Bloodtide (1982) User Reviews

The Sea Monster from the underwater cave

[sol-kay · 5/10 · 11 March 2005]

**SPOILERS** Drawn to the Greek island of Synanon in the Aegean Sea young and pretty, as well as virgin, Madeline,Deborah Shelton, inadvertently with the help of Frye, James Earl Jones,and his girlfriend Barbara, Lydia Cornell, releases from a hidden underwater cave an ancient monster who goes on a bloody rampage. Killing islanders on the Island as well as those swimming off shore. Were told by the wise old men of the Island, from it's mayor on down, that the only way to stop the monster from it's deadly rounds is to offer up a young girl or woman virgin as a sacrifice to it.

Arriving on Synanon earlier in the movie is Nell,Martin Kove, Madeline's brother and Sherry,Mary Louise Weller, his wife who are going both on their honeymoon and looking for the elusive Madeline who hasn't been seen or heard from for almost four months. Thinking at first that the story of the Sea Monster is a lot of hogwash Nell Shelly and especially Fray become believers when a number of women end up missing,including Barbara, and later are found washed up on shore dead, and in pieces, as a result of the monster's actions.

Fray who was both cool and collective and very sure of himself flipped out when he later saw the monster devourer an Island woman who was trying to save her daughter, who fell into the water, and becomes a hopeless drunk. Seeing her call in life, by uncovering a hidden ancient painting, Madeline prepares to offer herself up to be killed and eaten by the Sea Monster in order to stop the slaughter. The monster went as far as attacking a church killing all the nuns except the Mother Superior Sister Anna, Llia Kedrova, who was badly injured. In the end Frye who released the ancient monster for it's cave destroyed it, as well as himself,by blowing it to shreds with modern explosives.

The acting in "Blood Tide"is far better then the story itself with top-notch actors James Earl Jones as the self-centered adventurer Frye. Jose Ferrer was very good as the Islands mayor Nerevs who knew more about what was going on then you at first would have thought. Besides the very good acting the scenic and breath-taking photography of the Greek Island and the surrounding Aegean Sea kept you awake and observant of what was happening on screen even though the very flimsy and mediocre story didn't.

"I kiss thee and I kill thee, no way but this."

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 15 March 2006]

Put Jose Ferrer and James Earl Jones together in a film and you would think you'd have the ingredients for a Shakespearean drama, but what you get in "Blood Tide" might pass for a made for TV horror flick with some X rated moments. Martin Kove and Mary Louise Weller portray newlyweds Neil and Sherry Grice, on the search for Neil's sister on a Greek island where she was last heard from. Madeline (Deborah Shelton) drifts between lucidity and a trance like state throughout the film with no explanation, maintaining a mysterious relationship with a nun who maintains a monastery on the island. Ferrer's character Nereus is a priest like figure who has the only reasonable advice to offer, both to the Grice's and the viewer - better leave now.

There are a few scenes that get your hopes up, like the underwater shots that portend Jaws like horror, but they never deliver. When one finally gets a glimpse of the creature, you better be quick about it because he's quicker than Houdini. The film probably could have gotten a bit more mileage out of the monster and the whole virgin sacrifice thing with better writing, but this was definitely a film on a budget. As for the monster, it seemed like a mutated version of the Creature From the Black Lagoon.

With clichéd lines like "Time is running out for all of us" and "You have seen your death Mr. Frye", you'll have to connect your own dots to make some sense out of the film. And am I the only one to notice, but after Neil saves Madeline from the underwater cave, wasn't that brother-sister kiss just a bit disturbing?

Some classic horror ideas - ruined

[manicgecko · 4/10 · 17 October 2005]

Ah, horror garbage at its finest, at least in parts. Young couple goes to Greece on their honeymoon looking for his sister. That's exactly what I wanted to do on my honeymoon. Meet up with JEJ and his hot blond on an island that they are unwelcome on and meet an ancient curse. I should be basking in the cheesiness, but somehow it doesn't deliver. Don't get me wrong there were some truly classic moments including the children sacrificing their friend in a game, the whole 5 SECONDS of the paper mache monster, and the village drunk was good for a laugh. I just found myself dozing in between. Good news though I found out who David Hasselhoff based his acting techniques off of.

