Blood Tide

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.

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.

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.

Newlyweds find the shirtless husband's sister on the Greek island which she went to two years ago. Also on the island are some inhospitable natives; a Shakespeare-quoting, sunken-treasure hunter and his voluptuous female companion; and a murderous, amphibious creature, which we don't see very much of. There you have the basics...and, there isn't a great deal more to spice things up. Oh...your enjoyment MIGHT be a LITTLE greater if you have a wet-shirt fetish. But other effects are virtually non-existent. With nothing, really, to bring it down, however, I sum it up as a passable yarn (or yawn, if you're a thrill-seeker).

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'.