Dr Jon Hackett is a senior lecturer in film and screen media at St Mary's University. His research interests include film and cultural theory, film history and popular music. He is currently working on a monograph with Dr Mark Duffett of Chester University on popular music and monstrosity, to be entitled, inevitably, Scary Monsters. Dr Seán J. Harrington is a lecturer in film and screen media at St Mary's University. His research interests include Lacanian psychoanalysis, animation and popular culture. He has previously published work on animation and psychoanalytic theory and is the author of The Disney Fetish.

• Part 1: Folklore and Weird Tales"From Beneath the Waves": Sea-Draugr and the Popular Conscience – Alexander HayThe Depths of our Experience: Thalassophobia and the Lovecraftian Horror – Seán J. HarringtonFrom Depths of Terror to Depths of Wonder: The Sublime in Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu and Cameron's The Abyss – Vivan Joseph"Is there sound in the deep?": Representation and resonance in radio dramatisations of The Kraken Wakes – Farokh SoltaniPart 2: Depths of DesireBeauty and the Octopus: Cephalopods as Sexualized Monsters – Marco Carbone The Octopussy: Exploring Representations of Female Sexuality and Animality in Victor Hugo's The Toilers of the Sea (1866) and The Laughing Man (1868) – Laura EttenfieldTransformations of Desire in The Life Aquatic (2004) – Pete Fossey Psychedelic Deep Blues: Jimi Hendrix's, 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to be) (1968), Tim Buckley's, Song of the Siren (1968) and Captain Beefheart's, Grow Fins (1972) – Richard MillsPart 3: Aquatic Spaces and PracticesFan Totems: Affective Investments in the Sea Creatures of Horror and Science Fiction – Brigid CherryMermaid Spotting: the rise of mermaiding in popular culture – Maria MellinsJourneys in Liquid Space: Representations of the Sea in Disney Theme Parks– Lee BrooksRivers of blood, Sea of bodies: An analysis of recent media coverage of migration and trafficking on the High Seas – Carole MurphyPart 4: Screening Sea CreaturesBecoming the Shark and/vs. Controlling the Shark: Jaws Unleashed, the Animal Avatar, and Human-Animal Relationships – Michael FuchsSongs of the Sea: Sea Beasts and Maritime Folklore in Global Animation – Mark FryersJurassic World's Mosasaurus as the saviour of the classic cinema blockbuster – Damian O'Byrne Nessie Has Risen from the Grave – Ian Hunter

As a compilation of fourteen conference papers turned into a tastefully illustrated tome, this deep sea probe is for anyone fascinated with maritime lore—a lore that reflects anxieties about life on land and what lies beneath the water's surface as well as our own.(Western Folklore) Overall, this book is a fascinating and well-curated overview of the different ways in which to examine and understand the monstrosity of the sea and its creatures. Through very engaging research and its use of illustrations, the book is very approachable and enjoyable. But perhaps its most salient aspect, beyond the quality of its content, is the volume's ability to be multidisciplinary from a reader's and author's perspective.(Journal of Folklore Research) Beasts of the Deep offers entertaining and enlightening reading on a fascinating topic.(Journal of American Culture)