Reviewer
Zahir al-daoud |
Build-up 4 |
Kissing |
Love scenes |
Movie overall
3 |
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In essence, this is a remake (at least in spirit) of a decades-old flick about a mermaid. Set in the very early 20th century, it follows Angus (Rufus Sewell) and Lilly (Carla Gugino) as they travel the Irish countryside with a carnival sideshow in which Lilly pretends to be a mermaid. One night, a wealthy sailor shows up, fearing they might actually have one, determined to warn them of the danger. He has one--chained up in a tank (Rya Kihlstedt). With an eye on a possible fortune to be made, Angus and some pals steal the mermaid and smuggle her aboard ship.
Most the film takes place there. While the mermaid's presence causes various reactions among the crew, it is Lily who becomes increasingly obsesssed/drawn to the creature. She begins intruding into Lily's dreams. Pouring over the journal kept by the wealthy sailor's wife, Lily begins to realize the truth--this mermaid is a carnivore. Yet there's more to it than that, as Lily becomes pregnant--and she's sure somehow its the Mermaid who's responsible. Then the ship finds itself somewhere it simply should not be, amidst the Forbidden Islands where the Mermaids dwell, waiting for ships bearing the men who are their food...
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Actresses:
Carla Gugino & Rya Kihlstedt
A drunken sailor (Gil Bellows) bothers Lily, recognizing her as "Mary Ann" a barren prostitute. That night, the Mermaid gets out of her tank and that drunken sailor disappears. She's found and put back. Lily, after a nightmare, goes to see the Mermaid alone. In the tank, the Mermaid seems asleep. But when Lily gets close enough, her eyes snap open! Lily falls back. The Mermaid's head emerges from the water and she spits something at Lily. It is the ring worn by the drunken sailor who disappeared.
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Actresses:
Carla Gugino & Rya Kihlstedt
Later in the voyage, Lily and Angus are making love. She's on top, and demanding he wait. She changes--pearly white skin, webbed fingers, etc. In some dreamlike way she becomes very Mermaid-like, including a tail, and as she gets ready to climax she wraps her hands around Angus' throat to strangle him. When he pushes her off, she snaps out of it and everything returns to "normal."
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Actresses:
Carla Gugino & Rya Kihlstedt
Lily, afraid of the Mermaid (at one point hissing at her "I want you out of my head and out of my body!"), decides to release her. At night, she goes to the tank and unlocks the chains on her wrists. The Mermaid immediately slips out of the tank, but doesn't immediately leave. Instead, she rears herself up and very, very close to Lily--almost (but not quite) a kiss. Lily, trembling, says little but urging her to leave. This lasts only a short time but seems to go on much, much longer. You'd swear they were about to engage in an open mouth kiss.
Then, they're interrupted by a man--whom the Mermaid promptly kills and begins to eat!
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Actresses:
Carla Gugino & Rya Kihlstedt
Lily sneaks out of her cabin down to where the tank is kept. She finds the Mermaid now in a purely human shape--no tail or fins, etc.--and crouched, shivering on the deck. From reading the journal, she knows there's a set time when such "Sirens" do appear human. That's why she simply didn't leave when she had the chance!
Lily wraps her robe around the Mermaid, who curls up in Lily's lap.
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Actresses:
Carla Gugino & Rya Kihlstedt
At film's end, the ship is close--too close--to the Forbidden Isles where the Mermaids wait to eat the crew. The Mermaid transforms into a demonic-like shape and proceeds to kill everyone.
Except Lily. She backs up the young woman (who, although barren, is now pregnant and believes the Mermaid somehow responsible) and with her claws begins to undo her clothes. "Please," whispers Lily "don't kill us."
Cut the ship being found adrift two weeks later. Lily is alive and in a fetal position. She refuses to tell what happened to her crew. In a voiceover she notes how she bore her daughter and kept silent about what she knew. We see her and her daughter in a rowboat--and the daughter's eyes flash golden red, even as the Mermaid's eyes had!
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This is a well-done and original horror film. Not great, to be sure, but far above average (especially compared with so many gore-fests). Like many good horror films, it has a very definate edge of eroticism. In this one, the eroticism is entirely between the character of Lily and the Mermaid. The men in the film react with lust to the Mermaid sometimes, but the only real connection is between her and Lily. The result was an interesting and intriguing atmosphere of eroticism without ever becoming explicit.
As for the ending, what happened between them after all the men were dead is left up to the imagination. Take it for what you will. But Lily's narrative at the end notes "I did see her again. But that is another story."
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