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Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, Joanna Pacula, Marshall Bell ... see more see more... , Julio Oscar Mechoso , Sherman Augustus , Cliff Curtis , Yuri Chervotkin , Keith Flippen

When the salvage tug Sea Star is caught unprepared in a violent storm, it slowly sinks, and the crew, led by Captain Everton (Donald Sutherland), wander upon another ship for refuge. The ship, apparen... read more read more...tly deserted, turns out to be a Russian research vessel loaded with high-tech electronics. The Sea Star crew, which includes hot-head Kelly "Kit" Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Steve Baker (William Baldwin), soon find that they are not alone, and they also learn the horrible fate of the original crew. The ship had taken on an energy-based alien life-form capable of constructing bodies out of human tissue as easily as electronic parts. The life-form wants to inhabit the planet earth but first must rid the world of the virus that infects it and could kill it -- man. John Bruno, special effects supervisor on Terminator 2 tries to reinvent the haunted house sub-genre in his directorial debut, much as Ridley Scott did in Alien. ~ Ron Wells, Rovi

Flixster Users

25% liked it

19,553 ratings

Critics

9% liked it

45 critics

R, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: John Bruno

Release Date: January 15, 1999

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DVD Release Date: July 20, 1999

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Stats: 488 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (488)

  • superclerk25
    February 26, 2009
    superclerk25
    This is a good sci fi horror flick. The scares are there and so is the action.
  • moonrivers
    January 17, 2009
    moonrivers
    an alien intelligence takes over a high tech russian boat and plots to TAKE OVER THE WORLD (hey, that NEVER happens, pesky alien scum!)...so stop thinking too hard and try to enjoy this adolescent thrill ride in the just-cause-i'm-a-bigtime-hotshot-actor-don't-mean-i-ain't-got-bi... read morells-to-pay spirit in which it was intended. who says fun has to be smart?
  • YosemiteSamFan
    February 4, 2008
    YosemiteSamFan
    This movie just doesn't work with an alien droid thing aboard a creepy ship. It's a dark ugly movie with a few thrills, but nothing too scary.
  • Deano78
    March 30, 2007
    Deano78
    Very gory Sci-Fi horror, a bit like Event Horizon.
  • stuartb1234
    December 31, 2006
    stuartb1234
    plop
  • Dannyrovira
    December 15, 2011
    Dannyrovira
    A vastly underrated sci-fi thriller with solid suspense a first-rate cast and superb visual effects, after a typhoon the crew of the American tugboat Sea Star has comes across an abandoned Russian research vessel floating dead on the water, after boarding the vessel they believe ... read moreto be deserted they soon discover that they are not alone, first they find a terrified female survivor who explains to them that an alien entity has attacked the Russian space station Mir, which her ship was in contact with and then it beamed itself from the space station to her vessel to began taking over the ship's computer main frame, the merciless alien entity regards humanity as a virus which must be exterminated and It has created deadly bio-mechanical monstrosities out of the bodies of the Russian vessel's dead crew which are now hunting down the Sea Star's crew. Strong characterizations by a game cast led by Donald Sutherland in a superb turn as the captain of the Sea Star, who is experienced but sightly crazy, Jamie Lee Curtis delivers a first-rate performance as the virulent, no nonsense navigator and William Baldwin as the Sea Star's heroic engineer turns in a fine performance, solid supporting performances by Joanna Pacula, Marshall Bell, Julio Oscar Mechoso and Sheman Augustus. Visual effects designer John Bruno makes an impressive directional debut with this film which is based on the Dark Horse comic book by Chuck Pfrarrer, excellent robotics design by Steve Johnson. An effectively eerie sci-fi film with unusual touches that is very enjoyable. Highly Recommended.
  • EbertsLittleApprentice
    June 27, 2010
    EbertsLittleApprentice
    The Effects weren't the best, but they weren' the worst by any means. The acting was pretty good overall. The fun was just an added plus. Read the Dark Horse Comics for even more added fun.

    Every now and then its good to get something high in action, low in smartness, only if ... read moreyou don't do it all the time.

    (Longer Proper review to come ASAP)
  • robfearon
    February 23, 2008
    robfearon
    What the hell? I pulled this film randomly out of the Sci-Fi section at the video store, expecting a deep space sci-fi horror (I know...what was I thinking?). Instead I got some D-grade nautical action thriller, which I had to watch in two halfs after falling asleep somwhere in t... read morehe middle. Virus was indescribably bad. Why were there robots on the ship, and how did they get there? How did Jamie Lee Curtis survive being shocked by that amount of electricity? And why was Donald Sutherland's fake Irish accent so bad, it was funny? These are the questions you will be asking yourself if you're game enough to watch this trash.
  • juliantoepfer
    December 29, 2011
    juliantoepfer
    An entertaining and well conceived movie that suffers tremendously from poor direction, plot details and script. Part 'Terminator', part 'The Thing', but not in the same league as either.

    Though the cast includes some A-listers in Curtis and Sutherland, they are clearly just h... read moreere for the check. Sutherland in particular turns in an extremely strange performance. As I said, the concept is very interesting; an electricity based alien life form invades a Russian research ship, and attempts to build its conception of a perfect organism, blending human bodies with machine components.

    At some points, it manages to capture a grungy and unforgiving feeling of industrial claustrophobia. Unfortunately, the majority of the movie is filmed very ineffectively and the story never seems to develop as it should. It also suffers from a small budget, although the creatures are quite interesting in their design. Poorly paced, as it starts out slowly and then spirals out of control.

    The concept, original creatures and sometimes creepy vibe make this an average to slightly above average horror film, but given better story writing, script and a bit more of an investment, the story had the potential to be much more.
  • tmannamt
    May 18, 2011
    tmannamt
    I felt this movie has done it's job well. You will forget that you've seen this the next day. It's pretty funny to find out this came out in early January (one of the worst spots to release movies).

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Critic Reviews

Lisa Schwarzbaum
July 6, 2010
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Your average winter cold follows a less predictable course. Full Review

Lisa Alspector
April 25, 2007
Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader

Until the diverting special effects take center stage, this story, about an alien intelligence that builds an army out of flesh and metal, pathetically exploits genre conventions without generating se... Full Review

Joe Leydon
April 25, 2007
Joe Leydon, Variety

A derivative sci-fi shocker that isn't likely to spark much interest beyond its target audience of undemanding genre fans. Full Review

Rick Groen
April 25, 2003
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

Frankly, about 20 minutes into this dud, I was rooting for the alien beasties. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
February 14, 2001
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

An unpretentious, amusing thrill-a-minute sci-fi horror thriller / monster movie that plugs right into fears of a Y2K crisis. Full Review

Rod Dreher
January 1, 2000
Rod Dreher, New York Post

Completely predictable and largely fright-free!

Paul Tatara
January 1, 2000
Paul Tatara, CNN.com

The monsters themselves are quite a bit less than frightening, most of them being little mechanical gadgets with spidery legs and not much resistance to machine-gun fire. Full Review

Bob Graham
January 1, 2000
Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle

The dialogue tends toward the obvious, and the characters are constantly explaining what is happening to one another. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

95 minutes of unrelieved tedium. Full Review

Lawrence Van Gelder
January 1, 2000
Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times

As long on adrenaline and special effects as it is short on genuine novelty and intellectual content. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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