Guinea Pig: Mermaid in a Manhole

Part of the special series NACHTBLENDE

“This is possibly the most disgusting film I’ve ever seen. I really enjoyed it.” – Kodiak on Letterboxd

What Peter Jackson’s BRAINDEAD is to splatter, Hideshi Hino’s MERMAID IN A MANHOLE is to body horror. It simply doesn’t get any more intense — regardless of how low the budget may have been.
If you want to experience the very essence of body horror, this is the place. Come and surrender to the poetic close-ups of the festering, pus-filled landscape of tumors and maggots blooming across the body of the titular mermaid.
Those with sensitive stomachs are advised to stay away — or at the very least come prepared (we recommend bringing a barf bag).

We’ll be screening this direct-to-video gem on VHS.

A nostalgic artist, in search of inspiration, regularly ventures into the sewers of his city. He recalls having once bathed in the natural stream that used to run there — and how he once encountered a mermaid.
Today, all he finds there is death.

On the day he discovers the corpse of his own cat, he also stumbles upon the beautiful, magical being once again. But this time, the mermaid is injured — and the artist brings her home to care for her.
The infection soon spreads across her upper body, forming a slimy and graphically grotesque carpet of festering tumors and (deliberately inflicted) open wounds.
Meanwhile, the couple next door begins to wonder where the artist’s wife has gone… and why he’s being seen less and less himself.