“She has given us a knife: here it is, see it is very sharp. Before the sun rises you must plunge it into the heart of the prince; when the warm blood falls upon your feet they will grow together again, and form into a fish’s tail, and you will be once more a mermaid…Haste, then; he or you must die before sunrise.”
Kittens, perhaps you are familiar with classic fairy tales, those dark archetypes of folk culture filled with grim betrayals and gruesome death? Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is no exception, as the youngest daughter of the sea king is mutilated and endures torturous pain to win the love of a dispassionate prince.
In a modernized take on this classic, tonight’s featured short film is The Little Mermaid, set in a grim circus on the edge of a swamp where a greedy and cruel ringmaster promotes his “real, live, mermaid” to a crowd of shocked spectators. Directed by Nicholas Humphries, this horror short took Best Short Film at the 2011 Screamfest Film Festival 2011 and was recently optioned for a feature-length film (described as “Carnivàle meets John Carpenter’s The Thing“). You can follow their progress on the film’s Facebook page. Enjoy!
Related Posts:
– Friday Night Features: “The Cat with Hands”
– Friday Night Features: “Kitchen Sink”
– Friday Night Features: “Never Woke Up”
Categories: Friday Night Features
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Friday Night Features: “Exit” Short Film 
Friday Night Features: “PROXiMITY” Short Film 
Friday Night Features: “Pictured” Short Film 
The Year of Halloween 
Stunning, beautifully done and sad. Thanks for sharing this. I hope they’ll continue to make films in the future.
As it happens, they have an entry up in the ABC’s of Death short film contest: M is for Messiah.
Thank you. My daughter was asking me if they had made more films. We’ll share the information.
Mermaids underused in horror I think, great video
They were terribly dark creatures in ancient myth, yet we rarely see them depicted as anything but beautiful in modern media. More like this, I say. 🙂
The still made me retch a little so I didn’t watch it. So…Best Place!
Shortest horror short ever!
Oh, my goodness. How wonderful! Well done, sweetie! 😀
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, VF.