Abyss-Collectors Edition (1989)

"Heart stopping...deep sea thrills  David Ansen, Newsweek
"Spectacular underwater saga...a fascinating, one-of-a-kind experience.  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide

Editor's Note After a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks in a remote part of the ocean floor, a team of divers on a prototype underwater oil rig are pressed into service by the U.S. Navy in a rescue attempt. When a hurricane cuts off contact between the surface and the underwater depths, the crew begin to see evidence of a strange, possibly alien intelligence at work. While chief Bud Brigman (Ed Harris) bickers with his ex-wife and boss (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), the Navy commander begins to grow increasingly paranoid about the mysterious alien life and threatens to use a recovered nuclear weapon to destroy everything. James Cameron's undersea epic is a tale of sacrifice and hope in an amazing alien landscape that covers 2/3 of the Earth's surface. Featuring landmark visual effects but plagued by production difficulties, the cast and crew were stretched to the breaking point and THE ABYSS became one of the most expensive films ever made in its time, but the final result is a remarkable blend of action and human drama. Scenes cut from the theatrical version, including a number of special effects sequences involving huge tidal waves threatening the cities of the world, are restored in the Special Edition versions.

	Ed Harris
	J.C. Quinn
	Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
	Michael Biehn
	Leo Burmester
	Todd Graff
	James Cameron - Director
	Mikael Salomon - Director of Photography
	Robert Garrett - Musical Score
	Alan Silvestri - Musical Score
	Gale Anne Hurd - Producer
	Van Ling - Producer
	Leslie Dilley - Production Designer
	James Cameron - Writer

Rolling Stone
"...[A] stupendously exciting and emotionally engulfing film....With probing intelligence and passionate feeling, Cameron has raised the adventure film very close to the level of art..." 08/24/1989 p.37

Entertainment Weekly
"...Cameron again delves in....An epic story line...and much more..." -- Rating: B 01/13/1995 pp.66-8

Variety
"...A technical marvel with sustained tension, exciting action footage and an emotional wallop in its nearly platonic love story..." 03/01/1993

Los Angeles Times
"...THE ABYSS is at heart a sweet movie....The undersea effects are glowingly beautiful..." 08/09/1989 p.C1

Total Film
"...A great achievement....The cast is solid and the pioneering CG effects still look incredible..." 05/01/2000 p.104

Washington Post 7 of 10
The movie is a veritable chowder of chills. Like Red Lobster's seafood sampler, it offers a taste of everything from psychotic aquanauts to psychedelic jellyfish. When it comes to calamity, (director James) Cameron doesn't discriminate, confronting his heroic divers with marital problems, missile crises, leaky valves, WWIII and hurricanes. - Rita Kempley

Rolling Stone 9 of 10
...confirms James Cameron as a world-class filmmaker... the greatest underwater adventure ever filmed... It's also something even more unexpected: a love story of shattering impact... Cameron is uncannily successful at creating a mounting feeling of claustrophobia. - Peter Travers

Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 8 of 10
Spectacular underwater saga about an oil-rig crew that gets involved in a perilous mission to rescue a sunken nuclear sub. Better as underwater adventure than futuristic sci-fi, with a couple of crises too many, but still a fascinating, one-of-a-kind experience. - Leonard Maltin