Customer Reviews

She Creature

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really expected to dislike this movie. I found it while flipping around channels late one night on HBO. HBO was advertising it as a "modern" Creature Feature, that is reminiscent of "old time" creature features (ie Creature From the Black Lagoon). I was intrigued--especially when I heard it was about a mermaid--ever since I was a little girl, I've liked to read myth & folklore & I've always been a bit disappointed that in the movies mermaids were always depicted as being friendly & cheerful, when, in most legend, they were the total opposite.
Still, I thought that the movie had the potential to be really awful & cheesy. It certainly was not. It had wonderful acting & great writing for a horror movie--it was like a dark fairytale. Although the mermaid is quite vicious, she is still a complex character with feelings--you feel sorry for her even though she scares you. The cast is wonderful, and the mermaid is so beautiful! There was no CGI for a change (or at least, so little of it that I didn't notice it) , all the creature effects were made the old-fashioned way (by pure talent!) which was so cool.
I highly recommend this movie. It's alot of fun and stylistically very nice to look at.
A nice change for anybody who's sick of horror films with loads of computer animation & special effects but no storyline.
Or for those who'd enjoy a good, creepy, dark fairytale with a wonderfully unique feminist slant to it.

This may be my first DVD purchase from Sony Pictures "Creature Feature" collection but, if there are others with the same cynical tongue-in-cheek humor, imaginative twist of storyline, and horror- drama thrills, it will be the first of many! Thoroughly enjoyable! Who would have ever thought that the mysteries of the deep could be so deliciously dangerous!
Rya Kihlstedt plays the She Creature (the word "mermaid" lacks the depth and dimension to describe her) while Rufus Sewell and Carla Gugino (as Angus and Lillie) play an exploitative carnival-sideshow couple whose sense of humanity is sufficiently diverse to be exploited by a more subtle, more ruthless mind! Together they play an interesting variation on the menage-a-trois theme. The supporting cast does a praiseworthy job too! They magnificently keep the movie sailing on above the dramatic limitations of filming 95% of a story on board a poorly-lit wooden ship!
However, there's plenty of color added to the story by greed, sensuality, antagonism, distrust, patience, lies, seduction, past histories, propriety, humor, etc. Excellent sound effects and music help emphasize moments of possible telepathic communication and psychic possession (even impregnation of female by female!); also, precognitive dreams in restless sleep heighten the suspense and help define what dreadful fate awaits ... unless ...!
Anyhow, an atmosphere as dreadful as a mysterious Marie Celeste tale is created, then, with tensions heightened, tightened ... agonizingly tightened ... ah! But, you'd best view this movie yourself to know what happens next! If you enjoy horror-thrillers, you won't mind the suspense of the wait! And the movie? Well, you may even love it!

Finally, a tale that seems to pay homage to the old monster genre without taking away some of the modern movie appeal (or the reason they should be appealing). Now, I'm not one for spoilers (and despise them, actually), so I won't try to flash the high points of the movie away. Instead, I'll say that the concept of the movie, a mermaid being something that could be sinister (as well they should) and a bit unpredictable, actually kept me watching. It went outside of the normal bounds of this otherwise restricted character, giving the creature an ominous tone even when it wasn't horrifying. The supporting cast also propelled the movie forward, doing a superb job acting (and dying) to the delight of this hard to please audience. This, added to the fact that the build worked out and there weren't huge holes in the storyline made me glad I picked it up to watch.
All in all, I have to say that this movie was a wonderful breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant time for movie making, giving effects without CGI (something I like, but don't have to have) without sacrificing the integrity of modern effectiveness. Also, the clarity of the movie is superb, the storyline works really well, and the creature - o, the creature. I have to say that when Stan Winston puts his seal on a project, you know it'll be done right (well, the effects will be done right, anyway).
Its worth watching.

OK, I admit it: any movie Rufus Sewell does, I will watch and probably buy. That's just the way it is when you're an American fan of a British actor who isn't Hugh Grant! But I'm no horror movie buff, so I probably wouldn't have bothered with this one otherwise.

