Nowadays, marine creature horror movies more often tend to veer towards sharks, cephalopods, or a mix of both (looking at the Sharktopus franchise) for the nemesis of the narrative, completely overlooking much of the mythological or folklore-oriented possibilities the deep blue offers. In that context, Bad Fish deserves props for trying to do something with the legends of mermaids, as the movie tries to project a much more nefarious, monstrous side of the creatures of myth—contrary to their established, more popular conception as benevolent creatures. Additionally, the sprawling Oregon coastline adds to the enchanting beauty, which acts as the perfect backdrop to the narrative itself. However, the unwillingness on the makers’ part to explore a potentially intriguing creature lore, the off-putting execution, and the bad acting are some of the major drawbacks that ruin the overall experience.
Spoilers Ahead
Killer From Submarine Depths
Bad Fish opens with a woman giving birth to a child in the ocean—a tradition that has been practiced across different cultures around the world since antiquity, but in the context of the movie, it gains a different meaning, which is revealed in the final moments of the movie. The narrative shifts to Crescent City, a harbor town on California’s western coastline, as Sheriff Skip Porter gets bombarded with bad news one fine morning. The local fishermen reveal that, despite the fishing season being in full swing, there is no catch across the nearby shores, prompting the sheriff to contemplate calling marine biologist John Burton. Moments later, Deputy Alice brings a fisherman, Bill Morgan, who has seemingly lost all his crew members quite inexplicably in the middle of the sea. Suspecting Bill to be under the influence of alcohol, the sheriff takes him into custody; however, soon after, a mangled-up leg is accidentally brought to the shore by a local who was perch fishing. Speaking with associates in the harbor office, the sheriff remembers that, ten years ago, a similar scenario took place, when fishermen went missing, and there was a scarcity of fish as well back then. Confused as to whether this indicates the migratory pattern of some kind of predator, the sheriff decides to bring John Burton onto the case.
John Burton Begins Investigation
An accomplished marine biologist, John Burton is going through some troubles regarding his alcoholism lately, as he has been demoted from his position as a researcher and has been assigned as a guide at Crescent City Ocean World. Assisting him is his protégé, Sandy, who harbors some feelings for John and takes care of him. John is infatuated with her to some extent as well, but his cold, distant demeanor doesn’t allow him to express his feelings. Anyway, upon being summoned by the sheriff, John prepares to leave and decides to take Sandy with him as well. The next day, another mangled body part, a torso, is found by a fisherman, and examining the body and the bite marks, John deduces that sharks aren’t responsible for the deaths. However, he asks Sheriff Skip to arrange a boat, as he wants to search through the estuary by throwing bait into the water in the hopes of learning the identity of the predator.
Later that night, John and Sandy visit a local tavern, and the duo have a chat with the bartender, Abby Brand. From the looks of it, it becomes clear that Abby is hitting on John, who cluelessly insults Sandy in her presence, which infuriates her, and Sandy leaves the tavern to return to the hotel where she and John were staying. John continues his conversation with Abby, but her opinion about the recent attacks upon the fishermen being the handiwork of mermaids is too much for John to digest—and he takes his leave as well. At the hotel, John and Sandy get into an argument regarding John’s careless, irritable behavior towards Sandy, and eventually, John apologizes to her, realizing his mistake.
The next day, Sandy goes for a walk across the shore pretty early in the morning, and gets attacked by a creature, which mauls her to death. Oblivious to the incident, John goes on his way to investigate the predator case—and while fishing across the estuary, he obtains a peculiar scale affixed to his fishing rod. Curious, John goes to dissect the mangled body found the previous day and finds a similar scale inside the remains as well. Concerns regarding Sandy prop up in his mind, but he gets distracted as he receives an anonymous post addressed to him, which mentions a legendary sailor of the town, Jack Brand. Considering this to be a clue connected with the ongoing investigation, John visits Jack Brand after learning his address to be the same tavern he visited the previous night, and John shares the story of mermaids visiting the shores of the town, whom he thinks to be responsible for the deaths and the ongoing fish crisis.
Jack reveals that, thirty years ago, mermaids, or as he calls them, daughters of the sea, killed his entire crew, and that they have been visiting the shores once every decade since, which explains the lack of fish, who get driven off of the coast following the pattern. Jack further adds that one of the mermaids has stayed back this time, to find a human mating partner within the span of seven days, and if she is able to get the seed from her human victim, she can spend the rest of her life on earth. Shrugging off his tale as the nonsensical ramblings of an old fisherman, John hastily takes his leave. Before John leaves, Jack warns him, stating that he has been chosen by the mermaid, and despite all his efforts, he will not be able to escape his destiny.
Did John Burton Find the Killer?
John eventually learns about Sandy’s tragic fate, and emotionally devastated, he refuses to help Sheriff Skip in his investigation any longer. Later that night, the stories of the mermaid seem to get to him, as he returns to the tavern and questions Abby regarding the incidents that have been taking place. John gets into an argument with a drunk Bill and knocks him out by punching him. Abby doesn’t share any information with John right away, but spikes his drink with her venomous saliva, drugging John as a result, and while bringing him to the seashore, reveals that she is the mermaid in question. Abby reveals she was born on the shores, and this year she needed to complete the cycle by giving birth to the new generation. That’s when John and Sandy arrived in the town, and getting infatuated with John, whom she considers to be a better catch than the lousy local fishermen, she eliminated her possible rival, Sandy, by killing and devouring her. John listens to all this in his catatonic state, as he has been rendered immobile by the poisonous saliva of Abby, who leaves him for the time being to hunt and feed herself.
That night, Abby kills and feasts on Bill Morgan, the drunken fisherman, and the next day, John is captured by Sheriff Skip on the suspicion of his murder—which is really a nonsensical accusation to say the least, given that Bill’s death matches the pattern of the other fishermen’s victims, who were clearly victims of some sort of predator. John’s alcoholic habits make him a suspect, but upon testing, no alcohol is found in his blood, which prompts Skip to release him. John mentions Abby’s involvement and describes the entire mermaid story to Skip, who straight up refuses to believe anything of the sort. However, as John is about to leave, the sheriff mentions to him about Bobby Sharp, a survivor in the predator attack, and John goes to visit him to validate his assumption about Abby’s involvement in all of this.
As John goes to meet a grievously injured Bobby Sharp, the receptionist of the hospital is revealed to be an informant of the Brand family, who informs Abby about John’s arrival—and just as John leaves the hospital, he is abducted by a bunch of fishermen who take him to Jack Brand’s private chamber. A captured John is drugged with Mermaid’s sputum, the venomous saliva, by Abby’s mother, Phyllis, who is also a Mermaid herself. An unconscious John is brought to a ceremonial event in the wilderness with a congregation of women, later revealed to be mermaids, surrounding him. Phyllis guides Abby through the mating ritual with a catatonic John, during which Abby takes her true reptilian mermaid-like form.
Upon completion of the mating ritual, the mermaids devour John’s two legs, rendering him to be wheelchair-bound, just like Jack Brand was. Days later, Abby gives birth to a child—possibly the next generation of Mermaid—and gives her back to the ocean, continuing the bloodline of her family in the process. Jack and Phyllis are revealed to have passed away, and a wheelchair-bound John has taken Jack’s place. Abby, now having completed her transformation to being a human, has kept him as her puppet—destined to remain in captivity forever. The ending hints at a possible sequel, which might highlight John’s efforts to escape the nightmarish existence with a monster—but hopefully that one gets better treatment than Bad Fish did.