Nico Mastorakis Strikes Again

[Crap_Connoisseur · 25 May 2006]

Blood Tide is the brain child of Greek horror 'auteur' Nico Mastorakis. Nico probably has more films in IMDb's bottom 100 than any other director but this is more a reflection on the poor taste of most IMDb voters. Nico's films are generally pretty atrocious (with the exception of the great "Island Of Death") but at least his films won't induce insomnia like some of the movies populating the top 250. This film, directed by Richard Jefferies, is a good example of the Nico formula: blood, nudity and virgin sacrifice.

The plot of Blood Tide is pretty damn stupid. A treasure hunter, played by James Earl Jones, has awoken an evil demon that lies dormant under a Greek island. Unfortunately, this event coincides with Neil and Sherry's arrival on the island to search for Neil's missing sister, Madeline. Before too long, young women start disappearing and the villagers resort to sacrificial offerings in order to calm down the island demon. In other words, this is all a thinly veiled excuse for gratuitous nudity and cheap horror action - which is fine by me.

The strange thing about Blood Tide is that the film has quite a respectable cast for what is obviously a B-movie. James Earl Jones is always reliable and he doesn't disappoint with his turn as Frye. I'm convinced he only to took the role due to the character habit of incessantly reciting Othello, because the idea of playing a watermelon chomping stereotype could not have been all that appealing. Jose Ferrer is another great character actor and he makes his role count for more than it is worth. The same can be said for Lila Kedrova, who has to be the only Oscar winner to appear in a Mastorakis production. Genre fans will also be pleased to see Martin Kove, atypically playing a good guy.

Apart from the actors, the main reason to watch the film is to enjoy the gloriously inept creature effects. The demon is a plastic puppet that looks more like a sea horse than a monster. The rest of the special effects are equally as dubious. The film also strangely spends a significant amount of time 'paying homage' to (ie. shamelessly ripping off) "Exorcist II: The Heretic". Why anyone would want to take inspiration from that train wreck is beyond me, but someone was obviously a fan.

Blood Tide has many faults: crap special effects, a poor script and a lead actor who refuses to wear a shirt. However, it is also campy horror fun and contains one of the funniest displays of beach side aerobics that I can remember seeing. In any case, Blood Tide does not belong in the bottom 100.

Luke, I sacrifice virgins...

[Coventry · 1/10 · 6 December 2006]

This is a totally unique movie! Yes…UNIQUE!! And why? Because it has the most promising and potentially great sounding plot, about the sacrifice of young female virgins to a hideous sea creature on a remote island community, and yet somehow it manages to be an extremely boring and totally uneventful film! Is that unique or what? I watched this movie less than 12 hours ago and I already have a hard time remembering what went on, actually. It has a bunch of uninteresting people, among them James Earl Jones, gathering on this peculiar island to search for a missing girl. She's there all right, but so is a freshly resurrected sea monster the natives are forced to feed virgins to! After that, I kind of lost track of the plot. Though that doesn't really matter, as nothing happens. The characters talk and talk and talk…and, occasionally, they throw around cats for some reason. There are no gory death sequences or cool sea monster designs, not even a bit of delightful sleaze. The monster is hardly shown on screen and when it is (for about 5 seconds) it looks like the most ugliest sock puppet ever. James Earl Jones' imposing voice is usually joy to listen to, expect when he exclusively talks nonsense like it is the case here. It must have been weird for those few unlucky people who saw "Blood Tide" at the cinema back in 1982. The Star Wars movies were hugely popular and Jones' powerful voice was automatically linked to the image of Darth Vader. Can you imagine Vader to jibber about the cheesy sea creatures, ancient Greek myths and virgin sacrifices? Do your brain a favor and skip this film...

Well...I guess it was worth a dollar?

[whammy666 · 3/10 · 15 March 2005]

Wow, I got this movie at the dollar store on DVD. Not expecting much, I bought it along with some others. But this was by far the worst I bought. Yeah, monster is shown for 5 secs, maybe less. In some cases this is good...in this case bad. I had a hard time not falling asleep through this flick.It is boring. It is somewhat interesting but it just gets too boring. James Earl Jones is okay in his performance...I guess. SOme of the acting was okay. Special effects weren't great. Not much killing or gore, a little, but not much. It is not really that this film is low budget, no gore, shows no monster...just that it is seriously boring. lol. I'd stay away but what the heck, it is only a dollar. 3/10

A pretty dull, slow and forgettable horror washout

[Woodyanders · 4/10 · 16 May 2006]

