elegy today – the far-ahead-of-its-time SciFi-spectacle The Abyss (1989).

As is the case with so many films I discuss on this blog, I first fell in love with The Abyss after “accidentally” renting it from the video store. I call it an accident because back then, we didn’t have much to go on in terms of marketing and promotion. You saw films in theaters, and new films were brought to your attention through trailers and posters right there in the cinema. The only way to learn about older films was to watch them on television, read books or, indeed, go to the rental place.

Not dissimilar to scrolling through an online interface like Netflix today, back then you literally scrolled through thousands of VHS-tape covers, all neatly displayed on shelves and categorized by genre. When you saw an intriguing title or fascinating artwork, you literally picked up the box and read the synopsis on the back. Still interested? Then you handed the empty box over at the counter, and your friendly neighborhood videostore-clerk would put in the big, black, fragile VHS-tape.

Ah, memories…

Anyway – for me, a trip to the rental place was a weekly ritual. I spent the little money I made on renting seven films for seven days and then binge-watching all seven of ‘em in one night while chomping down on McDonald’s hamburgers. Happy days.

I had spotted the beautiful cover-artwork of The Abyss many times when I was looking for new films to rent, but for some reason I never took the step of actually picking it up. Maybe it was the ominous, all blue one-sheet with just the title that made me think it was some kind of Horror film, a genre I am slightly less interested in. But then I saw James Cameron’s Aliens and my life was forever changed.

I think I actually saw Aliens before I saw Ridley Scott’s original, and there are days that I prefer the sequel over the first film. More importantly, watching and re-watching Aliens was a so-called “Aha-Erlebnis” that made me realize that there was someone with a very specific vision behind the creation of a film. It made me understand a concept that I would much later learn is called being an “auteur”. In my opinion, not every director deserves the distinction of being hailed as an auteur, but James Cameron most definitely does. Cameron’s films are unquestionably his creations. A person who doesn’t know who James Cameron is, will still immediately recognize that films like The Terminator, Aliens and Avatar all have the same, very specific vision behind it that connects them on a higher level.

That vision also oozes from every frame that was shot for The Abyss. After the eye-opening experience of Aliens and recognizing the auteur connection between this film and both Terminator installments, I couldn’t wait to discover the films by Cameron that I hadn’t seen. I immediately rented The Abyss and didn’t know what hit me. The story of a group of rough-and-tumble submerged oilrig-workers who discover an alien species on the bottom of the ocean, completely and utterly connected with me. I think I saw it three times back-to-back that night.

The Abyss also ignited in me the desire to build a personal film library. The need to own a physical copy of a work of art you love, is something that was imprinted in my very soul by watching my father collect books when I was young. I remember our house was bursting at the seams with bookcases in every room, filled with rows and rows of reading material in all conceivable genres. A publisher by trade, my father really made me understand the appreciation of someone’s labor of love through proudly owning a copy of it.

Therefore, after I rented The Abyss for the gazillionth time, I realized it would make much more sense to just buy the collector’s edition. Mind you – this was early Nineties, so downright buying a VHS tape of The Abyss was an expensive affair. I had seen that the desirable, two tape gift set was for sale at a record store in my home town, and it took me a couple of months to save enough dough to treat myself to it. When I finally took my prize home, there was an unexpected bonus to enjoy. Apparently, the version I had always rented was a cut-down, theatrical release. Cameron had originally made a much more extensive film and that vision was included in my box set. It was like seeing the film for the first time all over again.

Also included in my collector’s edition, was the fantastic and comprehensive documentary Under Pressure: Making ‘the Abyss’ (1993). To this day, it is for me still one of the best films about the actual process of making a film. What becomes abundantly clear in UP:MtA, is that The Abyss was an extremely challenging film to make. All cast and crew were under incredible continuous strain to make the film look and feel as realistic as possible for “Mad Genius” Cameron. As the story largely takes place under water, all people involved with principal photography had to learn how to dive and perform while submerged. Considering all the risks that such an undertaking holds, it is truly a miracle and a testament to the professionalism of everyone involved that no serious accidents occurred.

By far the most powerful scene in The Abyss is a gut-wrenching sequence in which Ed Harris’ character has to first let die, and then bring back to life Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio’s Lindsey. I can only imagine how taxing this scene must have been for all the actors involved, and in UP:MtA some of the cast share a brutally frustrating anecdote about how during the best take the camera suddenly ran out of film. Mastrantonio, emotionally and physically exhausted from weeks upon weeks of grueling shooting schedules, understandably stormed off set and production had to be momentarily halted.

No one will ever dispute how hard it must have been for all cast and crew involved with The Abyss. During production, people even went so far as to jokingly refer to the film as “The Abuse”. But it all pales in comparison to the pressure Cameron must have felt while making the film. Not only was the director longer in the water than anybody else, he and producing partner Gale Anne Hurd had to deal with an increasingly skeptical 20th Century Fox breathing down their necks.

The Abyss went far over schedule and budget, but these issues are generally forgiven and forgotten when a film starts making money. Unfortunately, The Abyss was and still is considered a commercial – and critical – disappointment. I am sure that after more than 30 years of ancillary sales the film eventually turned a profit, but it is to this day considered as a rare misfire for Cameron.

I believe however, that the reason for its failure is largely due to the fact that the filmmakers and studio decided to cut a crucial storyline for the 1989 theatrical release. These scenes, that explain more clearly why the aliens want to destroy us and why they eventually don’t, were thankfully restored for the home-entertainment release I mentioned before.

There is one thing that still bothers me about The Abyss, though. To this day, it is one of only two films in Cameron’s filmography that never got a proper High-Definition release – the other one being TL. Fortunately, I am not the only fan frustrated by this injustice. There are multiple online petitions badgering Cameron to oversee a 4K restoration for both films already. The filmmaker has promised numerous times that the restored versions of The Abyss and TL are forthcoming, it’s just that for the last decade or so he has been a little preoccupied with a small, personal story about blue aliens…

Author’s note – I am happy to report that many of Cameron’s films will be released on 4K Special Edition Blu-rays early 2024!

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