Siren

Siren is a spin off from the VHS films, which of course mixes up a variety of horror tales, in new and amusing ways.

There's bloody bucket loads of black humour on offer here, alongside a few "sort of" creepy zany scares all bundled up with a weird tale of unrequited monster love. Its a good mix that's calculatedly camp and, in my view, all the better for it.

As you might expect, given this flicks VHS pedigree, there's a lot of mixing of familiar horror themes and a few moments that feel like tributes to other horror film's. Most notably and without giving too much away, this films ending is somewhat reminiscent of the closing scenes in the first Jeepers Creepers film.

If you like your horror a little "way out" and "off beat" Siren is definitely worth a look. Seven out of ten from me.

As a fan of the first V/H/S, particularly the segment upon which this film is based, Amateur Night, this prequel-sequel does not do the series justice. What made the first film great was the romantic element, you just couldn't help but fall in love with Lily. She was the cute, quiet, shy girl who "likes you." (Of course, with quite the dark secret, but that's part of the appeal to us sick ones.) This film rushes every encounter with Lily, and does next to nothing when it comes to expanding any sort of story surrounding her. Not to mention, she seemed to change from a succubus to a siren somewhere in between these two films.

I will concede, however, that SiREN does add some interesting details. Take Mr. Nyx, for example. A "man" that appears not to age and owns a supernatural strip club? Again, my gripe is that the film did not expand much on the details. You're just expected to run with it, "A supernatural strip club with cult-like outfits and memory leech drinks? Of coooouuurrrse!"

In summation, if the film had focused just a tad more on the details, fleshed out the story a bit, amped up or added more romance/sexy demon scenes, this movie would've been exactly what the fans wanted. Damn shame it wasn't.

When I heard this spin-off was actually happening; I was at first surprised while also really excited at the possibilities for the story. I am a big fan of the V/H/S movie and Lily's segment was by far my favorite part. It had the right amount of mystery/suspense/gore to leave me infatuated and wanting more.

Fast-forward to the Siren movie and we are given a prequel story to Lily. Much like the segment, a few guys go out looking for a good time but eventually find themselves in a very dangerous situation.

This movie is for a very select demographic, that I just happened to belong.That demographic is the pro Lily demographic where when Lily appears in a movie I'm going to find something to like about it.The acting in this is mainly a miss with a couple of exceptions and the story does have its clichés. There were some other interesting concepts (mainly one) presented but were not fleshed out enough, sad to say. The main and only reason someone should watch this is for Lily. The story really drags without out her as the guys were not interesting in the least.The hints of excellence comes from the inclusion of a new creature that helps carry the story along. Lily's action scenes were also a plus and her characters overall direction throughout the movie. After a good chunk of time the story picks up and for the most part I can safely say I enjoyed what I saw.

I guess as a warning if you are considering giving this movie a try. If you are not a fan of sex and violence in your movies this is something you should stay far away from as that is 85% if not more of this movie. In the stories weak spots they seemed to crank up the those scenes to 11.

20 May 2017. Siren is one of those horror movies that might have been better, but really how could it? Too often other movies become so simplistically, stereotypical. The PBS television movie Dracula (1997) had similar polished authentic focus. Here the Siren is depicted quite well considering, without either the romanticized nor the glorified monster portrayal. Like in the Keanu Reeve's cult horror Constantine (2005) or perhaps even more like the more recent depictions of eerie characters like Anya Taylor-Joy's Morgan (2016) or Scarlett Johansson's Under the Skin (2013). In the lower budget tradition of Stanley Kubrick's last movie classic Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Siren really wasn't so much scary as it is absurdist horror with a more human inhuman twist. So really this movie while it isn't superb and a great classic, it is a solid horror movie that stands out from most other for its creepy factor, its more all American plot outline, and its more somber rather than typical gross out ending.

The plot has no obvious continuity issues, and the scenes are carefully thought out, if a bit naive - but in a positive, honest way. It could even be called a spiritual sequel to the 'episode' with the demon girl in V/H/S, the influences are clearly there but the story is constructed separately, in a neat narrative. The actors are refreshingly on par, nice chemistry between the cast shows through which is always good. The movie is not a huge production, and it does not try to be. This is a good thing because it shows focus on what can work. And it is not lazy or jaded, nor does it look 'poor'. The few downsides it does have come naturally from a lack of budget, but they are not distracting. Other than that, it manages to feel like a properly engaging movie.

I am certainly not sorry for spending the time to watch it.