Neil (Martin Kove, the evil martial arts instructor in the "Karate Kid" movies) and his hottie wife Sherry (the lovely Mary Louise Weller; Mandy Pepperidge in "Animal House") go to a remote Greek island to find Neil's kooky wayward sister Madeline (the gorgeous Deborah Shelton, who also sings the ending credits theme song). They not only find Madeline, but also shady fortune hunter Frye (a hale'n'hearty slice of fat, juicy ham from James Earl Jones) and his blonde bimbo girlfriend Barbara (the adorable Lydia Cornell). Frye awakens an ancient evil sea beast from its centuries of slumber. The creature proceeds to eat a few folks including Barbara while she's swimming topless. The superstitious villagers decide to sacrifice the virginal Madeline to the creature in order to placate it.

"Blood Tide" is a good example of a promising story let down by an extremely flat and uninspired execution. The cast is fine (besides the aforementioned folks, we also have Jose Ferror as the mayor and Lila Kedrova as a nun), the Greek locations are breathtakingly beautiful, the plot is fresh and interesting, Weller and Cornell look spectacular in skimpy bikinis, but alas Richard Jeffries' slack direction keeps the pace crawling along at a gruelingly sluggish clip and fails to create the necessary tension and creepy atmosphere required to make the premise work like it should (Jeffries later made amends for his bungling here by co-writing the script for the excellent "Scarecrows"). Moreover, we hardly get to see the monster and when we finally do it looks pretty hokey and unconvincing. The tedious surplus of drippy dialogue doesn't help matters any either. Only in the last ten minutes does the pace pick up and the suspense kick in, but by then it's way too little much too late to make this anything more than a might-have-been-something-better wasted opportunity.

Not even worth 29 cents.

[ONenslo · 2/10 · 30 September 2005]

Unlike another reviewer here, I have no doubts as to the monetary value of this movie. It is part of a 50 movie megapack I got for 14.95, which works out to 29 cents I was cheated out of. When the girl takes her shirt off for half a second, before the opening credits, it is all downhill from there. (Now that I think about it, when a girl takes her shirt off before the opening credits, it is ALWAYS all downhill from there.) I am sure there must have been a much "better" European cut with more skin and chomping, because the action scenes are so jerkily chopped up, and the scene in which the monster massacres a half dozen nuns in their chapel ends before it even gets going. This feeble post-Alien fangfaced monster barely gets any screen-time at all, and from what I could see, it would have been good for comedy relief. The soundtrack is classic "one man on a cheap synthesizer" work, and the only two actors in the movie, Jose Ferrer and James Earl Jones, never seem to come out of semi-retirement - Ferrer a stonefaced village elder and Jones swigging hooch from a bottle and growling incomprehensibly.

I can imagine Ferrer and Jones having a few pleasant weeks on a Mediterranean island with some non-actors, and taking home a moderately sized check for their trouble, but they are the only ones who benefit from this whole thing. I'm out 29 cents. James Earl Jones, send me a postage stamp.

The Greek monster.

[marcusfernandes · 5/10 · 1 July 2009]

I bought this film with another 49 from amazon.com.It came within the famous sci-fi pack so many times here commented among IMDb-USERS.What surprises me more is this paradox,an 3.5(MARK) but 35 comments.

Generally speaking,it is a good adventure in a film with serious problems of photography(the copy that i have!),a monster that we rarely see,peasants of a small Greek island and a stupid blonde.

These characters were mixed-up with a gorgeous couple and a some sort of"archaeologist" who is fan of destroying monuments instead of study them to fulfill this story.Nothing great ,but one can watch it without commitment.

It's not great but this Greek horror does have some good things about it

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 14 March 2014]

It wouldn't be unfair to say that Greece hasn't got the best pedigree when it comes to movies. There doesn't really appear to have been a film industry in action there at any point in time. Probably the best effort I have seen from that country is the notorious Island of Death. Its director Nico Mastorakis was also responsible for the screenplay of, this film, Blood Tide. There's no way that the latter film is as good as the former but I have to say I didn't really find it all that bad either. It's about a shady archaeologist who inadvertently unleashes a legendary evil creature from its century's long sleep. It's true that it is fairly uneventful from a horror point-of-view but overall I thought that the events surrounding the sea monster had just enough intrigue to keep this one afloat.

