The first thing my buddy said when I borrowed his DVD-copy of "Mermaid: Lake of the Dead" was that, technically, the girl in the film isn't a mermaid. True that! She doesn't have shells to cover her boobs, or doesn't use a fork to comb her hair like Ariel does in Disney's "The Little Mermaid". Heck, she doesn't ever have a tail, which I think is the bare minimum to qualify as a mermaid. However, this doesn't mean the film isn't worth seeking out. Quite the contrary, the girl - Lisa Grigorieva - is an aquatic creature from the Russian folklore, so her background story and particularities are probably more original than any other horror movie about mermaids and sea sirens (with the exception of "The Lorlei's Grasp", that is a brilliant film).
The plot is intriguing, for sure. Shortly before their wedding, a young couple threatens to be torn apart by the interference of a mysterious water nymph who lures the boy - Roma Kitaev - to his family's lakeside vacationing house and seduces him with her gentle whispers and supernatural powers. The nymph's slowly unraveling backstory is great, and while the lead characters are amiable. So far for the strong points. Unfortunately, the makers of "Mermaid: Lake of the Dead" still believe the best way to make a horror film is to stuff it with jump scare moments and hideous digital effects. What they have here is a potentially atmospheric and petrifying concept, but they choose to throw in a sudden scare or a nasty face every couple of minutes. None of the BOO-moments have an effect, resulting in a chaotic and infantile second half and climax that easily could have been much better.
