Mermaid: The Lake of the Dead

There is not an awful lot to add to what has already been said very well. Really loved the concept to 'The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead' and that it was loosely based on 'Rusalka'. Absolutely love Russian film, both live action and animation of which there are classics in both of all decades and genres/styles. Likewise with Russian folk tales, and there are many timeless ones out there. It also looked and sounded good.

Part of me was a little disappointed watching 'The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead'. Not because of it being awful, actually don't it is that at all, but because there was room for it to be so much more than it turned out to be. It is nowhere near close to being a waste of time but it had potential to be great and it just wasn't. Instead of falling into either extreme of loving or hating 'The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead', for me it was one of those films that left me mixed and where there was a lot of pondering needed to sum up my thoughts on it.

Will start with the good with 'The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead'. Much of the film looks quite good, with locations being a mix of beautifully dark and charming and the photography has a good deal of atmosphere. As does the audio which unsettled without being obvious and fitted tonally and in placement. There is an eerie tension and the mermaid is both ethereal and creepy.

Viktoriya Agalakova is a heartfelt Marina and Sofia Shidlovskaya enchants and chills. The visual acting is better than average.

It is such a shame however 'The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead' has too many short-comings too on top of those major strengths. While the visual acting was not an issue, the same cannot be said for the dubbing which had nowhere near the same amount of emotion seen on screen, didn't fit (Ilya came over as an irritating character as a result) and it sounds awkward. It actually would have been better just having it said entirely in Russian and having subtitles. There was an eerie, dark eerie tension and heart in much of the film but towards the end the logic becomes sloppy to the point of ridiculousness and the finale was impossible to take seriously, pure nonsense. Parts are repetitive too and in a predictable way too.

Do agree too about the jump scares. Excessive in number and use, added absolutely nothing, none of them were surprising, none of them were scary, they were just cheap and predictable and just cheapened an atmosphere that was already quite effective without them. The special effects looked as though they were made in a rush and as an afterthought, didn't see the need for them here (am seeing a pattern here, one of pointlessness regarding a few components).

A mixed bag overall. A fair bit impressed but there were frustrations too that could easily have been avoided. 5/10

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.

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.

The first thing my buddy said when I borrowed his DVD-copy of "Mermaid: Lake of the Dead" was that, technically, the girl in the film isn't a mermaid. True that! She doesn't have shells to cover her boobs, or doesn't use a fork to comb her hair like Ariel does in Disney's "The Little Mermaid". Heck, she doesn't ever have a tail, which I think is the bare minimum to qualify as a mermaid. However, this doesn't mean the film isn't worth seeking out. Quite the contrary, the girl - Lisa Grigorieva - is an aquatic creature from the Russian folklore, so her background story and particularities are probably more original than any other horror movie about mermaids and sea sirens (with the exception of "The Lorlei's Grasp", that is a brilliant film).

The plot is intriguing, for sure. Shortly before their wedding, a young couple threatens to be torn apart by the interference of a mysterious water nymph who lures the boy - Roma Kitaev - to his family's lakeside vacationing house and seduces him with her gentle whispers and supernatural powers. The nymph's slowly unraveling backstory is great, and while the lead characters are amiable. So far for the strong points. Unfortunately, the makers of "Mermaid: Lake of the Dead" still believe the best way to make a horror film is to stuff it with jump scare moments and hideous digital effects. What they have here is a potentially atmospheric and petrifying concept, but they choose to throw in a sudden scare or a nasty face every couple of minutes. None of the BOO-moments have an effect, resulting in a chaotic and infantile second half and climax that easily could have been much better.

I don't know if it's the scares themselves or because i watched it dubbed and not in Russian ,, but it kinda felt overdone ,, A lot of scares ,, i mean the graphics and cinematography are good but there were so many jumpy moments by the end of the movie the scares felt like just any other normal scene.

The plot is semi-genuine, somewhat familiar,, the casting as of the Russian cast looked fine , but as i said sadly all the engagement and interaction thrill factors are lost when you watch it dubbed to English.

So i would say it's not highly recommended, especially not in English.