“Its shape shifting, metamorphic lifecycle and analogous behavior is the stuff of science fiction,” says artist-filmmaker Tim Grabham of his fixation with the pulsating macabre forms known as primordial slime molds seen in The Creeping Garden. Previewed here, the spine-chilling documentary, made with film curator Jasper Sharp, attempts to untangle the many facets of this biological anomaly.

Sometime Sonic Youth member Jim O’Rourke provides the eerie original score, soundtracking scenes that resemble the 1958 sci-fi horror about a terrifying gelatinous creature The Blob more than a nature documentary. “One sequence I was disappointed not to have the time to create was of a micro model city,” says Grabham. “It would have had buildings made of oat flakes and time-lapse cameras tracking through as slime mold devoured it, culminating in it spewing from the foyer of a mini cinema building.” 

Influenced in equal weight by 1970s sci-fi films and wildlife footage (“I am always on a fairly constant diet of David Attenborough”), the result takes the viewer through the various spheres orbited by the “sensually throbbing” slime mold: from the interest of woodland combing biologists following the mold through makeshift mazes, to scientists using its original movement to synthetize music. Here, the filmmakers unpick the mystery of these strange wonders of nature.

Slime mold 101:
Single-celled organisms with multiple nuclei and four very different stages in their life cycles; in their slimy “plasmodial” stage they are capable of moving and have demonstrated a certain level of behavioral intelligence but are not classified as animals, plants or fungi.

Type of slime molds captured in the film:
In the laboratory: Physarum polycephalum, or the 'Many-Headed Slime Mold,' as it could be ordered from scientific suppliers and it arrived in enticing boxes that said in bold letters, “Open Immediately! Live Contents!” In the wild: 'False Puffball,' 'Wolf’s Milk Slime' and 'Dog Vomit Slime.'

Objects fed to the slime mold:
A diet of oatflakes.

Perfect conditions for slime mold to thrive under:
Moist, dark and cool, e.g. a rotting log in a dank woodland.