USA Today - 01/21/2000
"...NIGHT TIDE is just too weird to dismiss..."
Sight and Sound - 05/01/2010
"NIGHT TIDE mostly eschews schlock for subtlety and sophistication....Harrington shoots with real care..."
Description by OLDIES.com:
Driven both by fate and betrayal, a pair of hopelessly entangled lovers lose their grip on reality with terrible consequences. A sailor, Johnny Drake (Dennis Hopper) and Mora, a beautiful sideshow performer, fall for each other, yet everyone around them is wary of the romance. Strange events surround the couple and dark secrets lurk in the shadows. Mora believes that she is a decendant of the Sirens, mythic sea creatures who lure sailors to their deaths. These inhuman origins drive her to commit murder by full moon. Johnny is unable to believe his love is capable of such an atrocity, but Mora herself seems more certain of her destiny. When a midnight diving trip gives her the opportunity, Mora is unable to resist the urge to kill. Johnny is forced to choose between his love for the girl and fear for his life and his decision leads to a horrific and unexpected conclusion.
Product Description:
A sailor on leave falls for an orphan girl posing as a mermaid in a California seafront show. She believes she is descended of sea creatures who must kill on the full moon. An eerie and hypnotic film, with Hopper's first starring role.
Plot Synopsis:
A haunting, offbeat drama about the relationship between a young sailor on leave and a beautiful but strange woman who works as a sideshow mermaid. Johnny Drake meets Mora at an amusement pier in Venice Beach, California. Although he is told that two other men who dated Mora have mysteriously drowned in the ocean, Johnny proceeds to fall in love with her. When Captain Murdock, Mora's guardian, warns Johnny that the girl is a real mermaid, the sailor refuses to believe him. Then Mora tries to drown him while they are swimming... and he starts to wonder whether the stories aren't true, after all.
Plot Keywords:
Love Story |
Suspense |
Theatrical Release |
Thriller
Like a 50s Horror Comic Book Story!
Movie Lover: John Chance from
San Francisco, CA US -- November, 8, 2008
Another well done Curtis Harrington production, highlighted by moody photography and the wonderful acting of Dennis Hopper, a naive sailor who gets drawn into an affair with a sideshow 'mermaid.' The kind of psychological 'horror' story so common to cheap 1950s horror comic books. Thoroughly enjoyable, with that morbid little quote from 'Annbelle Lee' by Edgar Allan Poe. Anythng Harrington does is worth watching--see also Dennis Hopper in his great 'Queen of Blood.'
Jazz Score
Movie Lover: JB from
Lynnwood, WA US -- August, 5, 2003
This film has an excellent bop jazz score. The jazz club scenes are great! An interesting film also.
Film Collectors & Archivists: Alpha Video is actively looking for rare and
unusual pre-1943 motion pictures, in good condition, from Monogram, PRC,
Tiffany, Chesterfield, and other independent studios for release on DVD. We
are also interested in TV shows from the early 1950s. Share your passion
for films with a large audience.
Let us know what you have.
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