Guinea Pig: Mermaid in the Manhole (1988)

Why so much hype?

Excellent but underrated film

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

'Mermaid In A Manhole' is part of the infamous 'Guinea Pig' series of Japanese horror films, considered to be among the goriest, and most grotesque offerings out there. There are six titles to choose from and I went with the one that seemed to be the tamest. As an added bonus I got two films for the price of one. The other title on the disc was a 39 minute horror comedy called 'He Never Dies'. 'Mermaid' itself is only 63 minutes long, and that's a good thing. It is definitely disgusting and a couple of moments were gag worthy, but it isn't unwatchable. I realize that most people would find this film extremely repulsive, and I get that. Everyone has there line in the sand. I don't care for long scenes of rape and humiliation or animal death, but mermaids covered in tumors that squirt out worms and multi-colored pus is just a little too far from reality to be upsetting to me. There were trailers for other films in the series that looked much harsher. Even the favorable reviews I read said that there is little, if any story to 'Devil's Experiment' and 'Flowers of Flesh and Blood'. They are quite simply an exercise in how much you can stand to look at. I love the gore, but I need more! I need a story, or comedy, or some other form of entertainment to go along with it. I'm not going to rush out to rent more 'Guinea Pig' films, but to my surprise, I didn't hate 'Mermaid'. "There are seven different colors of pus in these tumors. You will paint me with the pus of seven colors." Our mermaid starts out with just a few tumors on her stomach and they spread like wildfire. The tumors are extremely disgusting to look at and as they spread they get more vile with the added addition of blood, colored pus and worms. Lot's and lot's and lot's of worms! The artist quite literally does paint her portrait with the seven colors of her own pus. 'Mermaid' was obviously made on a tight budget, and I think they pored every dollar they had into the gore. But there is a story, and the film actually comes full circle with an ending that is a twist that actually makes sense when you look back at it. The film tries to horrify but doesn't really succeed. It will gross you out and disgust you but it isn't suspenseful and it certainly isn't scary. There are more than a few moments that are just dumb. One particularly gory scene of the mermaid twitching out in slow motion, spraying away like a fountain, gave me a good laugh. In addition, there is a fan behind her blowing her hair about. Those crazy sound effects they used were downright cartoon-ish. There are also wacky neighbors that live below the artist that just didn't fit the rest of the film. I'm not sure whether they intended a little comic relief or it was unintentional, but in any case it didn't work for me. There is plenty to poke at, but I can't fail it. The mermaids tail was quite cool; very slimy and fishy. The gore is creative, and at times quite effective and the ending made up for some of it follies. I'm giving this one a day pass but rent it at your own risk!

I saw this in the middle of the night, and it wasn't subtitled. Still, I figured out what it was about, despite the fact that I don't speak it's language. It's about what appears to be a painter who rescues an injured woman who begins to rot and spew pus. As she dies, he uses her goop as paint. The film's ending is depressing as it appears that he wasn't playing with a full deck.The overall tone of the film is bad enough without the bizarre situation, but the fact that the film literally doesn't race makes the outcome more of an effective idea that could be better implemented with a little less patience. Still, when the screen isn't drenched with guts and pus, it's pretty to look at. This is, i guess, a part of some strange series of films in Japan that deal with special effects gore and realism. This works in both areas, but also happens to have a little more to offer.

A painter finds a mermaid in a sewer. Then she starts to get sick. "Paint me," she insists.There's gore and disturbing scenes, but the story itself seems to have a depth to it. Even if there really isn't much of a story at all. I blame my love for the movie on my psychology degree, and my own dreams. The sewer is the unconscious. He takes the mermaid from the sewer to save her, to make art out of her -- only she's infected. But if she came out of his unconscious, then really, isn't he the one that's infected?There is definitely a sort of Cronenburg, Kafka, "Picture of Dorian Gray" feel to the movie. Repulsive, and yet I couldn't stop watching, even as I squirmed in my seat.Definitely not for everyone, but what's there is powerful -- even though the acting and special effects sometimes make the movie feel more like camp than true horror.

Wow.I have rarely seen a film that manages to be intensely disgusting and poetically beautiful at the same time. Despite the reputation of the Ginipiggu films, this wasn't the most intense gore I've ever seen... Fulci's "Paura nella città dei morti viventi" is more disturbing, if not more graphic, and certainly far more violent. Fulci's film doesn't come close to the visual poetry that "Mermaid" exhibits in places, nor does it delve into the places in the soul that this film did.Confused yet?The basic story of "Mermaid": a Japanese artist has a penchant for lurking in a sewer near his home. We find out that this is because a beautiful mermaid lived in the river that once flowed where the sewer now sits. While skulking in the sewer one day, he finds the mermaid. She's been living in the darkness for decades, having become stranded when the city was built. The painter visits her repeatedly, and one day notices a horrible infection beginning on her abdomen. He realizes that she's gotten this infection from being trapped in the sewer for so long, and so he takes her home to care for her and paint her.The mermaid is the embodiment of the painter's childhood dreams, his innocence, and his joy. The infection is the decay of his own being, his psyche itself. As the film progresses, so does the infection, slowly disfiguring the mermaid until she comes to resemble ground beef covered with tumors that ooze multi-colored pus and occasionally give rise to masses of worms. She won't die, though, until he finishes his painting of her. She does die (which is an obvious outcome from the early part of the film -- but not the *ending*), and she does so slowly, painfully, horribly, and very graphically. If the thought of a boil-covered, bleeding woman lying in a bathtub filled with her own blood (and other fluids) while vomiting up blood and worms seems unpalatable to you, do NOT watch this film. I could easily see some of the scenes inducing a reversal of peristalsis in many viewers. I've seen some intense horror flicks and some very "realistic" gore, but there were definitely some nauseating and difficult moments for me in "Mermaid".There's also a scene wherein the mermaid has died and we see flowing paint obscure the paintings that the artist has rendered from his childhood memories as he dismembers her body, ostensibly for disposal. If I told any more, though, I'd be giving away the ending... and that wouldn't be fair.If you've got the stomach for it, I would highly recommend this film. The acting is solid (the dialogue is in Japanese with English subtitles), and the production values are quite good for a straight-to-video effort. This was a top ten seller in Japan for two months when it first came out, and with good reason. In many ways, this is a really excellent film, and it balances loathing and almost Poe-like horror with a certain inner beauty. I'm not generally a big fan of Japanese horror, but I haven't seen anything else that manages such a fine balancing act."Mermaid in a Manhole" is available in the US only through Unearthed Films. It's worth the effort and expense to get hold of a copy.