The monster itself is hardly seen. Mostly we encounter it via point-of-view camera-work. When it is seen briefly, it doesn't in all honesty look that bad but I guess the film-makers thought otherwise. There are a couple of gory attacks in the water and a massacre of nuns at a monastery, while the chopped up remains of a victim are found on the beach. But mainly, this is a slow burner with little visceral material. I thought the plot strands about the ancient drawings that are found in the monastery that depict the monster was quite good as well and added a decent level of interest.

It never escapes the fact that it's obviously hampered by a low budget though but the exotic Greek location does add some worthwhile production value. And it also has James Earl Jones at its disposal too; seemingly he did the film in order to get a paid-for holiday. But much better is Deborah Shelton as the enigmatic woman who ultimately offers herself as a virginal sacrifice to the beast; she was very beautiful and added a welcome sensual aspect that didn't do the film any harm at all.

Dull 'horror' in nice locations.

[parry_na · 4/10 · 8 April 2021]

Nicely filmed stunning locations, brief moments of gore and horror, competent acting and sadly, one of the dullest films I've seen in a long time. There's not a lot else I can say about this film, and that's a shame, because the cast do as good a job as they possibly can.

José Ferrer as Nereus and Mary Louise Weller as Sherry are probably the best players, with Darth Vader James Earl Jones taking every opportunity to perform that famous growl and not much else. The monster that gives this project reason to describe itself as a horror film, is seen for barely five minutes before the perfunctory finale.

If you like looking at the beautiful country of Greece, you'll enjoy this. Otherwise, whilst it isn't a bad film, it is sadly bland and not really something I can highly recommend. My score is 4 out of 10.

Fun 80's adventure with lots of surprises!!!

[IrishLass240 · 8/10 · 2 April 2007]

I really enjoyed this movie!

I know there are some tough critics out there, but I have to disagree.

I bet most of us saw this film for little or no cost. I purchased it bundled in a four movie set called "Tales from the Boneyard". Given the moderate cost of the set, I thought I got a lot of entertainment for my money.

My only complaint would have to be the creature effects. If you can get past that, the movie has a whole lot of surprising twists and turns.

Leave the judgments for the Academy Awards. Try to have some fun with this!

I did!

An occult thriller not nearly as bad as its IMDb rating!

[talisencrw · 6/10 · 21 April 2016]

For a low-budget, occult thriller, 80's-era B-movie, I really enjoyed it, though I love occult thrillers as guilty pleasures. The direction is unexceptional but decent, the cinematography (easy, because of the gorgeous locales and mostly outdoor shooting) was surprisingly very good and the soundtrack was passable. I loved the casting, with Martin Kove (from The Karate Kid trilogy), James Earl Jones and Jose Ferrer (who always makes a great nasty, what with his cosmopolitan look, like Anthony Quinn, and his condescending, 'I'm better than you, and why do you think you can even exist on the same planet as me?' sneer and attitude), and, of course, the gorgeous women. Though the special effects were low-budget and quaint, they worked on this scale, and how they were executed. There's gratuitous nudity and sex at every conceivable opportunity (and a lot of inconceivable ones!) and even incestuous overtones, so it's terrifically entertaining, if not a cinephilic masterwork.

In short, it's worth a look, especially if you enjoy B-movies and occult thrillers, particularly from the 80's. It's both free online, or I found my copy in my legendary Mill Creek 50-pack, 'Nightmare Worlds'.

Lovecraftian horror film just fails to deliver.

[filmbuff1974 · 5/10 · 26 April 2006]

Blood Tide is a horror film whose story is Lovecraftian in style.An t pagan intelligence has awoken from it's ancient slumber and is killing off residents of a sleepy Greek Island.The Elders of the Island intend to sacrifice one of the tourists to appease it. I really wanted to like this film. All the ingredients were there but done without any relish.An ancient sea monster that was glimpsed for all of 10 seconds and bad acting all around (yes, that includes James Earl Jones and Mel Ferrer!) just made viewing this turkey a mild endurance test.Although I did enjoy Lydia Cornell as the eye candy in this film but she wasn't enough to warrant forgiveness of this cinematic drip-of-a-horror film.

THE MONSTER MOVIE THAT WASN'T

[monstermonkeyhead · 22 January 2004]

Decent plot and acting, but... if you're looking for a monster flick, this ain't it. The monster is in it for all of 4 seconds- literally. This is truly a shame, because this movie had all the earmarks of a great monster flick. So, I'd say pass on this one, unless you don't mind wasting your time.

Lame Creature Feature

[TheExpatriate700 · 3/10 · 15 April 2011]

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.

Grecian Monster Disaster 1982 (Have You Seen My Sister, Mr. Jones?)

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 5 April 2010]

"A legendary sea monster is awakened from centuries of sleep on a Greek island by an American archaeologist (James Earl Jones). An island elder (Jose Ferrer) is aware of the legend of the beast, including its appetite for virgin sacrifices," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Elderly Lila Kedrova (as Anna), a knowing nun, is also aware of the monstrous danger. Hopefully, the monster isn't averse to snacking on a few tasty non-virgin women as well, because there are a few to wet one's appetite.

In fact, the main "Blood Tide" attraction is watching three very arousing thirty-something women. First, rise to attention for beautiful blonde model Mary-Louise Weller (as Sherry Grice), newlywed wife to handsome shirtless hero Martin Kove (as Neil Grice). Next, salute bouncy brunette Deborah Shelton (as Madeline), who looks swell in either wet clothes or the wind. Then, make it a third thumb up for busty blonde Lydia Cornell (as Barbara). Nobody shows too much skin, but everyone looks good.

*** Blood Tide (9/82) Richard Jefferies ~ Martin Kove, James Earl Jones, Deborah Shelton, Mary Louise Weller

script for an early '70s drive-in reject

[winner55 · 1/10 · 15 November 2006]

Please tell me James Earl Jones did not star in this film.

He plays a drunken archaeologist who is given to recite Shakespeare (?!) - why? - I couldn't say. Could Jones? Then there's some banter between American tourists. Since the film is set in Greece, Jose Ferrer shows up to prove he can't speak Greek. The natives, terrified by the sudden death of some of their women folk, do what all Greek natives do in movies - drink, sing, eat, and dance! "Jones' Big Fat Greek Murder By Monster" movie.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the monster; but, that's easy to do, since it rarely shows up and doesn't do anything spectacular.

"1982" ?! My god, did they still think they could get away with this script for an early '70s drive-in reject? And didn't Jones know we could never forgive him for this?!

My Big Fat Greek Rampage

[soulexpress · 2/10 · 23 August 2017]

On a remote Mediterranean island, a drunken, Shakespeare-quoting treasure hunter named Frye (James Earl Jones) sets off an underwater explosion that awakens a long-dormant sea monster, to whom the natives must now sacrifice virgins or else become monster-lunch themselves. A premise like that could have made for a fun movie, but instead it made for this one.

Two young newlyweds, Neil (Martin Kove) and Sherri (Mary Louise Weller), spend their honeymoon on the island, where the groom's sister, Madeline (Deborah Shelton), has gone missing. Because who doesn't want to spend their honeymoon searching for a lost relative? Madeline turns up about ten minutes in, leaving a good 73 minutes of dull, uneventful scenes in which very little happens beyond gobs of stilted dialogue.

Top billing here goes to James Earl Jones and Jose Ferrer (as the village elder), seasoned professionals who knew they were slumming. Ferrer seems half-asleep while Jones spits out his lines in a way that suggests anger-management issues. And yet, they're the only ones with a shred of professionalism. The others have no acting skills and must have been cast for their pretty faces and supple bodies. This includes Lydia Cornell, future co-star of the sitcom "Too Close for Comfort." (She plays a convincing corpse, though.) And Martin Kove is a dead ringer for "Baywatch"-era David Hasselhoff.

Item: When Neil and Sherri arrive on the island, some kids throw a cat at them from atop a flight of stairs. It's their idea of a prank.

Item: In an underwater cave, Frye quotes Shakespeare with a snorkel in his mouth. The end result ain't exactly Kenneth Branagh.

Item: When Lydia Cornell's character goes skinny-dipping and sees some old men watching her, she gets mad and shouts, "I thought you Greeks only liked little boys!"

Item: The sea monster gets about five seconds of screen time; it resembles an underwater sockpuppet.

Item: Given the choppiness of the action scenes, I have to wonder if there's a longer cut of this film in which the monster appears more.

Item: The sound effects are ridiculously loud, to a point of drowning out the dialogue. In a beach scene, the gently lapping waves of the Mediterranean sound like rhinos humping in a marsh. Perhaps the Foley artist was hard of hearing?

