The Bermuda Depths | 1978

“It came up, up, up from the Bermuda Depths”—original movie poster

Many people out there will have haunting memories of a film they once saw about a giant turtle and a girl with glowing green eyes. The film was The Bermuda Depths, a made-for-TV movie released in 1978. It was directed by Shusei Kotani (aka Tom Kotani) and stars Leigh McCloskey, Connie Sallecca, Carl Weathers and Burl Ives. This film has since become a minor cult hit with good reason.

The film follows Magnus Dens (McCloskey) on his return to Bermuda to find the truth to his father’s mysterious death years earlier. Once there, Magnus joins his father’s former colleague Dr Paulis (Ives) and old friend Eric (Weathers) in their search for gigantic sea creatures. He also reconnects with his only childhood friend, Jennie Haniver (Sallecca). Magnus learns through Dr Paulis’s housekeeper some local folklore that casts an ominous cloud over Jennie’s enigmatic past. He is told that, two centuries earlier, Jennie was on a doomed boat on its way to Bermuda and to escape alive she sold her soul to “the one below”, the devil that lives in the Bermuda Triangle. So now she lives forever young in the Bermuda depths and appears sometimes as a girl, sometimes as a young woman, to men who are about to drown. When giant tracks measuring forty feet across turn up on the beach, the researchers along with Magnus set out to capture the creature, which Dr Paulis believes is a giant sea turtle. This leads to the climactic confrontation with the beast.

The characters make the film all the more likeable. Although at times melodramatic (and corny), the simplicity of the characters allows the audience to connect with them. Magnus and Jennie complement each other very well. There’s an underlying sense of innocence when these two interact, as if they are calling upon their childhood encounters. There’s a clear parallel between Magnus’s tortured past and Jennie’s unfortunate deal, which sort of makes them a perfect match and we want them to be together. And therein lays the tragedy because that can never be.

Eric and Dr Paulis also add their own bit of magic to the story. Both men play very different types of researchers. Eric is the ambitious young man eager to make his mark, while Dr Paulis takes on the role of the patient and wise older man. As the film develops, Eric’s ambition makes him reminiscent of Moby Dick’s Captain Ahab in his relentless pursuit of the great beast.

Filmed on location, this low budget film has some provocative imagery particularly in the opening sequence where Jennie finds Magnus asleep. The use of double framing to bring focus to the two characters has an art house air to it. The 1970s special effects add to the innocence in the same way Japanese horror movies such as Gamera does. The most sophisticated special effect is probably the glowing eyes of Jennie and the giant turtle. But even so, the film has a certain charm that resonates with the audience.

Many saw this film only once when they were young and as time went by it erased everything but a couple of key scenes and its impact on them. To most, it was years or even decades later before they discovered its name again. Some would have never found their way back to it and lived only with its romanticised memory.

Whether it was the idea of a Faustian pact, or the giant turtle and girl with glowing eyes, or the romance that could never be, The Bermuda Depths has left a big impression on those who saw it. The Bermuda Depths may not be the most notable or technically impressive piece of cinema but it is definitely one for the ages.

Thanks to Alberto Vasquez Sanchez for the review.