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Ocean Weirdo's
John Boyle is one of our favourite underwater film-makers, and this DVD contains two 25-minute films, one produced by him and one by John McIntyre, looking at the most grotesque and outlandish ocean denizens, both within scuba-diving range and in depths only a submersible could reach.
Central to the films is morphology, the process by which creatures evolve into bizarre shapes for their own protection.
So we get to see the longest animal in the world (not a whale), a 12cm nudibranch with an expanding head, the indescribably ugly devil scorpionfish, rat-tails on the Titanic, electric scallops and much more. Movie connections are rife in this universe - the stomach-bursting arthropod that inspired Alien, the Darth Vader isopod, the Dumbo squid and so on. No Hollywood scriptwriter could dream up this stuff.
The films were premiered at last year's Dive Show and demonstrate that there is no substitute for great film quality, understated music, satisfying graphics and sound effects and a good script. You'll actually want to watch this DVD more than once!
Only one criticism - where did that rogue apostrophe come from in the title?
(£15, Shark Bay Films, www.fourthelement.com) |
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