The Abyss is a science fiction film that wasreleased in 1989. Divers working on an undersea oil platform move in to help a sinking nuclear submarine only to find themselves in danger, teetering on the edge of a precipice. Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of benign aliens.

 

The Abyss is an expensive, hi-tech underwater action movie which plays like a cross between Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Cocoon, and the same director's Aliens. A special edition of the film later appeared on video containing an extra 25 minutes of footage.

 

Cast

Ed Harris ... Virgil 'Bud' Brigman
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio ... Lindsey Brigman
Michael Biehn ... Lt. Hiram Coffey
Leo Burmester ... Catfish De Vries
Todd Graff ... Alan 'Hippy' Carnes
John Bedford Lloyd ... Jammer Willis
J.C. Quinn ... Arliss 'Sonny' Dawson
Kimberly Scott ... Lisa 'One Night' Standing
Captain Kidd Brewer Jr. ... Lew Finler (as Capt. Kidd Brewer Jr.)
George Robert Klek ... Wilhite
Christopher Murphy ... Schoenick, SEAL Team Member
Adam Nelson ... Ensign Monk, SEAL Team Member
Dick Warlock ... Dwight Perry (as Richard Warlock)
Jimmie Ray Weeks ... Leland McBride
J. Kenneth Campbell ... DeMarco

 

Other details

Runtime: 146 min / USA: 171 minutes (special edition)
Producer: Gale Anne Hurd (for 20th Century Fox)
Writer/director: James Cameron