Submarine Films - Under-Sea Terror

[iluvdvds@Cult Labs]

Down periscope, down!

Do we have many fans of WWII war movies? Do you like the claustrophobic, intense feel of Submarine thrillers where doom is in the air, fear is everywhere and death surrounds you!

With Phantom coming out soon, a new Submarine thriller with Ed Harris, David Duchovny and Lance Henriksen, what are some of your favourite submarine movies?

Share yours below!

[Vampix]

They're not WW2 flicks (even though I love old war movies), but 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and Mysterious Island are two of my favourite films involving submarines (Captain Nemo's Nautilus).

[Wes]

Not a bona fida sub film as such but I'll try to squeeze this one in regardless.... If you have Film4 handy I'd highly recommend keeping the periscope at the ready for the 1965 cold war nuclear thriller The Bedford Incident starring Richard Widmark as an Ahab-like captain of an American destroyer obsessed with tracking down a stray Russian submarine. This one also features Sidney Poitier, playing a journalist along for the ride but his relationship with Widmark is very much a precursor to the Hackman/Washington dynamic in Crimson Tide. This one was directed by James Harris, Stanley Kubrick's producer on The Killing, Paths of Glory and Lolita, and the film was shot by Gilbert Taylor in crisp deep focus black and white and looks incredible. Nail-biting stuff, fans of Sidney Lumet's Fail-Safe will really dig this one.

[RedEyeTheCylon]

The Atomic Submarine (1959) - A bit dull but worth sitting through just for the alien which turns up in the final 20 minutes.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I quite enjoyed Below as a claustrophobic horror film.

As for non-horror I've always liked U571 and The Land That Time Forgot. I also found the much derided K-19 The Widowmaker to be a lot of fun.

Wes briefly mentioned it - Crimson Tide - probably my favourite submarine film of all time. Great performances from Washington and Hackman that really wrack up the tension. I first saw it when i was staying in Hollywood for a week back in 95. Saw some fine films that week - Species, Crimson Tide, Apollo 13 and Braveheart, not to mention going to the world premier of Under Siege 2, but thats another story. Proper Blockbusters - if i was there now i'd be stuck with superheroes and cartoons.

There are some enjoyable British WW2 sub movies that i own but also some creaky ones and i can never remember which are which.

[Prince_Vajda]

I don't like submarines.

[Wes]

Anyone seen Deep Star Six and Leviathan lately ? I saw 'em when they came out back in the day but my memory is too unreliable to say whether they were good or not...

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Wes

Anyone seen Deep Star Six and Leviathan lately ? I saw 'em when they came out back in the day but my memory is too unreliable to say whether they were good or not...

I watched Leviathan a couple of years ago. T'was a bit of a disappointment really.

It was on a region 1 three disc set alongside Burnt Offerings and Lifeforce and was easily the worst of the three.

[Pete]

Simpson Tide.

[troggi]

Being a "roughie toughie" ex submariner I quite like "Operation Petticoat"

and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"