‘The Little Mermaid’ horror movie looks awful, why can’t we just let our childhoods be?
Our generation can’t let go of the Disney classics. Whether it’s remaking them or twisting them into something evil, we cannot seem to say goodbye to our childhood stories. This time, they’re coming for The Little Mermaid, and she does not want to be a part of our world.
Recently, a new trailer has popped up for yet another take on a tale as old as time. The Little Mermaid is now on the chopping block to be picked at and taken apart before being stitched back together Frankenstein-style. Over the last few years, with certain Disney characters entering the public domain, we have seen a slew of lovable childhood characters turn downright terrifying.
First off, we had poor Winne the Pooh and his accomplice Piglet turn serial killers in Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. Next up was Disney’s mascot himself, Mickey Mouse in The Mouse Trap, which was released the exact same day that the original Steamboat Willie character entered the public domain. When it comes to the fairytale stories, though, they’ve always been up for grabs. Adapted from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen fairytales, these stories have been retold over and over again, we just know them best from Disney’s iterations.
A whole new world… of horror
The Little Mermaid is an original story from Hans Christian Andersen’s collection, which originally had much darker overtones. The story was sanitized by Disney, much like most of the House of Mouse’s retellings, to make it more appealing to younger audiences. In this new retelling, kids can’t even watch it thanks to its R rating.
The upcoming movie, directed by Leigh Scott and produced by Lionsgate, is set for digital release on December 17. Not the most classic release date for a horror film. The trailer was released on November 13, allowing audiences a glimpse of what’s to come.
We meet Dr. Eric Prince (see what they did there, very clever, huh) as he and his archeology team make a breakthrough discovery on a small island in the Caribbean. They discover an ancient advanced civilization, one that seems to hold a dark secret. At the same time, Eric meets a mysterious woman named Aurora Bey and becomes infatuated with her, though his friend, Dr. Ashley, thinks something is very wrong with Eric’s new girlfriend. Eric falls under the entrance of Aurora and must soon make a decision: choose to be with his demonic mermaid girlfriend, or choose humanity.
Yet more of our childhood dashed against the rocks
This is yet another example of a childhood classic getting a horror makeover. Come on! Nostalgia is all we millennials have anymore in a world growing progressively darker! Though Lionsgate is involved, the film appears to be low-budget, with a relatively unknown cast. The trailer has some pretty cringey moments in it as well with some of the line delivery giving me flashbacks to the infamous B movie, The Room.
The trend of turning these childhood films into horror films shows no sign of abating. Thanks to the success of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, plenty are coming down the pipe, including Bambi: The Reckoning and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. Look, I get it, these stories were, in their original form, a lot darker than the sugar and spice and everything nice that Disney turned them into. They were stories told to children to get them to behave, not talk to strangers, not walk into the woods alone, and to be good. But these newer horror versions are less about messaging, and more about violence, shock, and gore. I suppose so much else in the world has been turned into one big horror movie, why not the memories of our childhood too?
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
