Many of us have seen films
during our childhood years that have left indelible images and memories on our
psyche, some for the best and others not so much. THE BERMUDA DEPTHS (1978), a hypnotic
sci-fi/fantasy tale and one of the better films "inspired by" Steven
Spielberg's JAWS (1975), is one of those gems that falls into the former
category. The Internet is proof that a
small but significant percentage of people has amassed as a cult audience over
the past thirty-four years and until recently most of the film's fans were
unaware of the title or simply wrote off their memories of it as nothing more
than a strange dream they once had.
Often sought out as the "giant
turtle movie" or "that movie with the girl with glowing green eyes"
by IMDB searches, THE BERMUDA DEPTHS seemed to remain forever elusive until
bulletin board discussions revealed just how beloved the film had in fact
become, prompting the fine folks at the Warner Archive to release it. Working from the original film elements, the
image quality has never been better.
Broadcasted on the ABC
Friday Night Movie, THE BERMUDA DEPTHS was co-written by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and
co-produced by Jules Bass, the production team best known to millions of
television audiences as Rankin & Bass for their holiday-themed, stop-motion
animation films such as RUDOLPH, THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1964), SANTA CLAUS IS
COMING TO TOWN (1970), HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL (1971), and THE YEAR WITHOUT
A SANTA CLUAS (1974). Like its
predecessor THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977), which is also available on DVD-R from the
Warner Archive, THE BERMUDA DEPTHS was originally planned for theatrical
release with a one-sheet design and all, but was then sold as a
movie-of-the-week.
As a young boy, Magnus Dens
(Leigh McCloskey) lost his scientist father to a monstrous sea creature. Nightmares about the event have plagued him
for years until he decides to return to his childhood home in Bermuda where his
father died to find out the truth behind his death. He meets an old school friend, Eric (Carl
Weathers), and Eric's wife Doshan (Julie Woodson). Eric introduces Magnus to Dr. Paulus (Burl
Ives), a man who studies sea life and who knows the truth about Magnus's father's
death. Meanwhile, Magnus meets a strange
young and mysterious woman on the beach (Connie Sellecca) who may hold the key
to his past involving a gargantuan turtle.
There are obvious parallels
to JAWS as much of the action in the latter half of the film takes place aboard
a boat with just the three lead actors.
There is a certain "Rankin Bass" feel to the film, especially
in the special effects and the music by longtime collaborator Maury Laws who
provides a beautiful score which I always wished would appear somewhere on a
soundtrack album. The low-budget effects
add a certain charm to the film, a reminder of filmmaking from days gone by
when less money and more ingenuity was considered an asset. Despite the obvious JAWS references, the
beach scenes actually predate THE BLUE LAGOON (1980) by two years. There is some truly beautiful underwater
cinematography by Stan Waterman, who also shot second unit underwater on Peter
Yates's THE DEEP (1977).
The film was released on VHS
in 1992, but the new transfer from the Warner Archive is as beautiful as we can
hope to see it until it gets a complete remastering on Blu-ray (fingers
crossed!). There are a few scratches
here and there, but for the most part the image is clean and bright; Warner
Archive obviously used excellent elements for this transfer.
All in all, THE BERMUDA
DEPTHS is a wonderful little film and deserves a new generation of
admirers.
Click here
to order the film on Amazon.com
