Back in 1989, there were three underwater thrillers all released in the same year: Leviathan, Deep Star Six, and James Cameron’s The Abyss. Now, James Cameron is returning to the genre just over twenty years later as the executive producer on a new movie called Sanctum. He’s got a lot more experience with shooting underwater, and he’s also bringing his 3-D technology with him. Although Cameron is not actually directing the film (Australian filmmaker Alister Grierson is the one officially at the helm), the fact that he’s putting his name on this is a strong endorsement and a sign that he was probably pretty involved. With a cast of unknowns, Cameron’s name is definitely the only one carrying this thing.

It’s hard not to be reminded of The Descent while watching the first trailer for Sanctum, but the key difference here is that there doesn’t seem to be anything supernatural going on. Sadly, I was waiting for a hook and it never really came… the story is just about a bunch of divers who get trapped during a cave collapse. Still, this is one movie where the 3-D is definitely a selling point. It’s actually kind of funny that James Cameron poo-pooed Piranha 3D earlier this year, because the underwater scene in that movie is what makes me think this could be good. Will you be checking out Sanctum when it hits theatres on February 4th? Check out the trailer in HD over at Apple.com, or watch an embedded version after the jump.