Don't Forget To Love, part 16 of 24

Welcome to the Single-Minded Movie Blog advent calendar. Between the 1st and the 24th of December every day will bring you a short post about a film or a TV-show you shouldn't forget to love.

Under Pressure: Making The Abyss (1993)

The Abyss (1989) is one of my favorite movies, but I am well aware that many people don't share this admiration, and I will also freely admit that the final sequence of the film is dangerously close to being unintentionally funny. Be that as it may, The Abyss is still a fascinating production, and any film geek should know about the making of the film. This is where Under Pressure comes in.

Under Pressure is not a full feature length documentary, meant to have a life of its own, it only plays 60 minutes and was always intended merely as bonus feature to accompany the actual film on DVD, Laserdisc, VHS or whatever format is in style.

The documentary shows exactly how difficult it is to make a big, complicated, tech heavy Hollywood film. It makes no attempt to gloss over any of the production problems, the escalating budget, or the fact that director James Cameron isn't exactly what you would call "a people person". His ruthless dedication is frightening, but it's hard not to marvel at his passion, precision and attention to detail. Love or hate The Abyss, but never forget to appreciate the astonishing amount of work that goes into a film like that.

If you only ever watch one special feature, watch this one. Or the uncut footage of Pam Anderson semi-nude on a swing from Barb Wire.