‘Love will haunt you’
The Rusalka aka The Siren is a 2018 American fantasy horror film written, photographed and directed by Perry Blackshear (They Look Like People). The movie stars Evan Dumouchel, Margaret Ying Drake and MacLeod Andrews.
Plot:
Tom falls in love with Nina, a mysterious woman who swims in a lake at night where far too many people have recently drowned. Drawn to Nina almost immediately upon arrival at his holiday cabin, Tom must deal with the man out to revenge his late husband’s ‘accidental’ death…
Release:
The Siren is released on DVD by Signature Entertainment on 20 May 2019.
Reviews:
“…a double horizon of archaic terror and an artistic and melancholy youthful movie. Perry Blackshear is a filmmaker to follow.” – Cahiers du Cinema
“Finally! A horror movie where marginalized identities are incidental, not plot devices! […] Rusulka is a low-budget indie, made by a filmmaking quartet, trying, and succeeding, at portraying new types of characters, changing up horror tropes, and creating something truly special.” Gals on Film
“The Siren is beautifully filmed, sensitively acted and very well directed indeed. Each of the three main characters are so well rounded and developed that you feel the pain and joy of each of them. It’s a very difficult feat to evoke a measured balance between loving tenderness and ‘monster’ horror but writer-director Perry Blackshear makes it look effortless.” House of Mortal Cinema
“This movie features one of the most honest storylines I can recall seeing in contemporary horror. In Nina we find a character that is both 100% monster and 100% human. She desperately wants to be with Tom, but her own nature holds her back. Blackshear conveys this through the use of daydream-like images from inside Nina‘s head.” Nightmare on Film Street
“Though more of a doomed love story than a horror movie (though there are definitely some elements of horror, particularly near the end, The Rusalka is tender and deeply sad, with a pair of romantic leads who are so beautiful they’re hard to look at sometimes. There’s a strange sort of innocence to how Tom and Nina interact with each other…” The Spool
Cast and characters:
Margaret Ying Drake … Nina
MacLeod Andrews … Al
Evan Dumouchel … Tom
Technical credits:
80 minutes
Fun facts:
In Slavic folklore, a rusalka is a female entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water.
Trailer:
