The Lure (2015)

The Lure (2015) I really wanted to see this film. But every time I want to see a film badly, I’m disappointed! In the introductions, it says “Released in the Horror category in 2015, in Poland, The Lure is directed by an unknown director, with Marta Mazurek seen shining in her role.” So… I can’t say Marta plays badly. On the contrary, she’s quite impressive. But she didn’t make me want to follow her either!

Drama, horror, experimental, musical… The Lure is a film with many labels. And by trying too hard to encompass all these themes, it unfortunately ends up leaving the viewer stranded. In fact, the film loses its way so much by trying to go in all directions.

It’s as if people had said to themselves: “There’s finally a Polish film that’s going to be famous, so we’ve got to put everything in it. You’ve got to have drama, sensuality, sexuality, horror… and you’ve also got to show that you can dance, sing, play good music and be a good comedian and actor!

There’s quite a lot of sex in this film. We see a lot of the two sisters completely naked. They’re either walking, singing, copulating, showing off, making a spectacle of themselves. They even give each other an incestuous French kiss. All this to attract people and satisfy their fantasies. 

The nudity can be beautiful and artistic. But after an hour, the film descends into gore, which can still be artistic. However, for me, it lacked coherence. The film has no suspense; we just watch them do it and follow these people without really understanding. Once again, it’s not really a film but rather an experience—a cinematic experience where you don’t know whether it’s a dream or a nightmare. You don’t know whether you’ve taken drugs or not. Some people die and then reappear… singing!

There are plenty of concert and cabaret moments. In the middle of all that, there’s a story that we don’t understand, moments of musical comedy, feelings, and murders. It presents a very dark vision of mermaids, reminding us that they are there to seduce and kill, and it’s not like Walt Disney’s A Little Mermaid. It’s a darkly feminist narrative! I saw the film in VO with English subtitles, and the Polish is very nice to my ears. But I still waited impatiently for the film to finish.

There are some good moments alongside some very bad ones; there are some very funny things and some pathetic scenes. All this means that the film isn’t completely rubbish, but it’s not good either. A real shame. I saw this film on a list of 20 must-see horror films. I think they got it wrong; it was more like the 20 we should avoid.