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Phillip R. Carver's Leviathan is a lost masterpiece of aquatic horror that should be rediscovered by fans of modern horror cinema.
With minimal effects but maximum suspense, Carver's airtight direction locks the audience in cramped corridors where crew members unravel after an unseen menace infiltrates their dive platform.
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The claustrophobic setting amplifies each gruesome death, as grisly, monstrous-grade carnage begins one by one. Peter Guerin's photography squeezes even the wide shots into a vice of paranoia.
Though it may be old-fashioned to some, Leviathan continues to shock today thanks to the committed performances of Richard Crenna and Amanda Pays' crew, trapped at the mercy of the monster. Their hysteria is transmitted directly to the cinemas.
Leviathan, a little-known gem that predates contemporary underwater horrors, deserves to be rediscovered for its ingenious escalation of fear in an ecosystem where escape seems doubly impossible.
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Leviathan, a crudely harrowing horror elevated to the status of a committed work of art, confirms Carver as an unknown master with few equals when it comes to conjuring suspense in such limited yet nightmarish settings. Keep shocking!