La criatura

With the cheesy title and the horrible DVD cover I was expecting some kind of "Species" clone, but this is an underappreciated mini-classic. A throwback to the Weird-Tales school of horror-stories from the 50s and 60s. This is a moody, atmospheric film with a good cast. Rufus Sewell, in particular, gives a great performance here. The mermaid effects are really good (no knees) and the mermaid girl is beautiful as well as creepy. The film has a polished, classic-cinema look that is extraordinary, considering the whole thing was shot in something like 20 days. My only complaint is that the sound on the DVD is EXTREMELY bad, the mix is such that you have to turn it wayyyy up to even hear the dialogue. Other than that minor caveat, this is a little gem of a movie.