And then, what do you know, it's better than I expected! Looks beautiful for the low-budget nature people keep mentioning, all dark and spooky but somehow lovely. Of course Rufus is in good form, as always... Carla's great, and the mermaid's so well-done and sympathetic that when she does go psycho you actually kind of root for her. (Except when she goes after our boy, of course! ) Wish the movie had taken more time with its characters, been maybe a half hour longer, but I guess that's the nature of the genre; this was the best of the four creature-features Cinemax/HBO did... I'd love to see the sequel implied by the last moments of the film, too.

Would like to have seen more stuff on the DVD, but things like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings tend to raise your expectations there. Only films that make truckloads of money can go to those lengths! I'd buy this one even without the commentary and so forth. Great flick: fun, scary, pretty... more than you can usually say for a "creature feature!

Originally, I had expected this to be typical made-for-TV fare but I was wrong. The story of Mermaids being not-so friendly and not always beautiful was incrediblely detailed and well-done -- all the way done to the reworking of what I call "The Ecology of Mermaids" (something which the Japanese have done, but never got around to the Western world).

The actors do a riveting performance and the direction is great. And the mermaid is definitely a mermaid -- sexy, exotic. The special effects surprised the heck out of me as they really poured the money on this one.

The story follows a circus troupe (one of who poses as a mermaid) that finds a live captured mermaid and hires a crew to help them bring it across the ocean to America (of course things don't go quite as planned.)

A well-written thriller along with great special effects. This along with SCI FI Channel's DUNE has to be one of the best made-for-cable features to come around the past year.

Oh yeah, there is nudity and violence, but it's not explicit "fan service" kind and really is part of the story, so don't let the kids see it 'cause it can get intense. I'm getting this DVD when it comes out, that's for sure.

Made for HBO's creature feature series a while ago, She Creature stood out as the best of the series. Although the other films in the series were no doubt entertaining, She Creature might have been one of the only ones to carry a sort of dark ambience with it throughout the film. She Creature has sort of a classical horror tale feel and held out on the over the top monster effects until the very end. This was a fantastic descion, because it creates a tension when watching. The beautiful mermaid has a hideous side, but we are only led to imagine at first. What is also fantastic about this film is how the viewer is lurched into cheering for the She Creature. Her horrendeous treatment more then justifies the death of ever man on the ship. It is also interesting when put under the "gender lense". It seems like this straight forward film could have a subcontext to it. Men exploiting the representation of the body of the feminine, and that mute passive beautiful concept exacting ferocious revenge on thoes very men, eating them whole, and then bonding with the one sympathetic female through their common "gender related" attributes. Fertility. It's an interesting film any way you look at it, and it is done beautifully.

The best part of this movie for me was the subtle sapphic sexuality between the mermaid and Carla Cugio's character. There was a lot of curiousity and teasing from the mermaid. It's really a treat. I recommend this movie especially to the "womyn" out there. Check it out.

Like others have said, I'm really sick of seeing CGI effects in place of good storytelling. And I happen to love the old-fashioned "creature features," so this one was a real treat. I think SHE CREATURE is a nice melding of the old and the new. Very refreshing to see a little RESTRAINT (those of you unfamiliar with the word can look it up) applied to a horror film. If you like Hammer films or 50's "B" movies, I'm sure you will enjoy this one.

Lilly is an actress who works at a sideshow along with her lover Angus. When a former sea captain begins to tell them stories about mermaids Lilly and Angus think he's crazy. Until he reveals he has a live mermaid living in a tank in his home! But is the creature merely a side-show freak? Or is it a sinister creature of evil?

I really enjoyed She-Creature. This hearkens back to old B horror films from the 60's and 70's. Sure, there are some cheesy acting (especially on the part of the old boyfriend character) and gratuitous nudity. But I thought the mermaid was very cool, and they did a decent job with the creature's back-story and costume. In particular I liked the mermaid's tail, and the graceful way it moved out of water.

This is a good film for those who like tough intelligent monster films and creatures with a plausible motivation. Well done!

Just a great horror film, especially for those who like moody period pieces like a well done Dracula. The mermaid is beautiful and dangerous, the acting by everyone is really good. The sets and mood are really good. I had a really good time watching this movie, and was left hoping there would be MORE movies in this series.

Subtle eroticism, really a beautiful and classy piece of work.