Horror Movie Review: Killer Mermaid (2014)

Killer Mermaid (Or Nymph or Mamula as it has been known) is a perfect example of just what makes horror movies often such a chore to sit through. Here you have a very simple idea, a killer mermaid stalking a group of tourists/islanders. It should be a tongue in cheek gore fest but instead it takes itself so seriously that it’s about as entertaining as watching paint dry.

There is no humour, no real gore, a plot that is unnecessarily convoluted & acting that will make you cringe constantly. Who cares about jealously/old romance subplots? The movie is called Killer Mermaid, show us some mermaid killings!

We have two American girls who are visiting Montenegro where they meet up with an old friend. He just also happens to be an old flame of one of them. Here’s a girl who can’t quite let the past go. She meets his fiancé, proceeds to make cutting remarks & just act like a piece of shit most of the time.

As leads go they are terrible, one is very unlikable & the other is completely forgettable.

After nothing happens for what feels like an age, they meet up with a local islander who talks them into going to the small island of Mamula the next day. The island is an isolated place with an abandoned military fort & something for the girls to see during their stay.

The group, while drinking in the bar the night before, get the customary warning about going to the island by a drunk fisherman but naturally ignore this warning.

The next day they go off to the island anyway where they end up being attacked by a fisherman. He’s the protector of a real-life mermaid. She lives within the bowels & she uses her siren song to lure men to their deaths.

I don’t know if it’s possible to express just how much I hated every minute of this pointless horror movie. Killer Mermaid is disgustingly poor with such little effort put into making it even slightly entertaining. It even manages to make its location seem drab & boring.

The mermaid is a joke, something that actually doesn’t appear threatening at all. Most of the killings happen at the hands of her slave man who protects her. This man who never really comes across as that much of a threat. The one thing it has going for it is the visual image of the mermaid when she transforms to her true form, it does look pretty damn good. Unfortunately, it doesn’t amount to much as she spends most of her screen time just sitting there in the exact same spot!

It ends with an astounding move, some sequel bait. A sequel that will never happen even though the concept is actually kind of thrilling. Perhaps that should have been what happens in this movie instead!?

At least the original title Mamula didn’t try to sell a lie. Killer Mermaid is so far from what this movie is about so avoid it, don’t be tempted by its siren song.