10 Creepy And Unique Mermaid Designs In Movies And TV
4.“Ryn” And Her Clan - Siren (TV)
f there is an entry from the small screen worthy of having a place on this list, it’s the Leviathan that is Freeform’s “Siren”. The mermaid design is so good it’s scary and has something almost too overtly natural to it, so much so that the mermaids in action — especially in season 01 — can give you genuine chills.
Legend has it that Bristol Cove was once home to mermaids. Now, this coastal town has a mysterious new visitor in a girl named Ryn, who may just prove that all of the stories are true. What is introduced to us in episode one as the romantic yarn you know, a fisherman falling in love with a mermaid, turns into a rather dire tale of hatred and revenge as the episodes splash along. A wonderful example hat most legends are like two sides of the same coin, and for most part season 01 a tale of fear and obsession unfolds, and where we draw the line between legend and truth. Once Ryn, our favourite nasty mermaid, has stripped her fishtail like a pair of pants, she reveals her human legs. The fishtail is left behind carelessly at the shore, where it dissolves in the sand.
As mermaids, Ryn and her tribe have the gift to lure and mesmerize their prey with a binaural song before they open the hunt on them. Later in the season it turns out that Run’s mermaid song is is powerful, a hybrid of a larynx and a syrinx at the base of the trachea — almost supernatural with the ability to lure all who hear it towards her. The songstress possesses angelic vocals which make the person feel relaxed and released of all the stress and problems in life. The longer they hear the song the more they become obsessed with the mermaid. Eventually the siren song leads to dangerous hallucinations until the victim is driven into the water to find the mermaid, but ultimately drowns to his/her death. Eventually we find out that the song leaves something strongly addictive within the human brain.
The mermaid design of Ryn and her clan is one of the most believable on this list, once you ignore the long floating hair, which would be utterly useless for a real mermaid. In another reality these sirens could be the real deal:
Their skin looks like it has been made for diving in the deep for a long amount of time, its consistency is manufactured in a way so that they can cope with life underwater easily — biologically altered and evolutionary fitting for what they are, just like every other being on this planet. Sharp teeth and webbed claws to hunt with, and shark-like fins with overly long, agile tails have an uncanny look to them. They surely outdo your average leg- measurements and twitch in a turn in every direction without restrictions that would come with legs and knees ... to navigate in a real nautic design. Once under water there are no bubbles emerging, and the fish don’t seem to be scared of them either.
Yet, something feels odd about them, more real than others on this list. There is no doubt that a significant amount of effort and stunning special effects were invested into the many mermaid transformations. Once Ryn or any of her brothers and sisters shed their scales, it looks like old skin falls off the legs underneath them. Sure, having legs under a fishtail doesn’t make much sense, considering how flexible these tales are in the water, but trust me that you’d be willing to ignore such nitpicking when you are lured in by Ryn’s echoey human voice and her bioluminescent inhuman eyes.
Yes, there is a love triangle a’la “Twilight” — ekk — and yes, this can be rather silly at times. But from the moment Ryn faces off Ben in the dark waters this opens up the entire scary spectrum of floating in an unprotected void, which is genuinely terrifying and still gives me the creeps when I think about it.