Sirens are an integral part of Greek mythology, largely appearing in epics such as The Odyssey. They were largely antagonistic aquatic beings who sang songs to charm sailors and subsequently kill them. The Medieval Age, however, also equated their physical characteristics to those of mermaids.
While the modern perception of mermaids places them as benevolent aquatic creatures, sirens have endured as evil beings with a constant lust for blood. Over the years, several fantasy and adventure films have depicted sirens as murderous mermaids or sea nymphs, including blockbusters like Pirates Of The Caribbean, along with internationally-acclaimed horrors like The Lure.
The Sirens - O, Brother Where Art Thou (2000)
As O Brother, Where Art Thou? is an offbeat retelling of the Greek myth, The Odyssey, there are bound to be sirens, albeit in a different form. The sirens, in this case, don't have their half-fish bodies, unlike their Greek mythological counterparts. Instead, they just appear as mortal women who wish to seduce the film's three protagonists and rob them.
Charmed by their singing near a river, the men spend time with them, only to be drugged by corn whiskey. The next morning, the women disappear and the group is convinced that they were sirens. While the women do have a mysterious air around them, they rarely show any signs of supernatural powers and hence, don't end up being that strong in the end.
The Mermaid - The Lighthouse (2019)
The Lighthouse has its share of theatrical scares and Lovecraftian visuals, but some of the scariest parts come about unexpectedly. A major case in point is when the lighthouse keeper, Winslow, discovers a woman washed up on the shore. As he checks her breath, the woman turns out to be a frightening mermaid who opens her eyes and starts howling at him.
The movie's sound editing and the close-up on her face make her scene all the more spine-chilling, and the horror elements here are what help make this one of the best black and white movies of the 2010s. The mermaid appears in the film only for a brief moment, leaving little idea about her actual strength. However, her bellowing screams indicate that she can produce deafening sounds, as Winslow is visibly disturbed by the shouting and runs away in fear.
Charlotte - Mermaid's Song (2015)
Mermaid's Song functions as a dark live-action adaptation of the Danish fairy tale, The Little Mermaid. The setting changes to America's Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, and Charlotte is a young girl whose family is exploited by local gangsters. After discovering her mermaid abilities, just like her recently deceased mother, she decides to evolve into her intended form and take matters into her own hands.
The creature design is notable and the film doesn't hold back in showcasing the feral and terrifying nature of her true self. The large fins, gilled skin, and dark-blue eyes are enough to add to a few genuine scares. Her powers aren't explored in greater detail though, other than her merely attacking humans and pulling them underwater.
Neverland Mermaid - Peter Pan (2003)
Peter Pan has had several reinterpretations over the years, but the 2003 version stands out for the fact that even though it was a children's film, it attempted to showcase the horrors of Neverland, rather than just the cheery parts.
In fact, Peter Pan's sirens are scary for their sudden transformation that viewers, especially young viewers, might not expect. After luring innocent children with their sweet songs, they suddenly change into hideous creatures with white skin, gilled hands, and razor-sharp teeth. The sirens' transformation indicates their underwater strength, as they are easily capable to drown their human victims. This is indicated by the legends around them, as no actual killing takes place in the film.
Lisa - The Mermaid: Lake Of The Dead (2018)
The titular mermaid in this Russian horror film is based on the legends of Slavic mythology that mention mermaids as powerful demons who prey on men as a means of seeking revenge for their past. As is the case with most of the mermaids in the film, these creatures were drowned unmarried girls who then evolved into killer mermaids.
The premise does build up some scares, as the mermaid Lisa seduces a married man called Roma. When Roma finally rejects her advances, she changes her form into a corpse-like monstrosity and continues haunting him for the rest of the film. While the CGI monster might not be the best, Lisa's squealing mermaid does make for a scary siren. The fact that she has been alive for centuries and still retains her transformative abilities bears testimony to her immense power.
Scylla - Nymph (2009)
While nymphs are a broad generalization for several beasts in Greek mythology, most of the sea nymphs are categorized as sirens. In this 2014 film, a group of travelers is hunted down in the Mediterranean by a bloodthirsty siren called Scylla. The creature design is largely similar to many other aquatic horrors, but a spiky tailfin adds a terrifying touch.
Another hauntingly interesting aspect of the character's power is how she might not even sing to catch her victims, unlike the other sirens of folklore. In fact, she makes use of ominous silence too. As Franco Nero's fisherman character Niko describes her, "Now the sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence ... someone might possibly have escaped from their singing, but from their silence, certainly never."
Golden - The Lure (2015)
The Polish musical, The Lure, revolves around mermaid sisters Golden and Silver as they enter the world of humans as singers in a nightclub. While Silver is warmer in her behavior, Golden is highly suspicious of the men around her and is ready to murder them at a drop of a hat.
What makes Golden's acts of violence scary is that it lacks any forced atmospheric tension. After killing a bar patron, Golden develops a bloodlust that encourages her to target others. However, this urge to kill comes out as a necessity for her and isn't played out with cliched horror movie tropes. It's perhaps this humanization of her character that adds to the brutality of her crimes. She's powerful enough to take down an average man with the stroke of her tailfin and subsequently bite him to death.
Mermaids Of Whitecap Bay - Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2017)
On the surface, the mermaids of Pirates of the Caribbean's Whitecap Bay look divine and serene. But they sing siren songs to trap sailors and eventually feed on them with murderous rage. Their pale eyes and vampirical fangs are definitely scary enough and sum up their cannibalistic tendencies.
But what's even scarier is their strength and number. Swarms of mermaids can attack ships by even jumping onto the surface for a while and dragging the sailors into their watery depths. Some are even shown to break planks of wood with their bare hands, making them much stronger than the average depictions of deadly sirens.