The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead (2018) Review
The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead (2018) Review
Rusalka: Ozero myortvykh (original title)
The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead begins with a mermaid falling in love with a human, but that’s where the similarities with Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale end, instead taking a terrifying twist as she instead aims to keep him underwater in her Kingdom of Death while his fiancé must overcome her fear of water in order to save his life.
I was given the option of reviewing this title in either its dubbed or subtitled form. I opted for the subtitled as I have an aversion to dubbing. It normally sucks! Why am I telling you this? Simply so you know that the film is available in either format and that this review is based on what I would reckon to be the better format to watch. For those amongst you that prefer not to read and opt for the dubbed version then don’t moan when it the voicing sounds very Eurotrash!
There used to be a time when foreign-language flicks offered an alternative to the normally anaemic kid-friendly horror output from Hollywood studios. Unfortunately it looks like other international film markets are adhering to the well-worn American horror movie template. This means having a needless ‘jump’ moment every five minutes which the makers feel constitutes as being ‘scary’ – it doesn’t. It’s irritating and made viewing this akin to dealing with a very bad migraine.
Admittedly the demographic that this film is aimed at are less discerning and more readily impressed (teenagers) when it comes to their viewing pleasure – a fifty-one year-old man is NOT the core audience for the likes of The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead. So if you’re fifteen years of age or simply overawed by anything that apes the Hollywood template then add a couple more stars to my rating. For everyone else give this a miss.
Right from the film’s beginning I was holding your head in both hands, open agog at the stupor being inflicted upon me, wondering whether to switch off. Two young guys and a young lady, Marina (Viktoria Agalakova), are at an indoor swimming pool. The point that Marina is unable to swim is so over-emphasised that we have already been tipped off as to how the film will end. That’s right; she’ll have to overcome her fear of the water to take on the mermaid and save the day. When the film’s ending is telegraphed so blatantly so soon into the film’s running time, it kind of defeats the point of watching further – you already know how this is going to end!
For the purposes of this review I kept watching, seeking solace in director Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy’s luscious visuals, the film is quite a colour palette and the photography is excellent. What a shame that such good work is squandered on a mundane, lifeless plot. The acting is reasonable for something so formulaic although characterisation is lacking, all surface and no depth. I never felt that our lead character Marina actually cared that her partner was under the influence of an evil mermaid, meandering from one scene to another without anchoring our empathy and consequently our interest.