Item: Near the end of the film, Madline gives Neil a passionate, lingering lip-kiss. They're supposed to be brother and sister.

Item: The film score is by some guy noodling around on a Moog.

A sleep inducing tide

[iced_heart7 · 2/10 · 27 December 2020]

Newlyweds Neil and Sherry (Martin Kove & Marie Louise Weller) rent a boat to travel to a Greek island in search of Neil's sister Madeline (Deborah Shelton), a painter, who for some reason has broken off contact with her family. The island itself is beautiful, but the local folk seem unfriendly to outsiders and governed by superstition and strange traditions. They eventually do find Madeline, but she appears to be a bit "spaced out" and exhibits odd behavior. She has also made some quirky new friends - Frye (James Earl Jones) - a self proclaimed amateur archaelogist prone to angry incoherent tirades and excessive drinking, and his girlfriend Barbara (Lydia Cornell) - a naïve and obedient blonde bombshell, who is mainly there to parade in skimpy bathing suits, alongside Marie Louise Weller. No complaints there. All the aforementioned characters set off on exploring the diving spots and underwater caves around the island in Neil's boat, but not long after, people who have entered the waters around the island start to disappear, only to be found dead and dismembered later. Something is killing swimmers and underwater activists around the island and it's not a shark...

As an example of "creature feature"-horror, 1982's "Blood Tide", is one of the tamest and most boring in the genre. The body count is pretty low, most of the actual deaths follow the mass-copied "Jaws" pattern of people getting dragged underwater by an unseen force and subsequently the water turning red, and the actual creature doesn't make an appearance until about 65 minutes into the film, and when it does (very briefly) one cannot help but laugh at how adorably pathetic it looks. The filmmakers must have realized this, as they abstain from showing the creature again - even in the last confrontation (if you can call it that), you cannot really see it. But truth be told, I would rather prefer more screen time for the creature, regardless of how embarrassingly bad its' design is, because at least it would have provided a few laughs.

I am guessing, as budget must have been tight, the director was probably trying to concentrate more on building the atmosphere and using the natural landscape of the island on which they were shooting, but beautiful scenery can only get you so far. The story is very thin and although Greek scriptwriter Nico Mastorakis (and director of many other films, but strangely not this one - "Blood Tide" was directed by Richard Jefferies) has tried to utilize elements from some native myths (like the wide known legend about Charon and the crossing of the river Styx), it does not help matters much, because in the end we still don't know much about the creature and where it came from. It is ancient, it is evil and as the opening sequence very quickly reveals - it can be appeased by virgin sacrifice. That is the extent of details offered to us.

The characters are also quite bland, especially the main characters Neil and Sherry - they don't really do anything that can be classified as heroic or particularly smart. I guess you could make a case about recommending the film to James Earl Jones fans, because he does seem to bring in more passion to his line delivery, than his co-stars, but his character is also equally annoying and oftentimes just pointlessly wandering around with a glass or a bottle of liquor in his hand.

The final showdown with the creature feels very rushed and any chance of suspense is carefully eliminated, the only real catalyst is the immense sense of relief that this incredibly tedious film is finally over. That being said, the ending does provide a surprising "wtf"-moment, that is never really explained. After Neil's sister Madeline gets sort of rescued by him (in reality another character is mostly responsible for the mission's success, as I mentioned earlier, nothing Neil does in the film is strikingly brave), they proceed to kiss each other like lovers, implying a never before mentioned incest relationship. One does not have much time to ponder where that came from, as the film concludes shortly after that.

All in all, "Blood Tide" feels like an attempt to stretch out the runtime of the movie to 90 minutes, and even when something finally happens, it is terribly unexciting. There are some "The Bold and The Beautiful" episodes that are more engaging to watch. They are also shorter in length.

Okay, if you're into 'B' movies.....

[KungFuVooDoo · 6/10 · 6 January 2006]

No, it wasn't 'Jaws'. It was okay, though. You get to see a young, trim James Earl Jones, and he does a decent acting job for the most part. You get to see the bad guy from Karate Kid do a fair to good acting job as well. The rest of the cast includes veteran Jose Ferrer, Lila Kedrova, Lydia Cornell and Mary Weller. Lydia Cornell does a horrible acting job, but is fun to look at. The worst part is, there is no monster. I mean, yea, there IS, but, you never see him, except for about three seconds. What you DO see isn't that bad, just needs a little work. The location for shooting was awesome. Oh yea, there is one full frontal early on in the movie. Don't look for her again, or even another frontal. That's it. That's all you get. All in all, I'd say it's worth watching, if you're into 'B' horror like I am.

