SiREN [DVD]

Hannah is just plain awesome in her role as Lily.

Love the movie 🍿

If you’re in the mood for a sexy demon movie and have low to moderate expectations, this is for you!Based on the wildly popular “Amateur Night” segment from V/H/S (2012), director Gregg Bishop (who directed V/H/S Viral’s popular segment Dante the Great) combines our favorite actors from Dante the Great and Amateur Night in this feature length spin-off. This is exactly what we hope will happen after seeing great short films in horror anthologies.Jonah is a nice guy. Jonah (Chase Williamson; The Guest, John Dies at the End) is having his bachelor party and his hyper-active best man Mac (Michael Aaron Milligan; Shark Lake, V/H/S Viral segment Dante the Great) naturally goes overboard and makes it all about strippers and debauchery.The feisty nature of the early scenes help make up for the writing and acting that just aren’t there. It’s introductory fun-spiritedness journeys us to a ho-hum strip club with unmotivated lap dances, some standard comedy set ups that might draw a smile (e.g., B-squad strippers fumbling about the stage), and some sophomoric bro chat. Mac encounters a slick stranger at the bar who invites them to a “more serious” and rather remote venue. And that’s when things get weird.The opening scene brings a partial explanation of the supernatural being commandeered by Mr. Nyx (Justin Welborn; V/H/S Viral segment Dante the Great, The Final Destination, The Crazies, The Signal). Nyx is the proprietor of the secret strip club where we find Lily (Hannah Fierman; V/H/S segment Amateur Night), who has a “hint” of her true nature (harkening back to Amateur Night for those who have seen it). Her origin is suggestive that she is a demon from Hell—like a succubus. Only this seductress has a Siren’s song that will weaken the minds of men. It mashes up a couple different fabled temptress creatures (the succubus and the siren) and doesn’t really explain outside of a summoned infernal origin.Now I liked this but I’m just gonna’ come out and say it: between the acting and writing quality this feels a lot like a direct-to-DVD movie with decent production value. I enjoyed the film, but it did little to impress and it just doesn’t seem to deserve a theatrical release (and I don’t think it got one). But despite these shortcomings the movie is enjoyable—to men anyway, I’m sure.You see, Lily spends most of the movie naked. Like, 100% extremely don’t-watch-this-with-your-girlfriend naked. On top of that, and catering to my standard horror hound preferences, she ends up dowsed in the blood of her victims, her monster make-up looks cool (although the CGI bat wings and tail aren’t exactly top notch), and there is a demon sex scene. Bloody breasts and demon sex…isn’t that what horror is all about? LOL.Look, this film isn’t awesome. It’s not as good as Dante the Great or Amateur Night. But here’s what it is: a satisfying movie for horror hounds with simple taste. People can criticize the “quality of the film.” But that doesn’t strike me as what this was all about. This movie serviced the demand for the story behind Amateur Night’s adorable monster. And in that, it succeeded.

'Siren' is a smart, engaging horror film with lots of layers and strong performances by its cast, particularly the leads, Chase Williamson and Hannah Fierman.I've followed Chase Williamson's career since his breakout role as the world-saving slacker Dave Wong in 'John Dies At The End'. After a succession of bad role choices in a bunch of bad movies, Williamson seems to have found his groove again--maybe because he finally ditched the comedic Slacker Dave persona since there's nothing of Dave in Jonah, the part he plays in 'Siren'. The character of Jonah is noble and kind and pure of heart, a White Knight kind of a guy--which is, by the way, exactly the sort of human being to which mythological creatures in the stories are irresistibly attracted. To drive the point home, there is a scene in this film in which Jonah is used as bait for Lily in much the same way legendary virgin maidens, symbols of purity, were used as bait for unicorns.About those creatures: we've been brought up by Hollywood to imagine elves as kindly and fairies as sweet and pooka as funny and gentle-natured giant invisible bunny rabbits even though the source material; i.e., the fairy tales, the written myths and poetry and (in this movie) even the Bible, where Lilith turns up as the Night Hag in the Book of Isaiah, present them as anything but. They've got teeth in those stories. And claws. They don't play pranks or entertain children with charming song-and-dance numbers. They wreak havoc. They lay waste.The only good thing about the otherwise wretched 'V/H/S' film was the 'Amateur Night' short that inspired this movie. The reason for that is/was Hannah Fierman's performance, in which nearly everything has to be communicated via body language and facial expression. Lily doesn't talk much. She doesn't need to talk much. She moves like a predatory animal and has big, brown, expressive eyes, Barbara Steele-like eyes. Look up the actress Barbara Steele and you'll see what I'm talking about.As an aside, I wonder if Hannah Fierman worries she'll be typecast with this role, this character, with horror movies in general. If I knew Ms Fierman I would tell her not to worry. After all, Barbara Steele worked with Fellini.Insofar as direction is concerned, just look at the flawlessly executed diner scene. The writing? Often clever, with no wasted motion although sometimes predictable. For example, those Swiss Army knives that Jonah gifted to his groomsmen were entirely too handy, if you ask me.

The review calling this a missed opportunity is well said. I would still recommend this to horror movie nerds. The short I felt was a lot more well done. The short from VHS was more relatable , pulled me in more, and was bold enough to have gritty realism. The movie is too polished and goes in a lot of directions that are not necessary and don’t add much to the story. Some of what’s added takes away. The movie could have left more to the mystery of things like the short did but it changes the story and explains things more than necessary. But some of the new story has its moments and I appreciate how they added to the myths of the story. The shot where she pulls him off the ground is night and day better in VHS it is awkward and overly polished and smooth in the movie.

Good film.Enjoyable

Für Fans von Horrorgeschichten empfehlenswert

The short about the monster girl was my favorite from the movie V/H/S so I liked they made her own film. The plot is about a group of friends that go in a trip for a bachelor party and run into a guy that tells them about some burlesque house with the craziest things they could find. The protagonist then founds a girl confined in a room and thinking about women traffic decides to let her out and run. If you watched V/H/S you know things are going to become ugly. The effects and actors looks like low budget movies most of the time but without reaching true cheesiness from Troma or Full Moon. Even when the girl is naked all the time most of the scenes look blurred or from angles where she doesn't get full exposed, I don't know why they did this in the context of her character, but there's a sex scene that is worth of the story. I recommend watching V/H/S before this movie, but if you are interested in monster girls or liked the gif from her that still lingers in the internet then is a must.

EXCELENTE PELICULA, PARA CONOCEDORES

Despite arriving polythene sealed - an indication of newness - dismayed to find long surface scratches on the playing side of the disc. The movie played fine, but I would not expect to find visible scratches like that on a new and sealed disc, especially one I've paid around the £15.00 mark for.