She Creature

[ScheherazOdd]

...otherwise known as 'the most underrated horror movie of all time, ever'. This is one of my favorites; there are so many awesome things about this movie, it's one of those rare cases where it seems like everything went perfectly right. The story, the characters, the acting, the special effects (okay, maybe not the CGI), and most importantly, the mermaid.

In this daring tale, a couple of sideshow performers played brilliantly by Carla Gugino and Rufus Sewell meet and old man who shows them a mermaid that he keeps prisoner in a tank in his home, claiming that the creature is dangerous and murdered his wife. They acquire the mermaid and load it onto a ship bound for America, hoping to get in with the Ringling Bros. Of course this all goes spectacularly awry when the mermaid starts eating people.

The story reminds me of HP Lovecraft, but with a feminist slant. It has all the monsters, madness, and mystery, with the flavor of classic Lovecraftian icthyophobia. I love that the narrative gives you hints on the nature of the monster and not much else, leaving you to think it out on your own, and the ending? Oh, I have such theories. This was meant to be the first in a trilogy of movies, which sadly was never continued (*weeps*) so I guess I'll never find out for sure. That kind of makes it more fun, though. It preserves the mystery, and it gives it another resemblance to a Lovecraft story wherein most of the horror comes from the unknown.

Carla Gugino is nothing short of stupendous as Lily, who is just a great character to begin with. She's tough, smart, has a past, and her relationship with the mermaid is intriguing and spooky. She and Rufus Sewell have a very natural chemistry that makes it easy to believe that they're a couple who know each other well and have been together a long time. Rya Kihlstedt's mermaid captures a very organic, animalistic duality, by turns vicious and innocent, sympathetic and chilling, fascinating and frightening.

And can I just take a moment to geek out about the tail? Oh my sweet briny sea-Jesus, that is hands down the best mermaid tail I have ever seen. Period. The design, the puppeteering, the way it moves in and out of the water, the realistic quality. This movie wins at Tail. As well it should, since the whole point this series of movies presented by HBO were to focus on creature effects.

The trailer is below. Last time I checked, the whole movie is available on youtube, and I would strongly urge you to give it a look at your earliest convenience. This one is absolutely worth seeing.



Sweet dreams.

[Aquatica]

I have never even heard of this movie before this, I am going to have to see it now.

Thanks for the heads up

[Syrenia]

OMG I SAW THIS MOVIE WHEN I WAS LITTLE! It scared the bajeesus out of me. And it's funny,
because when I saw the new pirates, I seriously yelled out "THEY STOLE THE MERMAID IDEA FROM THAT ONE MOVIE!"
Great movie, though. One of my favorites.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

I'm going to have to watch this now...

[taom]

It is sooooo good. It's one of my favorite movies, actually. Fun fact! The lady who plays the mermaid in She Creature also played a zombie in I Am Legend. She was the one at the end with the butterfly tattoo on her shoulder.

I made the mistake of watching this at midnight, alone.

ps ScheherazOdd, where is your gif in your signature from?

[ScheherazOdd]

No shit? That's pretty cool!

Hey, the first time I saw this I actually had a nightmare about it. I dreamed that I was running around on this dock at night and the mermaid was underneath me, trying to punch her way up through the boards to get me *shudder*

The gif is from Lady Gaga's 'You and I' music video.

[MermaidNerenia]

This is badassery I MUST watch this now! Maybe I can get it on Amazon or Ebay cheap. The tail is amazing in the short clips I saw, the fluidity and the movement of it are so organic and realistic! Anyone know the tail makers for it or is it CGI? Im not a huge Gugino fan but we'll see.

[ScheherazOdd]

The tail is amazing in the short clips I saw, the fluidity and the movement of it are so organic and realistic! Anyone know the tail makers for it or is it CGI?

The whole tail is 100% real, and in some shots there's a big puppet tail operated by divers that moves independently of the actress so the movement is more realistic. No knees or heels visible. The only CGI is a few shots of the ship on the ocean or coming up on an island.

[merboy78xy]

Yep! I LOVED (and own) this Flick. I thought that the historical view of merfolk being wild and Siren-like, dangerous and even man-eating was neat to see. It's not often shown. Usually the sensuality of merfolk is about the beginning and the end of a mermaid plot-- but this had everything. You felt amazement at the creature when you first meet her, you are hypnotized by her "alien" way of being and her sensuality, you are afraid of her when you realize what she's capable of, and you are also routing for her when you feel her need to escape, and sympathize with her when she's vulnerable. A LOT of facets to such a unique mermaid. LOVED it.

[deepblue]

FYI- if you haven't seen the film yet and want to, and you're not a stickler about quality you can view it now- someone has put it on YouTube. It has Spanish subtitles, but is the film in its entirety.

Remember, this movie is NSFW and is considered horror. It has some genuinely gross moments which were totally unnecessary, but there ya go. Personally, there is so much I love about this movie, mostly because it presents mers the way I tend to see them. But there is a bit about this movie I just hated, and mostly toward the end... but it did not ruin it for me.



Watch at your own risk, but not if you're easily squicked out or are offended by topless mermaids.

[spottedcatfish]

I saw this last year! Great movie!

[deepblue]

I love the mermaid so flipping much! Well... most of the time, ha.

[Echidna]

It's my fav mer movie.
Bought a copy even though I'd already seen it fully.
It's awesome.

[Aziara]

Maybe I've seen too many horror movies recently.... But I didn't find it to be a scary movie. A tad disturbing, perhaps. Things might have been different had I watched it at night, however

[PearlieMae]

No, it's not very good. I thought the movie was pretty lame. It had good ideas and never developed them. The cinematographer and lighting director must have lit soap operas and the production design looked like old Xena episodes. The story was thin and the only good thing about it was the mermaid tail.

In my opinion. I'm also a sci-fi/horror movie snob.

[deepblue]

It doesn't qualify as horror for me, more of a supernatural thriller. And I swear they threw in the gross stuff just so they could call it horror, but it didn't need any of that. The moment toward the end when the big change (avoiding spoilers) is revealed... that was just such a let down.

But the film has a few actors I love and is in one of my favorite eras. I kind of want to rewrite it with the stuff I loved and change what I hated.

[drucilla]

I wonder if Raven could make this tail...

[Elle]

she did

[deepblue]

Or at least, it's based on it. Very close, because with actual human legs inside, you can't get much closer.

[Echidna]

The moment toward the end when the big change (avoiding spoilers) is revealed... that was just such a let down.

see, that was my favourite part, because that's a very ancient bit of the mermaid legend still linked to their fae descent.
In the oldest mermaid stories, exactly something like this happens, and all the mer-related beings (sirens, gorgons) are extreme shapeshifters.

I agree though that some things handled differently could have made the movie so much better, but beggars can't be choosers :P
while I wouldn't classify it as horror either, she creature is a hundred times better (and closer to real legends) than silly stuff like Splash & Co.