A painter's suffering since his wife's departure, and to find some peace, every now and then he comes down to the sewers to paint what he can find there. One day while being in the sewers, he comes across a mermaid that he had met before when he was a kid, when the sewers used to be a big river. He sits down to paint her, but soon she starts crying in agony, and the painter notices that she has some kind of sores on her body. She has been stuck in the sewers for a long time and she must have been infected by the environment down there. The painter takes her home to help her out and to paint her, but as time goes by, her sores just keeps getting worse until the day she finally dies in his home.
Oh my gosh, this was a lot to sit through. I saw this movie on VHS I don't know how many years ago, and I don't know how many times the actual tape had been copied since the quality was beyond bad. But recently, I stumbled upon Mermaid in the Manhole on DVD, the fourth flick in the dreaded Guinea Pig series, and figured I should give it a shot again. Looking at it from one point of view, it's a pretty gross and disgusting movie, but looking at it from another perspective, it's also a strong drama that has a tragic story. So even though Mermaid in the Manhole is a part of the Guinea Pig series, it's still not as focused on just gore as the flicks are.
Watching this movie now made me think of Marebito. Not that it's that much similar to it, but for the fact that it deals with a guy who finds a girl in some weird place and takes her home. That, plus the fact that the girl's not really human either. It's not completely true when it comes to Mermaid in the Manhole, but since I don't wanna give the ending away, I can't reveal any more about it. Let's just say that it has a good ending that gives a lot more to the overall movie itself. Good might be the wrong word to use, it's actually way more tragic, although it makes for a nice and different ending.
My copy came with a warning on it, and it said something like; if you have a weak heart or if you're easily disgusted, then this is not for you. There use to be warning labels on Cannibal Corpse records too, but here it actually makes a lot of sense. Some scenes are really graphical and might be to repulsive for some to sit through, so I (for once) believe that the warning is justified. If you're not into gore and such, then I wouldn't recommend Mermaid in the Manhole, as the movie is full of gore to the brim. On the other hand it has a good and tragic story, add to that some romance and is also a quite strong drama. So it's not as focused on actual graphic gore as the other movies in the series, but still, it's gory as hell.
 
This painter who takes the Mermaid home to his apartment paints her as her sickness and sores grows worse for each day that goes by. You can easily tell that he loves her and that they share some special kind of bond, so of course it's hard for him to see how she keeps getting worse. Most of the gore is extremely well done, while some of it doesn't really look like complete fake, but is still not too far from it. Anyway, for most of the time it looks real and is quite hard to sit and watch at times. The sores begins to spread over her body early on and towards the end, she's completely covered in them.
She starts leaking puss that comes in seven different colours, and the painter later on uses that to paint her portrait with. Now, that's real art right. Towards the end when the infection has spread and she's almost completely covered in wounds and sores, worms starts to appear and come through her as well. It's never scary so you would be afraid or jump out of your seat in fear, but it is truly gross at times and it's recommended not to eat anything when watching this.
If you would take away all the gore, Mermaid in the Manhole would actually be quite a beautiful film involving two people who care deeply for each other. But now the gore is there, and gorehounds will get a kick out of this movie for sure. Personally, I feel that the best thing about this movie was the actual story, as it is both interesting and quite sad at the same time. But again, it's a lot to sit through so take notice of that. Credits to the girl who played the mermaid since it must've been somewhat difficult to sit through all the gore effects, and especially the worms. A cool and good movie, if you can take it.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Za ginipiggu 4: Manhoru no naka no ningyo
MOVIE YEAR: 1988
DIRECTOR: Hideshi Hino
WRITING CREDITS: ?
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Shigeru Saiki, Mari Somei, Masami Hisamoto
COUNTRY: Japan
RUNTIME: 57 min
RATING: 8/10
Mermaid in the Manhole Website/IMDB Click here
Mermaid in the Manhole Trailer Click here
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