She Creature

In 1905, in Ireland, two carnies, Angus Shaw (Rufus Sewell) and his wife Lillian "Lily" (Carla Gugino), encounter a Mr. Woolrich (Aubrey Morris) during one of their shows. Having heard that a mermaid will be on show, he is relieved to find that it is just Lily impersonating one. They offer him a ride home, where he shows them documented sightings of mer-people throughout history including a map of their home, the Forbidden Islands, and explains that they can take human form during the full moon. He then reveals to them an actual mermaid (Rya Kihlstedt), who he captured back in his admiral days, and explains how she killed his wife. Naturally Angus and Lily are astonished. Sensing Angus's desire to use her as a freak show attraction, Woolrich warns him against it.

Unbeknownst to Lily, Angus and his colleagues Bailey (Reno Wilson) and Gifford (Mark Aiken) break into Woolrich's home during the night but are caught. During the scuffle, Woolrich suddenly dies of a heart attack, allowing Angus and the crew to abduct the mermaid and smuggle her aboard their ship. Lily is less than thrilled about this idea despite her husband's attempts to persuade her it's for the best. During the crew’s first night at sea, Lily experiences troubling prophetic nightmares and the mermaid somehow escapes her tank and eats one of the crew members, Miles(Gil Bellows), before ending up caught in the ship’s nets. After an anxious Lily confronts Angus, he confesses that while he did kidnap the mermaid from Woolrich, he never intended for him to die. The mermaid meanwhile seems to have formed some sort of connection with Lily, almost taking control of her one night when she unwittingly tries to kill Angus. Worried that the mermaid will do further harm, Lily attempts to free her but is caught by Bailey, who is then devoured. Concerned for his wife's sanity, Angus locks her up in her room. Lily realizes she is pregnant, much to her horror, as she believed herself to be incapable of having children. She then reads the late Mrs. Woolrich's diary, which confirms her worry that the mermaid grants fertility by possessing women during sexual intercourse. She manages to escape and encounters the terrified mermaid, now in her human form due to the full moon. Lily comforts her, but they are caught by the crew just as she passes out. The crew angrily harass the mermaid before Angus intervenes. He and Gifford discuss the situation with the captain (Jim Piddock), who fearfully confesses that the mermaid made him do things against his will before committing suicide. A storm begins to close in on them and the crew realize that their captive took control of the ship and led them off course towards The Forbidden Islands. The mermaid reveals her true monstrous form as the Queen of the Lair and proceeds to feed the crew to her people, but spares Lily who is soon rescued by the crew of a passing ship. Out of respect for the mermaid she refuses to answer their questions. The film closes with Lily living peacefully with her and the mermaid’s half-human daughter.

• Rufus Sewell as Angus Shaw
• Carla Gugino as Lillian "Lily" Shaw
• Jim Piddock as Captain Dunn
• Reno Wilson as Bailey
• Mark Aiken as Gifford
• Fintan McKeown as Skelly
• Aubrey Morris as Mr. Woolrich
• Gil Bellows as Miles
• Rya Kihlstedt as Mermaid
• Hannah Sim as Queen of the Lair
• Jon Sklaroff as Russian Eddie
• David Nott as Cook
• Dan Hildebrand as Christian
• Preston Maybank as Navy Captain
• Brian Sieve as Officer Dixon
• Matthew Roseman as Officer Jenkins
• Gabriel Gutierrez as Young O'Donnell
• Isabella Gutierrez as Miranda

Maitland McDonagh from TV Guide awarded the film 3/5 stars, calling it "surprisingly imaginative", commending the film's performances, creature design, and claustrophobic setting.[3] Arrow in the Head gave the film a score of 7/10, "The many astounding performances also contributed to make the fantastic premise even more engrossing... Add to that some solid special effects courtesy of Stan Winston Studios, gorgeous cinematography, a couple of intense scares, stylish directing and you get a very strong horror offering."[4] David Nusair from ReelFilm Reviews awarded the film a negative 1.5 out of 4 stars, calling it "cheesy". Nusair criticized the film's first hour as being "limp", writing, "all we really want out of this movie is a bad-*** mermaid killin' lots of folks. But we don't get that until the final 15 minutes."[5]

• The She-Creature
• Mermaids in popular culture

• She Creature at AllMovie
• She Creature at IMDb
• She Creature at Rotten Tomatoes