Remember “Hush,” that ultra-creepy, almost entirely silent episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? That’s the one in which the town of Sunnydale was invaded by creatures identified as The Gentlemen – cadaverish, grinning ghouls who floated through the city in search of chests to carve and hearts to steal. One of those silent, sinister Gentlemen was played by an actor named Doug Jones, pictured here in that brilliant 1999 episode of Buffy. I mention it here because, 18 years later, he co-stars here, in Guillermo del Toro’s 2017 fable, as the captured amphibian. (He can also be seen as Saru on CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery.) His co-stars in The Shape of Water, playing more human characters, include Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, and Michael Shannon. The acting is strong. The story is weird.