The Swarm is another ecological disaster film which tells the story of an alien presence that exists on Earth's ocean floor but is driven to wipe out humanity after they pollute and begin to harm the eco-system that keeps them alive.

Oooh, now that has my attention straight away. I think I'll be adding that novel by Frank Schatzing onto my purchase queue. That's exactly what Dino and Martha De Laurentiis thought and they are producing the film along with German producers Michael and Ica Souvignier and Till Gronemeyer. Ted Tally is adapting the novel which should command a big budget screen presence.

Tally, you'll no doubt remember, screenwrote the excellent Silence of the Lambs, as well as the not so hot Red Dragon (not Manhunter aka CSI:Manhunter).

The story over at Variety also points out that there's a little tide of movement towards the ecological payback story, where humanity finds there is some kind of retribution for treating our planet the way we have. Well, there is...but then trees aren't running out, food sources aren't lowering, temperatures and hurricanes aren't rising, eating hot coals is good for you and fairies really do exist...claims a recent report.

Seriously though this kind of idea works so well, for some reason we love to see ourselves facing impending planetary doom, and a grand scale disaster film just goes down a treat. So add in a degree of intelligence and you should have yourself a winner, right?