Any hopes I had for "Mermaid" were soon awash in the gallons of pus and blood and ranks of maggots that oozed and sloshed and swarmed out of the poor thing's belly, which is already looking like a bubbling peanut-and-butter jelly sandwich by the 15 minute mark. And may I say: nice pustule make-up, guys. Even in closeup, with the straight razor lancing them, you'd swear those are real cankers. To quote from the script: "Aaaaaiiiieeeeee!"
And that's it, alas. Hideshi Hino has a powerful imagination only hinted at here, in this little squiggly glistening exercise. The sewer sequence, with its monologue about memory and loss, and the Poe homage as the painter settles down to immortalize his dying mermaid suggest we're in for deeper treats. Nope: maggots, mainly. And OK already: you can hardly blame a gore film for being gory. But as readers of his horror manga know, Hino, like his heir apparent Junji Ito, can be a captivating storyteller. Here he's only skin deep.
And that's it, alas. Hideshi Hino has a powerful imagination only hinted at here, in this little squiggly glistening exercise. The sewer sequence, with its monologue about memory and loss, and the Poe homage as the painter settles down to immortalize his dying mermaid suggest we're in for deeper treats. Nope: maggots, mainly. And OK already: you can hardly blame a gore film for being gory. But as readers of his horror manga know, Hino, like his heir apparent Junji Ito, can be a captivating storyteller. Here he's only skin deep.