The Merman during System Purge, as seen in the visual companion.
The Merman is a Monster kept in the Facility. He was listed on the whiteboard and was bet on by Steve Hadley, as he has never seen the Merman before. He was released during the System Purge but was only seen at the end of the sequence. He was portrayed by Richard Cetron.
Physical Description and Attributes[]
The Merman appears as a male, half-human, half-fish monster with flabby blue skin, a large mouth full of sharp teeth, long unkempt black hair, and a blowhole on its back. It also appears to have a fin on its back, meaning it could also have shark DNA. It kills by attacking the victim with its teeth and blowing their blood out of its blowhole. Gary Sitterson comments on this gruesome process, stating that "the cleanup on them is a nightmare". While its primary environment would in water, it can survive on land, but is incredibly slow and bulky and thus only effective at finishing off incapacitated victims.
The origins of the Merman are unknown but its likely he has been around for quite sometime, given merfolk only exist in mythology.
If the Merman were to be summoned from the Cabin, its likely his Cube Prison would be brought up underwater in the lake nearby, as he is very likely more effective in water.
Curt Vaughan almost summoned the Merman by blowing into a conch shell, the item that summons the Merman, in the Cabin's cellar.
Appearances[]
The only time the Merman is seen in the film is towards the end of the purge. After the Scarecrow Folk and Giant Tarantula break inside the control room and Steve Hadley is thrown to the ground when Daniel Truman detonates a grenade. Hadley opens his eyes to see the Merman slowly crawling towards him, which is an ironic moment since the only time Hadley is able to see the Merman is when it kills him.
The Merman has a large segment in the behind the scenes footage, where the crew and special effects team highlights the system in which the blood was blown through the Merman suit's blowhole.
Inspiration[]
The Merman is likely inspired by The Creature from the Black Lagoon or the cult classic Frankenfish. Piscine amphibious humanoids (known as mermen and mermaids, or merfolk in general) are prevalent in nearly all the world's mythologies, particularly in Greece whose sea-based culture described sea divinities, such as Oceanides, Sirens and Nereids. The Sumerians worshipped Atargatis, the mermaid-goddess, but the Japanese feared Isohime, a giant mermaid who snatched and drowned sailors in the sea.
The Merman in the film is very similar to the Merrows from Irish folklore. Russia is said to have derived its name from "Ros", the mermaid-goddess. In classical mythology, mermaids were beautiful fish-tailed women who abducted sailors as lovers while mermen were usually described as ugly. However, most scholars believe these legends were based on animals like manatees and dugongs unfamiliar to fishermen.
Humanoid creatures very similar to mermen and mermaids populate modern written horror, such as the aquatic Deep Ones of H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow out of Innsmouth, the story Creature by Peter Benchley and Mira Grant's Rolling in the Deep series.
Trivia[]
- The Merman was among the Monsters portrayed in the Universal Orlando Attraction Halloween Horror Nights 23 in 2013. In this appearance, though, it was not portrayed by a person wearing a costume as it was in the film, but instead as a life size, non-moving prop.
- The actor who plays the Merman, Richard Cetron, also plays The Werewolf.
- Gary Sitterson states that the "cleanup on them is terrible", implying that there could be more than one Merman, or merfolk, in the Facility. However this is entirely speculation.
Gallery[]
