Perfect people make for boring stories. The outcomes are expected because there’s no drama, no challenge, no antagonist. Imperfect people, however, are not only more interesting, they’re more accessible. So much so that it doesn’t matter how shitty their behavior, we may find ourselves rooting for them. For his latest feature, Tyler Cornack (Butt Boy; Tiny Cinema) centers such a person, an average dirtbag who, for lack of finding his people, finds himself at the end of a very specific rope, saved by the miraculous arrival of a nautical creature. In the resulting darkly comedic horror thriller, Mermaid, audiences are invited to discover such a person and what they do when the unexpected happens and why it can only go down this way in Florida.
Johnny Pemberton as Doug in MERMAID. Photo Credit: Florida Man LLC. Photo courtesy of XYZ Films.
Living in his deceased parents’ home, absent direction, distant from his daughter, and addicted to Percocet, Doug’s (Johnny Pemberton) life doesn’t seem to be amounting to much. Even his drug dealer, Ron Bocca (Robert Patrick), to whom he owes a hefty sum, takes little pleasure in roughing up Doug, seeing as Ron and Doug’s dad were close and Ron had watched Doug grow up. When things seem at their lowest, Doug happens upon a wounded mermaid and decides to bring her home and nurse her back to health. This act of seeming delusion is the first step on a remarkable adventure that holds the potential to turn everything in Doug’s life around. As long as he doesn’t get in his own way first.
Narratives with unpleasant protagonists can be difficult for audiences to relate to. It can be especially difficult when learning that they’re a drug addict with boundary issues whose mild demeanor is more off-putting than charming. Luckily, Pemberton (Superstore; Tone-Deaf) has experience navigating such a role, thereby making him a solid fit for someone like Doug who we need to be just a little disgusted by while oddly rooting for him. For instance, part of the narrative is that Doug has a young daughter, Layla (Devyn McDowell), with whom he struggles to connect. It’s meant to demonstrate that the same dude who slips poems into an exotic dancer’s locker is also someone who tries to have a relationship with his child. “He’s not all bad, see,” as he doesn’t even notice his daughter’s having a terrible time. Or, worse, he does see it and can’t conceive of a way to correct it because he relies too much on the ways things were and never figured out how to use the skills he has (poetry, art, and aquarist) to build a life for himself. So, when Doug’s ex, Tina (Julia Valentine Larson), picks on him for driving his father’s car (one Doug can’t afford on his own) and when Ron picks on Doug for living in his parents’ home, we not only see Doug swallowing their derision, but we see someone who just needs a chance to demonstrate what he can do. Enter the mermaid (Avery Potemri) and the opportunity to do something right, which, in a different film, would be a first step toward redemption and getting clean. Instead, some of the comedy of Mermaid is born of the way Doug tries to befriend and then domesticate the creature he names “Destiny,” while using Percocet to keep her docile, the humor derived from the extreme measures Doug takes to achieve some sense of normalcy through an extraordinary circumstance. What’s most amazing about the film is that, because Cornack marks the film with a loving tribute to Florida at the top, everything that follows feels like it’s been given permission to occur. Anyone anywhere else doing what Doug’s doing would be lunacy, but, in Florida? Just another day.
L-R: Kirk Fox as Skip Morgan and Johnny Pemberton as Doug in MERMAID. Photo Credit: Florida Man LLC. Photo courtesy of XYZ Films.
While Pemberton has the hard job of figuring out ways through his performance to remain somewhat charming to the audience, Cornack is absolutely uninterested in contributing to your Ariel fetish with Destiny. With creature FX by Gorgazma, an up-and-coming horror shop that seems to do it all, the design for Destiny borrows far less from the traditional half-human/half-amphibian figure of ancient Greek or Medieval Europe traditions and more toward Asian folklore which gives the mythical creature for fish-like qualities from head-to-fin. Accentuating this, Destiny’s facial design is a combination of Anglerfish teeth, glassy eyes, and a forehead like an Asian sheepshead wrasse (protruding outward as if to protect against things it may bump into if looking down). Potemri (Pizza Panic Party) has zero dialogue and must convey everything physically, whether it’s the way Destiny moves toward Doug or lies motionless, crafting a complete character despite the extensive makeup. It’s worth noting that Cornack doesn’t shoot Destiny as if she’s something to be desired, an element which makes the film far less creepy and more supportive of Doug’s less predatory inclinations (especially compared to the Boccas, Ron, and Ron’s son Jesse (Tyler Rice)). This means that what makes Destiny alluring is her unusual presence within the known world and not the fetish that exists surrounding mermaids or incapacitated women for some men. Especially as shot by cinematographer Joel Lavold (Tiny Cinema), who does a remarkable job keeping the overall look of Mermaid comfortable and warm, almost vacationy, the creature FX and Potemri underneath them look show-stoppingly remarkable.
The central issue with the film may surprise you. It’s not the presentation of Doug, a degenerate with a heart of gold; but the fact that, within the wonderous plot involving this version of a mermaid, the script hoes a familiar road. The mere conceit of the film enables Cornack to go anywhere, and the narrative does, dabbling in things that make sense only in two places: Florida or an Elmore Leonard (Rum Punch; Get Shorty) novel. So when it finds it’s walking a familiar path, it’s turn feels oddly uninspired compared to the rest. The trick is that from the introduction of one specific element, it really had no other option in order to get the specific resolution that Cornack achieves by the end of the third act. Admittedly, it works and feels resonate, it just doesn’t feel as satisfying.
Johnny Pemberton as Doug and Avery Potemri as Destiny in MERMAID. Photo Credit: Florida Man LLC. Photo courtesy of XYZ Films.
No one can really accuse Cornack of playing it safe. This story, like his projects before, utilizes the absurd to explore the ordinary. There are plenty of Florida Man stories in which seeking redemption is a plot point, but how many of them involve a grotesque mermaid, a sun-bespotted Robert Patrick (Peacemaker; Terminator 2: Judgement Day), and enough painkillers to put down a rhino? That Cornack can wring out both melancholy and humor with such a backdrop impresses; shame that the narrative on the whole doesn’t satisfy as equally.
Screened during SXSW 2025.
For more information, head to the official SXSW Mermaid webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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