The Abyss
From Meg 2: The Trench to The Shallows these movies are the gold standard for aquatic action.,Real oxygenated fluorocarbon fluid was used in the rat fluid breathing scene. Dr. Johannes Kylstra and Dr. Peter Bennett of Duke University pioneered this technique and consulted on the film, giving detailed instructions on how to prepare the fluid. The only reason for cutting to the actors' faces was to avoid showing the rats defecating from momentary panic as they began breathing the fluid.,The primary mission of a ballistic missile submarine is to hide and remain hidden. The aggressive chasing of an unknown target, which ultimately led to the crash, is completely out of character and most likely a direct violation of orders. They would be far more likely to have slowed down, so as to reduce their noise output and become more stealthy, then to try and sneak away.,Lindsey Brigman: We all see what we want to see. Coffey looks and he sees Russians. He sees hate and fear. You have to look with better eyes than that.,In the cast list, Super Seal Rover is credited as Big Geek and Mini Rover Mk II is credited as Little Geek. These are the actual models used for the unmanned submarines.,The end credits were famously shortened to run under 5 minutes in 1989 in order to hit a target runtime and maximize daily showings; doing so also made the crawl almost illegibly tiny and fast. The credits on the extended edition were almost 10 minutes, with a bigger and slower crawl, and extended/alternate music. Several home video releases of the theatrical edition on laserdisc and DVD actually use the newer credits, so they are not entirely faithful! One VHS tape (Fox Video Selections 1561), at least, uses the original short credits; though the tape is formatted for 4:3, the credits merely gain picture information above and below the intended window (which, for some reason, is very high up in the frame after the first few names). However the new HD master, which has popped up on a few HDTV broadcasts (like Cinemax) go back to the original shortened credits, plus is in the original theatrical aspect ratio, making it the most faithful version available.,Edited into No Feat But What We Make: 'Terminator 2' and the Rise of Digital Effects (2003),Willing
Written by Lowell George
Performed by Linda Ronstadt
Courtesy of CEMA Special Markets and Capitol Records, Inc.,There was a time, way back in the '80s - before James Cameron suffered head trauma and devoted his life to Avatar - when the man made blockbusters that had a humanity at their core; something instantly relatable despite the sci-fi setting. The Abyss is one of those, with Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio reconciling their failed marriage amidst mortal peril. Indeed, they're trapped miles beneath the ocean's surface, negotiating nuclear warheads, attacking subs and a hair-triggered Michael Biehn.

Cameron creates a realistic environment that still feels otherworldly, populates it with real people and ratchets the tension to unnerving heights. The effects are fantastic, ast are the performances and - as scary as this place is - I would easily come back to revisit.,