Script review – “Sea Dragon of Loch Ness” (1979) by John Sayles

Despite Sayles' success around this time writing genre movies, it's not hard to see why this wasn't made - it's too expensive, with lots of location shooting in Scotland, and underwater sequences, many of which involve a sub. It's a shame though, because this is a pretty good script. 

Underwater oil drilling has woken up Nessie and she (or he) is not happy. Although Nessie is a tough piece of work, not to be messed with, she's not as bad as the creatures in Alligator or Piranha - indeed, she's allowed to live at the end. Like those other two movies, the heroes are an elder man and a younger woman who become romantically involved - he's into subs, she's into dangerous marine animals. The man also has a wise-cracking tough-talking kid who joins in on the adventures. And there's a rich Scottish lord who's financing the goodies.

Typical of Sayles scripts the story is worked out logically and thoroughly - it's simple but effective, there is good dialogue and decent characters. He also uses research well - the subs, Loch Ness, the oil industry - and the leftist politics are integrated skillfully rather than shoved down the throat. Good fun.