So... about that "rape dragon"

[Endersmojo · 2/10 · 30 September 2010]

Let's just go ahead and skip the cinematography, character development, even the plot, and get right to the point:

There is a Dragon. It is well endowed. It rapes a bunch of nuns. We don't get to see that. What the heck. 2 out of 10.

Addendum: The only correct way to eat a melon is to punch it. Thank you James.

Seriously though, pretty shocking to think that virgin sacrifices are virgin for a reason. This cherry-popping' dragon has a lot of character development that we miss. I mean, what's his motivation?

More importantly, is the last surviving nun pregnant with his rape- dragon-baby?

Looking forward to the sequel!

Richard Jefferies fear-frothed Lovecraftian eccentricity 'Blood Tide' remains a strangely exotic, rewardingly unconventional 80s folk horror

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 26 July 2021]

The eerily atmospheric horror 'Blood Tide is set within the isolated, faintly macabre-looking medieval town of Monemvasia. This unfairly neglected 80s creature feature begins with Greek Island hopping newly-weds, Neil (Martin Kove) and Sherry Grice (Mary Louise Weller) somewhat unwelcome arrival on the island. The eccentric, amusingly bizarre locals appear reluctant to grant Neil's earnest request for any assistance that might help locate his missing sister Madeline, compelling played by spaced-out glamourpuss Deborah 'Nemesis' Shelton. On the Grice's first actively unsettling night they meet bodacious bikini blond bombshell, Barbara (Lydia Cornell), a heroically hot beach bunny caught up in a delightfully ditsy world of her own, and bubble-headed Barbara's charismatically bluff, illegally treasure hunting boyfriend, Frye (James Earl Jones) A rabidly scene-stealing, fascinatingly ambivalent character, Frye guilelessly is the catalyst that evilly ushers forth the monstrous Blood Tide which grimly gushes forth madly from the barnacled bowels of hell and threatens to engulf them all!

Boldly contradicting the enticingly sanguineous title, this almost creature-less feature proves itself to be a weirdly entertaining, outlandishly off-beat, sun-baked B-horror mélange of mythically macabre, Mediterranean-set Lovecraftian wyrd! 'Blood Tide' remains much more than a creepy, esoteric sun-baked 80s folk horror curiosity. This sinisterly subaquatic, cod-Peter Benchley 'what-done-it' has its skewed dynamics increased by the engaging performances of a fine cast of gifted Thespians. The naive presence of dreamily beautiful, Deborah Shelton not only manifests a distractingly strange aura, she also provides the sympathetic voice and lyrics to the jaunty, if singularly unmenacing title music! The bulk of the spooky score composed by Jerry Mosely, who also did equally fine work on cult classic 'Frightmare' (1983). Writer/director, Richard Jefferies fear-frothed Lovecraftian eccentricity 'Blood Tide' remains a strangely exotic, rewardingly unconventional 80s folk horror that eerily beguiles due to its moodily malign maritime atmosphere, and an abundant eccentricity rather than a default reliance on explicit gore.

Low budget but very intriguing.

[formula44xxx · 7/10 · 10 October 2000]

Visitors' curiosity while on a Greek island unleashes an ancient creature upon unsuspecting island goers. This very low-budget film suffers from poor lighting but has a solid cast (James Earl Jones, Jose Ferrer, Martin Kove and Oscar-winner Lila Kedrova) and an intriguing enough premise that it draws you in, even if it far from a classic.

That was the monster?

[mattbower · 1/10 · 21 December 2006]

Honesty one of, if not the worst attempt at film I have ever seen. Failing boldly in every aspect of good cinema, this movie was so horrible that it transcended the "good because its bad" merit onto a completely new "bad because its seriously awful" stamp of disapproval. When browsing through the movie bin at wal-mart and seeing its tempting double feature title coupled with its .99 cent price tag, think again.

Oh and for anyone in anticipation of the sea monster that sacrifices virgins, I think they left him out of the footage? Surely the 1/3 second clip of a slime enshrouded, toothy, enlarged pencil topper-esquire monster wasn't it.