Perfect cast and a good story

It is a performances centric movie

Awesome Movie

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film's cinematography is done in a way that induces thoughts of soap operas. You know, that "overly polished, but attempting to look like real life" style. It is quite a change from the typical "movie" style that the opening credits are done in. I'll have to give it another watch to see how I really feel about that.The plot of Mermaid in a Manhole is that a lonely man, simply called The Artist, has recently lost his wife and is seeking inspiration for his paintings. His secret place is a sewer which used to be a lush river, whose banks he used to hang out on during his childhood. One day, his beloved pet/animal friend is dead and he frantically seeks to use it (I'm not sure what the animal was, by the way… it looked too big for a rat, but too mangy for much else) as artistic inspiration, when he encounters a mermaid. He becomes enthralled and obsessed with said mermaid, and decides to take her home – you see, she has some sort of funky flesh-eating infection, and he believes he can cure it. Also, by taking her home with him, he can just sit and paint her all day.Mermaid in a Manhole is a very quiet film. I mean that in a couple ways – first, while there is a lot of dialogue in parts, in most parts, there is silence with only the environmental sounds as the backdrop to the scenes. It's quite nice, and adds to the realism that the film was going for. The cast is very small, which also aids to the quiet of the film. In fact, you don't really see more than those four characters until the end.Now, with the above stated, I have to say that the amount of over-acting in this film is astounding. Most of the over-acting comes from The Artist (Shigerui Saiki). The man can overdo it with the best of them. The nosy neighbor does her fair share, as well. The Mermaid (Mari Somei) and The Artist appear to communicate telepathically – actually, The Mermaid appears to do all of her communicating telepathically and hams up her voice-overs just as well as the other two. In fact, I think the only one who doesn't ham it up in this is the boyfriend/husband/brother (their relationship is unclear) of the nosy neighbor – and this is possibly because he has so few lines.Though Mermaid in a Manhole is included in the Japanese splatter library of film, it's really not as gory or disgusting as you would think. Sure, it's not for the weak-stomached, what with its bleeding/worm spewing flesh eating mermaid virus, or the pus paint in seven colors. But, I certainly have seen much worse.If you want something that is extremely cheesy and fairly entertaining, with subtitles, I would recommend it. It's certainly not a bad film, but it definitely isn't good.

I love gory horror films, and this one did NOT fail to disappoint! i can sit through most any film gore, but i must admit, this one had me actually gagging and cringing! im not going to go into plot details, as you can read it all in the other reviews, but i WILL share my praises and slight complaints.. lets start with the good! TOTALLY sick stomach churning gore, but with a MUCH more surreal, imaginative, and mysterious story and plot than your average gore flick. to me, there was actually some depth here. it's an incredibly bizarre and fantastic concept to begin with, and the fact that the ending leaves one with a question mark i love. the use of color is great, i couldn't take my eyes off of the screen, and it only got more disturbing and horrifying as time went on. good pacing. i didn't think, as some reviewers commented, that the artists acting was too over the top to the degree that it detracted from the film. and most importantly, the main reason my rating was so high: it was a TOTALLY UNIQUE viewing experience. as far as the negatives go, i think a bit more allusions to a happier past other than the brief dialogue snippets we get would have increased the impact of what follows. also, unfortunately, many of that dialogue comes from the neighbors, whose campy and quite bad acting also detract from the films impact. i do agree that the humor they add provides a kind of balance, and perhaps contrast that COULD have increased the impact, but their cartoonish delivery didn't work for me. either way, while by no means being a life changing or perfect film, or artistic vision, i will NEVER forget this film!

This is the 4th installment in the notorious "Guinea Pig" series and if you have seen any of them you know by now what you are getting yourself into.Unlike "Guinea Pig 1 & 2" this movie is actually a story about an artist who has just recently lost his wife. One day he decides to go into a sewer that he used to go in when he was a child. While down there he discovers a beautiful mermaid whom he saw many years before when a child. When he discovers that the mermaid is ill he decides to take her back and take care of her. This becomes more work then he bargained for. The mermaid starts getting puss pockets all over her body which ooze multiple colors. She then asks him to make a painting of her as she is dying, which he does without question. As the movie goes on, she gets more and more diseased and the artist doesn't know what to do.Well... this was quite an interesting film. Not exactly what I was expecting from the series. Not to say that it was not a good movie, because I thought it was rather good. I don't know what fans of the series would think of this film but it definitely has its ultra gore moments. One scene in particular with the mermaid vomiting worms. Very gross. 8/10

A painter finds a mermaid in a sewer. Then she starts to get sick. "Paint me," she insists.There's gore and disturbing scenes, but the story itself seems to have a depth to it. Even if there really isn't much of a story at all. I blame my love for the movie on my psychology degree, and my own dreams. The sewer is the unconscious. He takes the mermaid from the sewer to save her, to make art out of her -- only she's infected. But if she came out of his unconscious, then really, isn't he the one that's infected?There is definitely a sort of Cronenburg, Kafka, "Picture of Dorian Gray" feel to the movie. Repulsive, and yet I couldn't stop watching, even as I squirmed in my seat.Definitely not for everyone, but what's there is powerful -- even though the acting and special effects sometimes make the movie feel more like camp than true horror.