Mermaid: The Lake of the Dead

Let's start with the badly translated title. Where's the mermaid? There isn't one. The title character is a rusalka, not a mermaid in any western understanding of the word. Rusalki are the damned souls of girls who commited suicide by drowning, typically because they were pregnant out of wedlock and abandoned or rejected by the father. Such a girl becomes a rotting half-fish, half-woman, hideous in appearance, inhabiting ponds and rivers (not the ocean), who tries to lure young men to their death. They can shape-shift to appear beautiful or take the form of a living person. They are vengeful, evil, capable of sorcery, and dangerous. Don't think Ariel in a clamshell bra. Think carp zombies.

There. Does that help?

Marina is engaged to Roma, a competitive swimmer. Roma and his sister Olga lost their mother at an early age, supposedly to drowning. But as you see in the opening scene, she was actually killed by a rusalka at their lakeside dacha (summer house). The widowed father, who has had at best a distant relationship with his children ever since, unexpectedly gifts the dacha to Roma and Marina as a wedding gift, telling them to sell it and take the money. Instead, Marina wants to fix it up and keep it. But the rusalka has not gone away, and now casts her eye on Roma...

Visually, "The Rusalka: Lake of the Dead" (to give it its proper translation) excels. It is rich in old-fashioned atmosphere: mist on the lake, moon through clouds, candlelight in the old banya (wooden sauna), a lush Russian forest.

Contrary to what some reviewers found, the storyline is perfectly coherent. There are a handful of cultural references that Russians will understand but are not explained for the benefit of westerners (such as a shout-out to Karamzin's "Poor Liza").

But these do not pose a problem as long as you understand that a rusalka is not a mermaid.

While the Russian folklore angle is interesting and refreshing, the pacing and the action are kinda caotic and there are too many plot twists that don't really help the cause.

Poor script, poor acting, poor end. No logic in the story. Story doesn't fit reality in a logical way. Too many predictable scare jumps, many if them too obvious.

In 2018's The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead we are introduced to a young woman who has to fight over her boyfriend against a mermaid-like creature. It's actually a Rusalki from Slavic mythology and these creatures usually live in lakes or rivers and lure young man to their death.

There are some moody dark scenes at the small lake, where the Rusalki lives and the contrast colors from the poster in green and red are both present in the movie. Especially the dark green tone which is seen in most of the scenes taking place at night. The effects actually look pretty decent and I liked the design of the Rusalki. There are several scenes where her face transforms with a loud screech and a jump scare. Its a cheap way to scare the audience and is generally not welcome amongst horror fans. Another thing that is not very well liked is the trope of dumb character's. But sadly the movie also takes a slice of this and therefore makes it almost hard to root for them. On the other hand it's certainly a unique movie with a unique creature being the central antagonist. Overall it's a decent film but the final result lacked in execution in some parts. [5,2/10]

So we in the western world see mermaids as beautiful sea women who have the tail of a fish. Keep in mind that this is a foreign film, and the mermaids of Russian and Ukrainian lore are not the same as what we know. The film has a decent plot but there isn't exactly a lot of logic behind it. The "mermaid" is more like a ghost, because the woman died centuries ago (so now it's a spirit I guess?). Being a Russian film, the dubbing is pretty atrocious. It's almost laughable that they don't even attempt to try and match the mouths with the words. In all its a decent late night flick, but not one you wanna watch more than once.