An underwater city off the coast of Cornwall is threatened with destruction by a long-dormant volcano currently glowing with rising lava; however, this doesn't stop the self-appointed ruler of the city from executing his minions and threatening to kill an American professor and his sidekick after they infiltrate the waterlogged palace looking for a kidnapped woman. After American International Pictures hit pay dirt with their string of profitable beach party movies in the early 1960s, they expanded to more sophisticated fare such as "The Raven" and "The Masque of the Red Death", both adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe. "War-Gods of the Deep" is also credited with being based on Poe by way of his poem, "City in the Sea", but 'inspired by' seems more accurate as there is nothing on the screen that Poe would be proud of. Although the art direction is good and the set designs surprisingly elaborate for A.I.P., the screenplay, full of banal dialogue, is a deadly cataclysm. Vincent Price is quietly menacing, but his character is given the short shrift; he doesn't seem to know what he's doing, whom he's killing, or how long his city has left to survive. As the hero, Tab Hunter still sounds flat and angry--his voice has no modulation--but he works hard at developing a no-nonsense personality to give the movie some bearings; ultimately, he's defeated by the cheapjack climactic battle, mostly staged underwater (with clueless close-ups of Hunter and his co-stars standing in front of a blue screen wearing huge diving helmets). There's hardly any plot development, action scenes and stock footage are sloppily thrown together and, for comic relief, we get overaged pixie David Tomlinson and his pet hen. *1/2 from ****