She Creature

She Creature
DVD cover
Written by	Sebastian Gutierrez
Directed by	Sebastian Gutierrez
Starring	Rufus Sewell Carla Gugino Rya Kihlstedt Jim Piddock Reno Wilson Mark Aiken
Theme music composer	David Reynolds
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Lou Arkoff Colleen Camp Stan Winston
Cinematography	Thomas L. Callaway
Editor	Daniel Cahn
Running time	91 minutes
Production companies	Creature Features Productions, LLC.
Distributor	Columbia TriStar Television
Release
Original release	October 4, 2001 (2001-10-04)

She Creature (originally billed as Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature) is a 2001 horror made-for-television film, directed by Sebastian Gutierrez and starring Rufus Sewell, Carla Gugino and Rya Kihlstedt in leading roles. It is the first in a series of films made for Cinemax paying tribute to the films of American International Pictures.^[1] The films in this tribute series reused the titles of old American International Pictures films, but are not remakes of the earlier films. This film was shot in 18 days.

Plot[]

In 1905, in Ireland, two carnies, Angus Shaw and his wife Lillian "Lily", encounter a Mr. Woolrich 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, 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. However, during the voyage to America, the mermaid seems to take a liking to her.

During the crew's one evening at sea, Lily is bothered by a drunken Miles, one of the sailors, who reveals to be a former client from Lily's past life as Mary Ann, a barren prostitute. At night, she experiences troubling prophetic nightmares and the mermaid is found tangled in the ship's nets after she attempts to escape. As she is returned to her tank, she spits out Miles' ring, prompting Lily to realize that she ate him as a favour to her. She attempts to explain this to Angus but he dismisses it, but he admits that they did abduct her rather than buy her from Woolrich and that they didn't mean to kill him.

Meanwhile, the mermaid seems possessing Lily, almost taking control of her one night when she unwittingly tries to kill Angus while they are making love; thankfully, Lily is able to come to her senses. Worried that the mermaid will do further harm, Lily attempts to free her, but she is caught by Bailey, who then is devoured by the mermaid. 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. Teresa 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. When she comes to, she tries to explain to a concerned Angus that she is pregnant, but he dismisses this as a symptom of her sickness.

Later, the crew angrily harass the mermaid before Angus intervenes. He and Gifford discuss the situation with the Captain Dunn (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 they gradually approach the mermaid's home, The Forbidden Islands, prompting the crew to realise that their captive had taken control of the ship and led them off course. While sharing a moment with Lily, the mermaid then reveals her true monstrous form as the Queen of the Lair and her intention to feed the crew to her people. The crew try to fight her off but are killed one by one, save for Lily, who is spared.

Two weeks later, Lily is 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 half-human/half-mermaid, whose eyes resemble those of the mermaid.

Cast[]

• Rufus Sewell as Angus Shaw, an Irish traveling circus owner and conman who harbors a desire to use the mermaid as a freak show attraction.
• Carla Gugino as Lillian "Lily" Shaw, Angus' wife, who shares a psychic bond with the mermaid; the movie's main protagonist.
• Jim Piddock as Captain Dunn, owner of Marie Celeste ship.
• Reno Wilson as Bailey, Angus' Afro-Irish partner-in-crime; the mermaid's second victim.
• Mark Aiken as Gifford, Angus' other partner-in-crime.
• Fintan McKeown as Skelly, Captain Dunn's first mate.
• Aubrey Morris as Mr. Woolrich, an elderly retired marine commandant and the mermaid's initial owner; widower to Teresa Woolrich.
• Gil Bellows as Miles, one of the crew members; the mermaid's first victim.
• Rya Kihlstedt as the mermaid, the movie's main antagonist.
• Hannah Sim as the Queen of the Lair, the mermaid's true monstrous form who intents to feed the entire crew to her congeners.
• Jon Sklaroff as Eddie, the Russian member of the crew.
• as the cook
• Dan Hildebrand as Christian
• Preston Maybank as the Navy Captain
• Brian Sieve as Officer Dixon
• Matthew Roseman as Officer Jenkins
• Gabriel Gutierrez as young O'Donnell
• Isabella Gutierrez as Miranda, Lily's human-mermaid hybrid daughter.

Release[]

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Home media[]

The film was released on DVD by Columbia Tristar both on January 1, and April 2, 2002. It was later released by Lions Gate on April 18, 2006, as a part of a double-feature with another film in the series The Day the World Ended. On June 1, 2010, it was released by Sony Pictures as a two-disk double-feature with . Mill Creek would release the film on February 25, 2014 and on June 7, 2016; as a part of two multi-feature movie packs.^[2]

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 38% based on reviews from 8 critics, with an average rating of 4.7/10.^[3]

She Creature has received mixed reviews. 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.^[4] 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."^[5] 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."^[6]

Awards[]

Winners[]

• Hollywood Makeup Artists and Hair Stylist Guild Award
  • Best Special Makeup Effects - Television Mini-Series/Movies of the Week : Myke Michaels, Richard Wetzel, Shane Mahan, Stephanie Coffey.

Nominees[]

• Fangoria Chainsaw Awards
  • Best Limited-Release/Direct-to-Video Film : She Creature.
  • Best Makeup/Creature FX : Stan Winston Studio
• Saturn Awards
  • Best Single Television Presentation : She Creature.

See also[]

• The She-Creature
• Mermaids in popular culture

References[]

External links[]

• She Creature at AllMovie
• She Creature at IMDb