Mermaid in a Manhole is the fourth entry in the more than infamous Japanese Guinea Pig series which tries to be as shocking as a film can be. This kind of trash can be made only in Japan. Mermaid is directed by Hideshi Hino, a man behind the most infamous part of the series, Guinea Pig 2: Flowers of Flesh and Blood. Mermaid is not as sick as the first two entries in the series, but Mermaid is still very very disgusting and "shocking" as the young painter finds a wounded and beautiful mermaid from a sewer and takes her home and places into tub. He begins to paint her as she is unconscious in the tub, but soon she begins to have some very severe symptoms of "melting" as pus filled and exploding vesicles appear on her skin and soon she is FILLED with crawling worms and disgusting excretions and secretions as her slow death comes more and more near..So this doesn't make much sense and all the film has to offer are shocks and a need for barf bag.
The scenes of wet and pus spurting mayhem are disgusting enough, but what I really had difficulties to sit through were the scenes of thousands of slithery worms which are definitely real and plenty, and the girl has them in her mouth, too! What kind of an actress would agree to act in such a role? I'm not actually scared of worms or don't hate them, but there are so many hundreds of them and they are filled with blood and pus and they appear ANYWHERE from the girl's body and they are very lively and active so I simply couldn't watch the film without some disgust reactions, even though I watched the whole thing and didn't use any fast forward. So I definitely can recommend this, if you're looking for something very disgusting and despisable!
There are no cinematic merits in this film (or other Guinea Pig films), although the scene in the sewer is pretty haunting, so that is perhaps the only cinematic merit of the film! Either horror fans like these or then not. Others will puke trying to watch these, that's for sure! Try to show Mermaid to your girlfriend or sister and count seconds how much she can take! It is impossible to give stars for these films, because there are nothing but scenes of disgust and loathing. If you're a fan of Japanese extreme horror and sicko cinema, then Guinea Pigs are worth tracking down as a curiosity, but they are by no means great or noteworthy films, no matter how hard core horror fan one thinks he is. I watched this film (and most of the whole series) as a curiosity and 'cause I'm interested in Orient cinema in its all forms, excluding s/m cinema and other of its kind. As a marginal cinema fanatic, I give Mermaid 5 stars out of ten even though it is pretty useless to give stars for these. At least this is the most disgusting film I've ever seen!
The scenes of wet and pus spurting mayhem are disgusting enough, but what I really had difficulties to sit through were the scenes of thousands of slithery worms which are definitely real and plenty, and the girl has them in her mouth, too! What kind of an actress would agree to act in such a role? I'm not actually scared of worms or don't hate them, but there are so many hundreds of them and they are filled with blood and pus and they appear ANYWHERE from the girl's body and they are very lively and active so I simply couldn't watch the film without some disgust reactions, even though I watched the whole thing and didn't use any fast forward. So I definitely can recommend this, if you're looking for something very disgusting and despisable!
There are no cinematic merits in this film (or other Guinea Pig films), although the scene in the sewer is pretty haunting, so that is perhaps the only cinematic merit of the film! Either horror fans like these or then not. Others will puke trying to watch these, that's for sure! Try to show Mermaid to your girlfriend or sister and count seconds how much she can take! It is impossible to give stars for these films, because there are nothing but scenes of disgust and loathing. If you're a fan of Japanese extreme horror and sicko cinema, then Guinea Pigs are worth tracking down as a curiosity, but they are by no means great or noteworthy films, no matter how hard core horror fan one thinks he is. I watched this film (and most of the whole series) as a curiosity and 'cause I'm interested in Orient cinema in its all forms, excluding s/m cinema and other of its kind. As a marginal cinema fanatic, I give Mermaid 5 stars out of ten even though it is pretty useless to give stars for these. At least this is the most disgusting film I've ever seen!