Yesterday I had planned to finish watching Killer Mermaid after work, but instead chose to watch something more horrifying… the Presidential Debate.  Without going too much into politics, I will say that I feel like any outcome from this election will result in something awful.

Part of what influenced my decision was the fact that halfway through Killer Mermaid, I still hadn’t seen any killer mermaids. There’s some old fisherman-type dude who seems a whole lot more deadly.  Then all we get is a photo that the characters mistake for a girl in a well who they have to rescue.  There seemed to be… too much plot?  Or maybe too much talking, because I totally zoned out while this group of tourists talked and drank and seemed to have some petty issues with each other.

FINALLY – one hour into this 1.5 hour movie, we see the mermaid!  Her voice lures in the men, and her tail is terrifying!  Also her face changes from beautiful to hideous!  The special effects in this are so amazingly bad that one of the horrified female tourists is swiped into the well by the mermaid – like, why would you be standing that close?  Okay, so I’d say the special effects are actually pretty decent when it comes to the mermaid, it’s just that it’s super obvious when camera angles are avoiding the need for special effects, so all we see is the mermaid’s gray hand swiping and the girl falling into the water.  But still, the fisherman dude is more deadly, especially with that grapple hook of his.

It’s no small wonder that this movie has had several different title changes (from Mamula to Nymph to Killer Mermaid).  It’s that bad.

For more terrifying creatures who haunt the waters, try:

• The Host (2006) – The creature in this South Korean movie is a deformed amphibian.  This is very clearly the highest quality film on this particular recommendation list.  Good horror, but also has some humor, too.
• Pirahna 3D & 3DD (2010 & 2012) – These remakes take all the campy stuff from the original and make it that much bigger.  The first one has a cool cameo from Richard Dreyfuss – the original Pirahna movie was a parody of Jaws, and his character here is a parody of his Jaws character.  The second one has a cameo from David Hasselhoff.  Good cheesy fun, if a little overly-focused on boobs.
• Sand Sharks (2011) – You want bad special effects?  Here you go!