Mixing Bikinis and Monsters

In director Terence Muncy’s demented vision of bikini-clad beach babes and summer madness, there are plenty of reasons to stay out of the water — in fact, to run for the hills.

Here’s one:

An independent film about an ethically unstable scientist who uses genetic engineering, murder and a wardrobe of female swimwear in his quest to bring his concept of ultimate beauty (a mermaid) into being, Bikini Monsters uses a murder-investigation narrative structure to explore its themes of sexual deviance and obsession.

Bikini Monsters, due for release in 2010, has been filming through July. As you can see from the pictures below, it involves little by way of wardrobe but required a major effort in terms of make-up.

It’s interesting the way sexual attraction can be made grotesque, the result becoming a curious mixture of eroticism and fear. It has definitely been done with zombies, in films such as Zombie Strippers (2008; dir. Jay Lee) — and resonates with the snake-women film phenomenon I wrote about a while back. Bikini Monsters reminds me less of the 1984 Daryl Hannah mermaid flick Splash! and more of the profoundly disturbing Hideshi Hino Guinea Pig film, Mermaid in a Manhole (Manhôru no naka no ningyo) from 1988. At any rate checking out the babes on the beach will never be the same!

More images below:

Sources: Terence Muncy via Avery; Monster Island News