The Abyss/Characters

Deep Core

Virgil “Bud” Brigman

portrayed by: Ed Harris

• A Father to His Men
• Nice Guy

Lindsey Brigman

portrayed by: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantio

• Jerk with a Heart of Gold

Lisa “One Night” Standing

portrayed by: Kimberly Scott

• Black Dude Dies First: Averted.
• Sassy Black Woman
• Twofer Token Minority: One Night is the only black character in the film, and one of two women.

Alan “Hippy” Carnes

portrayed by: Todd Graff

• Cloudcuckoolander: Hippy believes in numerous outlandish conspiracies, and actually says at one point that everything is a conspiracy.
• Properly Paranoid: Hippy doesn’t trust the SEALS. He turns out to be right after Coffey snaps.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Hippy wouldn’t be out of place in a conspiracy film.

Catfish De Vries

portrayed by: Leo Burmester

• Badass Beard: Not to the extent as Finler, but it’s still there.
• Old Soldier: A middle aged Vietnam Vet who is no longer in his prime. That doesn’t mean that “the Hammer” doesn’t work as well as it used to, as Coffey discovers.

Jammer Willis

portrayed by: John Bedford Lloyd

• The Big Guy: The largest of the crew. Ironically, he panics on board the Montana due to all of the dead bodies.
• Convenient Coma: Jammer goes into a coma after damaging his oxygen tank. He awakens just in time to save the remaining crew from Schoenick.

Dwight Perry

portrayed by: Dick Warlock

• Flat Character: Not as developed as the other crew members.
• Killed Off for Real: Perry drowns when water floods into the rig.

Lew Finler

portrayed by: Kidd Brewer Jr.

• Badass Beard
• The Big Guy: Along with Jammer, he’s one of the most imposing of the rig crew.
  • Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: Drowns when the living quarters are flooded.
• Killed Off for Real: Drowns when the living quarters are flooded and sealed.
• Nice Guy: One of the more lighthearted crew members.

Arliss “Sonny” Dawson

portrayed by: JC Quinn

Navy Seals

Lt. Hiram Coffey

portrayed by: Michael Biehn

• Anti-Villain: Not Only is Coffey separated from the chain of command, he is suffering pressure induced psychosis.
• Ax Crazy: Due to pressure induced psychosis,
• Jerkass: Behaves like a total dick to the crew and ignores what Lindsey and Bud tell him. He does show signs of Hidden Depths, though.

Schoenick

portrayed by: Christopher Murphy

• The Dragon p: To Coffey, though he winds up being easily taken out.

Ensign Monk

portrayed by: Adam Nelson

• Token Good Teammate: To the SEALS after Coffey goes crazy.

Winstrite

purtrayed by: George Robert Klek

• Red Shirt
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Drowns when the living quarters are sealed off.

SS Explorer

DeMarco

portrayed by: J. Kenneth Campbell

Bendix

portrayed by: Chris O’Neil