Blood Tide (1982)

Overrated

hyped garbage

Beautiful, moving film.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

In ancient times the inhabitants of a Greek island sacrificed their daughters to a reptilian creature that lived in a cave under the sea. It went into hibernation and was eventually sealed inside the cave but the superstitions remained. Then one day two people, "Madeline Grice" (Deborah Shelton) and "Frye" (James Earl Jones) came to the island and discovered some old coins hidden in what turned out to be the exact same cave. Thinking that there may be a valuable treasure behind the sealed door, Frye blows it open with plastic explosives. This causes the creature to awaken and feed on people one by one. Now, while this might sound like a plausible plot for a film, certain key elements seem to be missing which requires the viewer to fill in the blanks. Along with that, the acting is mediocre, the special effects were bad and the dialogue is even worse. About the only good things about this movie are the local scenery and some attractive ladies to include Deborah Shelton, Mary Louise Weller (as "Sherry Grice") and Lydia Cornell ("Barbara"). But it wasn't nearly enough.

Considering the talent involved, Blood Tide is a total disappointment. The film follows the emergence of a legendary sea monster after an unethical treasure hunter dynamites the wall that held it in its den for thousands of years. (Why didn't it starve to death?)The acting is truly abysmal. James Earl Jones spends most of his time muttering quotes from Othello, while Jose Ferrer spends his time translating for the other Greek characters. (The film has no subtitles, even in scenes where all the characters speak Greek.) The supporting cast is completely useless, with terrible line deliveries. This is especially true of the virginal heroine.The gore is extremely limited, and the monster is only seen very briefly. There is a rather interesting hint that the monster molests the women sacrificed to it, but this is never explored. In the hands of a more talented director such as David Cronenberg, it might have been interesting.

Some people here seem to take B-movies far too seriously. They aren't meant to be Gone With The Wind, just gritty fun. Here we have a photogenic young '80s couple (including the consummate bad guy sensei from Karate Kid and his hot young lady), two other '80s total babes and a relatively young James Earl Jones, who brought weight to an otherwise even more lightweight film. I bet he enjoyed this role, certainly not a serious part by any means and something fun to do between Star Wars films and Conan the Barbarian in 1982. The fact that he has The Voice (the voice of Lord Vader, that is!) is a considerable plus for the entire film. The presence of the demon is suggested more than shown, but considering the limited budget, I'm sure that's a very good thing. I think the premise of the movie is quite good and could potentially be done very well, but it was merely passable here. I like the cast and the Greek islands always have their charms. There is no "quick fix" that could make this an excellent movie, but I think it was entertaining as is. I don't have a 1 second attention span or a need to see special effects every 3 minutes, but I do appreciate mood, atmosphere and a story, which this film has. I got this as part of a 15 movie Horror compilation for $5 and it was one of the better films of that collection with ease. I certainly wouldn't pay a lot for it alone, but I have no regrets for having watched it and will watch it again at some point. Without James Earl Jones, this would have been a C-movie, but it DID have him, and thus hasn't been completely forgotten...

"Blood Tide" is about a young couple who go searching on a Greek isle for the husband's sister, only to find that the sister is friends with an archaeologist who discovers a secret underwater cave and ultimately releases a creature with a taste for virgin blood! This film started off pretty slow, but after the first half-hour, it starts to get better. We only see the monster for about 3 seconds, and when you do, you kind of wish you hadn't! It is a very fake-looking monster, and it ruined the eeriness of the situation. If I were the director, I wouldn't have showed the monster at all, just let the viewers' minds fill in the blanks, which is scarier than anything that could be shown on screen. The acting is alright, and dialogue is a little iffy, but all in all, I recommend this nice little horror flick! Rated: R for Violence and Brief NudityGrade: C-