Deepone Merman is an example of the creatures encountered by the sailors aboard the HMS Innsmouth in the film Freeze (2022).
On a rescue mission to the North Pole to retrieve an old friend and his lost expedition crew, Captain Mortimer gets more than he bargained for when his ship is frozen into the ice sheet and set upon by bloodthirsty fish-creatures.
The sailors aboard the HMS Innsmouth sail north, to rescue the HMS Eibon, lost in its expedition to the North Pole. Captain Mortimer (Rory Wilton) is hell-bent to find his lost friend, Captain Streiner (Tim Cartwright). Mortimer’s first mate McCullough (Johnny Vivash) warns the captain of the treacherous waters ahead, but the young lieutenant Roth (David Lenik) the arrogant son of the Innsmouth’s shipwright convinces the captain to push forward and that the ship could take it. The ship runs aground on a rocky reef. Soon the ship is boarded by mysterious ichthyoid creatures (Deep Ones, for those of you familiar with Lovecraftian Lore). The marauding creatures manage to kill off most of the Innsmouth’s crew. The panicking survivors flee onto the arctic ice. The survivors struggle towards the shelter of the nearby mountains, where they spot a cavern system. The caverns are, of course, home to the Deep Ones, and also the surviving and stark raving-mad Captain Streiner. The crew is then forced to determine if they do the honorable, very British, noble sacrifice to prevent the creatures from reaching Mainland Europe. On the other hand, they could do the obvious thing: save their own skins and try and free the ship and sail for free waters.
Appearance
Deepone Merman has the body style of a human. One head: one mouth, one nose (two nostrils), two eyes; an abdomen, two arms with two hands, two legs with two feet and stands upright. It possesses no hair (seen) having a skin which appears scale-like but smoother and a mottled pale blue-green color with veins. It's powerful hands possess webbed fingers ending in sharp claws. It's long slender feet have flexible metararsals allowing the foot to grab and spread. These long webbed toes end in sharp claws. It's head appears fish-like. A large mouth with spiked teeth (may have multiple rows) with a wide lower lip with fleshy tendrils at the corners pulling them downward as a grimace. The shallow wide nose has two small holes set far apart as nostrils. It's black orb eyes are set far apart on its skull with a muscular brow adding to the grimace appearance. There are a series of pointed gills on the head where the ears should be as well as what appears to be soft spot blotches on the scalp. It also has sharp fins from its shoulders running down it's arms to it's elbows and similar sharp fins on it's forearms with a larger set of fins on the thighs.
Powers and Abilities
Deepone Mermans possess the following powers and abilities:
- Can breathe in air and water
- Sharp talons and sharp teeth
- Intelligent; can strategize, choose its actions, track prey, work together for a goal
- Infectious Bite/Scratch
- Communicate with echo-location clicks
- Can withstand limited gunfire
- Team attack
- Human mind control/madness
Fate
Deepone Merman survives the film but their fate is unknown. Captain Mortimer embeds dynamite in possessed Captain Streiner's body and rigs the Cthulhu Pillar with dynamite. Carmen shoots the dynamite in Captain Streiner killing him. Fatally wounded Captain Mortimer lights the dynamite in the Cthulhu Pillar destroying it. No further appearances of the Deepone Merman pack in the film. Captain Mortimer dies outside the cave and Carmen (the only survivor) sets out across the frozen arctic wasteland, fate unknown.
Trivia
- Steeds admitted that he really wanted to do a Creature From the Black Lagoon homage and Dark Temple said, “As long as you do it in the snow and ice.”
- The same Norwegian landscape that The Empire Strikes Back used for Hoth
- A limited version of the Necronomicon appears and is a nod to the Lovecraft Mythos.
- Altar/Pillar of Cthulhu in the cave.
- The Ichthyoids were actual men in suits and make-up, not CGI.
- Innsmouth is a fictional coastal town in New England that represents Newburyport, MA. HMS Innsmouth is a reference to the fictional town in H. P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth
- Dark Temple Motion Pictures include Werewolf Castle, The Haunting of the Tower of London, Death Ranch, An English Haunting, Freeze, Escape From Cannibal Farm, The House of Violent Desire. Their films have played festivals such as FrightFest London (Cineworld Leicester Square) Grimmfest, and HP Lovecraft Film Festival (where the film Freeze won the Best Film award). https://www.darktemple.co.uk/copy-of-films
Photo Gallery
_p.jpg "Freeze (2022) p.jpg (195 KB)")
_merman.jpg "Freeze (2022) merman.jpg (184 KB)")
