Mermaid Chronicles Part 2 She Creature

[Rosita Westhouse]

SheCreature (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, in this case the 1956 film The She-Creature, but are not remakes of the earlier films. This film was shot in 18 days.

In 1905, in Ireland, two carnies, Angus Shaw and his infertile wife 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 merpeople and mermaids, explains that they can take human form during the full moon, and reveals to them an actual mermaid, who he captured back in his admiral days and who killed his wife. Woolrich warns Angus against using her as a freak show attraction.

Angus and his colleagues Bailey and Gifford break into Woolrich's home during the night but are caught. During the scuffle, Woolrich dies of a heart attack, allowing Angus and the crew to abduct the mermaid and smuggle her aboard their ship. Lily objects to this idea. 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 sailor, Miles. Miles was a former client of Lily's during her time as Mary Ann, a prostitute. At night, she experiences prophetic nightmares. 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 killed and devoured him as a favor to her. She attempts to explain this to Angus, but he dismisses it. He admits that they abducted the mermaid rather than bought her and that they didn't mean to kill Woolrich.

The mermaid possesses Lily while she and Angus are making love, and Lily tries to kill him. Lily comes to her senses. Worried that the mermaid will do further harm, Lily attempts to free her, but is caught by Bailey who then is killed by the mermaid. Concerned for his wife's sanity, Angus locks her up in her room. Lily realizes she is pregnant, despite her infertility. She reads the late Mrs. Teresa Woolrich's diary, which confirms her worry that the mermaid grants fertility by possessing women during sexual intercourse. She escapes and encounters the terrified mermaid, now in 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 explains to Angus that she is pregnant, but he dismisses this as a symptom of her sickness.

The crew angrily harass the mermaid before Angus intervenes. He and Gifford discuss the situation with the Captain Dunn, who confesses that the mermaid made him do things against his will before committing suicide. A storm closes in on them and they approach the mermaid's home, The Forbidden Islands. The crew realize that their captive took control of the ship and led them off course. The mermaid reveals her true monstrous form as the Queen of the Lair and her intention to feed the remaining crew to her people. The crew fight her, but are all killed, 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. Lily lives peacefully with her daughter, whose eyes resemble those of the mermaid.

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.[5] Arrow in the Head gave the film a score of 7/10, opining that "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."[6] David Nusair from ReelFilm Reviews awarded the film 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-ass mermaid killin' lots of folks. But we don't get that until the final 15 minutes."[7]

Later a circus is in town, the owner, Angus, and the performers use tricks and illusions to conjure a world of mystery. An old man, Mr. Woolrich, attends the circus, after he heard of a mermaid on display. Disappointed he confronts the actress, Lily. Coming to his senses he apologizes, and turn to leave, but stumbles. Angus and Lily accompany Woolrich back to his mansion, where he tells stories of mermaids. After Lily tells him that she believes him, maybe out of pity, Woolrich decides to show them his prized possession, the She Creature. Angus tries to convince Woolrich to sell the creature to him, but is unsuccessful. He then takes couple of his workers, Bailey and Gifford, and breaks into Woolrich's mansion at night to steal the creature. Woolrich catches them on the act, and has a heart attack, and dies. Angus then takes the creature on their ship to America.

Bailey has trouble keeping the creature quiet on the ship, but that changes when Lily passes by from the hold. Bailey pulls Lily in to avoid prying eyes, which leads Lily and the creature having an unspoken moment of bonding. Lily was bothered by a sailor named Miles on the ship, which she tries to ignore. Lily has nightmares during the night, in which she dreams of Angus being killed by the creature, and she blurts out "No. Not Angus. I told Miles". Her sleep is interrupted by a commotion. It turns out the creature has escaped her cage and was found on the deck by the crew. Angus makes a deal with the captain to keep her on board while the crew cages the creature again. Captain is looking for Miles for some work, but Miles seems to be missing. Lily goes to investigate the commotion, and is left alone with the creature. The creature then spits Miles' ring to Lily as a gift. Lily explains her past with miles to Angus, and expresses her fear that the creature has eaten Miles, as a favor to her, and that the creature has psychic powers. Lily then find the stolen journal that Angus took from Woolrich mansion, and starts to read it. Lily grows more concerned about the creature, and wants to release it. While having intercourse with Angus, Lily goes into trance-like state, while the creature invades her mind. Lily tries to free the creature, but she refuses to leave, and when they are found by Bailey, the creature lunges at him, and kills him. Angus locks Lily in her cabin, thinking she is loosing her mind. After reading more of the Woolrich journal, and learning that Teresa Woolrich got pregnant in her old age, she notices the signs she has had herself, even though she was barren from birth. Lily sneaks to see the creature again, but finds her in a human form. It turns out that the mermaids turn human during full-moons. Unfortunately the creature, now human, is left into the grubby hands of the sailors, who try to abuse her. Thanks to Gifford, she is spared.

It turns out that the creature has influenced the captain to change the course to the home of mermaids. It is then the creature turns into her true form, and Lily who was comforting her is afraid for her life. The creature leaves Lily alive because she bores her child, and proceeds to kill everyone else on board of the ship. In the end only Lily was left alive, the creature was face to face with Lily, and decides to let her live. The creature then feeds the remains of the men to her lair, surrounding the ship.

I bought the dvd when it came out, but this is the first time in over a year since I last visited this board.

Today is the first time I heard it was called The Mermaid Chronicles: She Creature.

I tried putting in mermaid chronicles in the search box, but this is the only title it goes to.

Was there plans to make a second film?

He who lives by the sword will be shot by those who can't

Does anyone know? I'm curious too. Was the movie that bad to avoid making a second one??

UPDATE: I just looked at the Wikipedia article, and it may be that no others were made:

_Creature

That sucks...

"Roger Corman" actually had nothing to do with this one. or the Original. he worked for AIP from my guess would be (1954-1970) or (1971) & though he made a lot of films for them. i dunno how many. he didn't work on all AIP films.

like he had nothing to do with the "Dr Phibes" films for example. or those beach comedy's either. my guess is the reason that they never did sequel for this was cause "Sameuel Z.Arkoff" died on my 23 b-day never the less! if you look at his list of movies. he was just starting to make movies again than he passed away & the films stopped coming to my best of knowledge.

I watched the DVD when it first came out and just like the cover-art on the IMDB shows....the title was just "She-Creature". No mention of the alternate title in the intro or the credits either. I'm guessing someone just decided to have some fun on here is all.

[Never trust anyone that posts on only one IMDB board.]

I read somewhere that it was supposed to be the start of a series of horror movies but unfortunately this didn't get noticed at the time of release despite how great it is so plans for further films were scrapped. I blame the marketing team.

It's become a cult classic that will only increase in status as more people finally see it so perhaps it will get picked back up someday.

Quit exhaling! You are contributing to global warming.

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