Polish musical/horror The Lure is a fractured fairy tale about two vampire mermaid sisters trying to find their place in the world.
It's Hans Christian Andersen meets Eurovision in a strip club.
One of the sisters falls for a human musician who brings the girls ashore and introduces them to the owner of a strip club who has them perform songs on stage as a duet.
The fact the girls are mermaids is never a secret, when the owner meets the aquatic pair he has them take off their clothes to find they have no bottom half lady parts – they're completely smooth! It's only when they are sprinkled with water, when their tails grow, they are able to have sex. This is problematic for the mermaid falling in love with the musician – he is repulsed at the thought of sleeping with the fishes, as it were.
The vampire side of the mermaids, however, is a little more hush-hush. The sister falling in love represses her man-eating instincts, but the other isn't as keen to stop feasting on human flesh.
The plot thickens when it's revealed if a mermaid falls in love with a man and he marries another woman, said mermaid will turn into seafoam.
The film does what it says on the box, but it's more ha, ha than ah, ah. The scares are cheap and the ridiculous storyline makes it hard to take seriously the emotional state of the torn and fragile sisters.
The plot is slow to unravel, but predictable.
Surprisingly, it is the songs from the sirens that save the day. Especially when the creepier mermaid takes the stage to perform with a metal band and attempts a verse or two screaming.
One to enjoy, but not to watch twice.
This film is playing as part of the 2016 New Zealand International Film Festival.
The Lure (Córki dancingu):: Director: Agnieszka Smoczyńska:: Starring: Kinga Preis, Michalina Olszańska, Marta Mazurek, Jakub Gierszał, Andrzej Konopka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Marcin Kowalczyk, Magdalena Cielecka:: Rating: R16 - violence, horror, sex scenes and offensive language:: Running Time: 92 minutes
Reviewed by Carlie Scott / Newshub.
