Deep Core (2000): Ya Dig?

Matty scratches the surface of a watchable UFO potboiler.

Having pulled the plug on an earlier mining job due to safety concerns ultimately proven correct, drilling engineer Brian Goodman (Craig Sheffer) is coaxed back into action when his old boss (Harry Van Gorkum) realises his company’s subterranean faffing has bollocksed the earth’s core.

Produced by the Unified Film Organization and built from a story conceived by shingle bossman Phillip J. Roth, DEEP CORE — ‘Armageddon (1998) underground’ if you will — is one of only two films Rodney McDonald directed outside of Royal Oaks/Phoenician Entertainment (the other is the Martin Kemp-starring erotic thriller, Desire (1993)). The assignment is clearly a busman’s holiday for the helmer. At the risk of sounding glib, the B-movie scene of the ‘90s and ‘00s was that cannibalistic in terms of topic and form, you could switch the UFO logo at Deep Core’s start with Royal Oaks’ and barely notice the difference between it and the similarly-footed capers McDonald churned out for them (Sonic Impact (1999), Nautilus (1999) etc). Nevertheless, the former Jag Mundhra acolyte (McDonald first AD’d on The Jigsaw Murders (1989), Night Eyes (1990), and Last Call (1991)) makes a typically decent fist of things. Though the handheld opening is more annoying and inertia inducing than it is exciting or immersive, McDonald mostly exhibits his usual competency. He stages and shapes scenes with efficiency, and juggles the character flourishes and thrills nicely.

The cast are all permissible. Sheffer, Van Gorkum, Terry Farrell, Bruce McGill, Will Wheaton — who’d go on to appear in UFO’s Python (2000) — and McDonald’s Sonic Impact collaborator James Russo attack the script gamely, and there’s an engaging, gently knowing quality to their performances as they try to stop a bunch of natural disasters (magma flows, tidal waves). Curiously, in marked contrast to the bulk of UFO’s wares, Deep Core is among the few to be saddled with dud special effects. The CGI is passable enough and certainly cool in concept, but it’s somewhat naff compared to the truly exquisite renderings on display in the likes of Darkdrive (1997) and Hypersonic (2002).

Premiering in the U.K. on Sky MovieMax on 13th December 2000, Deep Core hit British video and DVD just under a year later via Third Millennium. As with many of the UFO titles Third Millennium released (Lost Voyage (2001), Hypersonic, Antibody (2002), Interceptor Force 1 (1999) and 2 (2002) et al), which were either issued through various offshoots and subdivisions such as Planet DVD, DVD Box Office and Arvato Video Services, Deep Core was assigned to their Unipix Entertainment subsidiary. In the U.S. the film landed on tape and disc via Paramount on 26th June 2001. It was the second Armageddon ambulance chaser the major acquired, following Tycus (1999) — which, as it happens, was produced by McDonald’s frequent employers, Phoenician. Paramount previously unleashed Mach 2 (2000), a Fred Olen Ray romp UFO purchased for distribution, and would belt out UFO’s Daybreak (2000) — and, of course, produce their own significantly bigger Journey to the Centre of the Earth riff, The Core (2003), which features several of the same plot points as Deep Core.