Tyler Cornack crafts a wild, sunburnt love letter to Florida’s grimy underbelly in the zany monster comedy Mermaid. The always-brilliant Johnny Pemberton stars as Doug, a down-on-his-luck, Percocet-addicted Floridian drowning in grief. But when he stumbles upon a wounded mermaid, his fate takes an unexpected turn. What follows is a Shape of Water-style romance—except darker, funnier, and way more chaotic. Pemberton delivers a career-defining performance as the lovable loser you never knew could be a hero in this offbeat and unpredictable horror-comedy.
It’s impossible not to feel the sticky humidity and smell the salt air of Fort Lauderdale while watching Mermaid. From the neon-lit strip clubs to the sketchy Everglades dwellers, Cornack nails the seedy, surreal energy of the Sunshine State. But don’t expect a fantasy-driven fairytale—Mermaid plays more like a gritty biopic of a man whose luck is worse than his bad decisions. Doug’s existence revolves around his painkillers and his love for aquatic life, which makes the film feel like a dark, horror-infused Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Cornack keeps the audience on edge, never letting the film settle into predictability. Doug is a failed worker, a failed father—what’s left for a man with nothing to lose? The answer lies in Mermaid’s unhinged, heartfelt embrace of belief in the unbelievable.
Hilarious, bold, and refreshingly weird, Mermaid is pure Florida chaos. It’s a film that fights for the forgotten, capturing the kind of sunburnt dreamers you pass in Tampa, Miami, and deep in Dade County. And just when you think it can’t get any wilder, Robert Patrick delivers a delightfully grisly performance, and Tyler Rice steals scenes as “Gator,” arguably the most memorable horror character of the year.
It’s rare to find a movie that’s as brutal as it is hilarious, but Mermaid nails it. This is a monster romance that carves out its own lane between Splash and The Shape of Water, keeping its creatures as nasty as they are captivating. And while it may be a love story, make no mistake—Mermaid never lets you forget the nightmare lurking beneath the waves. Massive credit to the effects team for bringing this twisted fairytale to life.
4/5
Mermaid
Directed Tyler Cornack
Starring Johnny Pemberton, Kevin Nealon, Robert Patrick, Tyler Rice, Julia Valentine Larson, Tom Arnold, Kirk Fox and Devyn McDowell.
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