Director: Milan Todorovic
Cast: Kristina Klebe, Franco Nero, Natalie Burn and Dragan Micanovic
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 94 min
There is a perfectly good reason why film reviews exist folks, and that is to fish out golden works of filmmaking. Like fishing, you do tend to find bits of trash like empty tins and bottles. Killer Mermaids is certainly that kind of film title (c’mon, mermaids that kill!) that hooks your attention, but turns out to be a disappointing find.
It shouldn’t be ignored that this is actually part of film history, as it is Serbia’s first-ever creature feature to be made. Director Milan Todorovic also made the first Serbian zombie film, Zone of the Dead in 2009, which did not get good reviews at the time of its release. Not the best start for Serbian film, but its an achievement nonetheless – a starting point to get better…then they made Killer Mermaids!
The plot centers around two uninteresting girls who travel to Montenegro on vacation to visit an old friend/bit on the side. While there they decide to venture to an abandoned military fortress located on a remote island. From what looks like the setting to TV game show Fort Boyard, they discover that they are not alone (well, it does say mermaids in the title). Someone else is on the island with them and he will stop at nothing to protect the terrible singing CGI mermaid that lurks beneath.
The main downfall to this film is its lengthy build up to the encounter with the mermaid. Films like Jaws are a great example of how to keep an audience’s interest for a while before they do the big reveal. One of the main reasons Jaws did well was that the characters were interesting, Killer Mermaids fails even to deliver that! Whether the Director was going for character development or just padding because of a small budget – the whole act just slows things down. We don’t really learn much about the characters such as Kelly (Kristina Klebe) and Lucy (Natalie Burn). Lucy just strolls around looking sexy in tight bikini bottoms which is a disappointment. With those types of characters you just lose interest in them because you know they are just there for show, and food. Not even Kelly redeems the female side, although her fear of water could have been expanded on. Only the mermaid seemed awake throughout the film and she doesn’t even have a speaking part!
Now, I will say mermaid instead of mermaids in this review, because that is all there is! I am not joking. The title is almost misleading but wait, we do catch a glimpse of more of the bloodthirsty creatures at the very end! It literally hints at a sequel that hopefully doesn’t grace the shelves of HMV. The whole film title is incorrect, as I would say this is more of a slasher film than a creature feature. Just picture I Know What You Did Last Summer crossed with Splash, then you will understand. They actually mention in the dialogue, I Know What You Did Last Summer, just to remind you that you should be watching that instead of this. I know which one I would pick…
Overall, Killer Mermaids is a success in its advertising of beautiful Montenegro, but a disaster of a creature feature. Lets pray the sequel is called Django Vs. Killer Mermaids. Now that I would see.
Killer Mermaids is released on DVD 29th June and digitally 15th June.
