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List Price: $29.99 | | Label: Image Entertainment
Salesrank: 79370
Released: December 28, 1999 |
| Our Price: $14.99 |
| Used Price: $15.20 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A lonely sailor, Johnny Drake (Dennis Hopper), meets the beautiful, mysterious Mora (Linda Lawson) who performs as a mermaid on the Santa Monica Pier. After they become lovers, Johnny discovers that Mora's past two boyfriends inexplicably disappeared. As his suspicions grow, Mora's doomed and sinister past is slowly revealed. In his first leading role, Hopper is captivating as the naive and eager Johnny. Like Val Lewton's "The Cat People," Curtis Harrington's "Night Tide" is hypnotic and eerie, macabre and haunting.
Description of Night Tide:
No ordinary cult film, Night Tide covers a variety of different waterfronts. It's a film from the American underground, it's a horror movie, and it's an early example of independent cinema (before there was such a term). Shot in 1960, it's also a strangely haunting artifact of its time. Night Tide was written and directed by Curtis Harrington, a member of the experimental avant-garde of the '50s who went on to make the atmospheric shocker Games and many an episode of Dynasty. Mounted on the cheap, and shot on authentic locations in Santa Monica and crumbling Venice, California, Night Tide has a loose, lyrical quality not found outside Cassavetes and Godard films of the same era.
Dennis Hopper, whose youthful looks and Method style were still intact at this point, plays an innocent sailor at liberty in a coastal town; he falls for a girl who plays a mermaid at the sideshow. Or is she really a mermaid? Inspired by Val Lewton's horror classic Cat People, Harrington cooks up a supernatural stew with the suggestion that the willowy lass is one of the "Sea People," called back to her ocean home by a weird sea witch (played by a real-life occult celebrity called Cameron). Yet Night Tide only occasionally feels like a horror movie; with its naturalistic exteriors, bongos, and coffeehouse atmosphere, it's more a slice of poetic bohemia. Luana Anders, who should have had a major movie career but later became a B-movie leading lady, is wonderfully fresh as the good girl, and the music score by Hollywood pro David Raksin (Laura) is inventive and offbeat. Shown at the Venice Film Festival in 1961, the film did not secure a U.S. release until 1963, when its New-Wave-ish style probably looked less innovative. Seen today, Night Tide is both a lovely mood piece and a look back at a peculiar moment in American moviemaking, and either way a bit of low-cost enchantment. --Robert Horton
Night Tide Reviews:
CLASSIC MERMAID MOVIE!!! 
2006-07-18 - This is an odd movie, but a good one none-the-less!!
I recommend this movie to conisieurs of the obscure!
It is one of the best mermaid movies ever made!!
Directed By Curtis Harrington!
Odd and unique! Great Movie!!
Dennis Hopper falls for a sexy mermaid! 
2005-01-05 - This underated cult classic is very entertaining, especially considering the fact it was made on a shoe-string budget. That just goes to show that you can make a great movie with little money! If you're considering buying this on dvd, then the Image Entertainment edition is the one you should get.
A very young Dennis Hopper stars as a sailor on leave in California who meets a beautiful young woman who works as a mermaid in the seafront carnival. He knows nothing about her but quickly falls for her (can't blame him for that!). Over time, however, he notices she's got a dark, mysterious side to her that she's hiding.
Hopper confronts the woman's guardian (a step-father, sort of) and tries to learn more, but he's told that she is a real mermaid who's already lured two former boyfriends to their deaths. Only too late does Hopper doscover the truth, but I won't give away the ending.
With memorable music by the legendary composer David Raksin and an independantly-filmed movie script that actually works, this is a movie that will entertain fans of suspenseful classics and especially fans of Dennis Hopper. The picture and sound quality of this dvd are surprisingly good for an independant movie this old. Highly recommended!
Something's happening here....
2004-12-03 - A haunting, mysterious and magical movie. Marjorie Cameron adds an element of real life magic. Kenneth Anger also had done this when he used her in `The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)'. Marjorie Easton also adds to the spell, and Dennis Hopper is wonderful. The carnival is the perfect background for a a plot about fantasy and reality. Filmed at the Santa Monica Pier, Venice and Ocean Park, California, where Anton LaVey played organ at strip joints in the late 1940's. The name Mora is found in many parts of the world as the death aspect of the `Triple Goddess', or Night Mare, or female vampire.
Beware the Siren's Song. 
2004-11-23 - NIGHT TIDE stars a very young and quite handsome Dennis Hopper as Johnny Drake, a sailor on leave visiting a California beach somewhere not too far from Hollywood. The movie begins when a horny Johnny Drake enters the Blue Grotto looking for someone to share his mojo with. Unfortunately, most of the women in the jazz night club already have partners or don't even acknowledge Johnny's existence. Then, across the crowded room, Johnny catches the eye of a beautiful brunette sitting across the way. He approaches and though she pushes him off, the romantic sparks start to fly. He learns that her name is Mora. Then some strange woman shows up mumbling some wierd words to the girl. Whatever the old lady said makes the girl get up in a hurry. Johnny follows and catches up with her. The persistent little devil walks with her to her apartment and gets her to invite him to breakfast the next day. The relationship begins. Things don't get very far before Johnny learns from the people who run the carousel below Mora's apartment that her last two boyfriends disappeared and have never been seen. Mora also works as a mermaid at the local side show run by her former guardian. The job pays pretty well, but Mora actually believes that she is a mermaid allowed to live on land and that when the moon gets full the sea beckons her back home. By this time Johnny is madly in love with the girl and doesn't know what to do. A full moon is approaching and Mora acts more strange all the time. A fateful diving expedition ends up revealing the truth.
NIGHT TIDE was filmed on a budget of less than $76,000. It was the film that gave Dennis Hopper his first major break. The title of the movie is based upon a poem by Edgar Allen Poe and the film has gained a cult following over the years. The movie reminded me of watching an episode from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. With a mood such as that, it's easy to understand the cult following. Nevertheless, though I was impressed at how well the film was made on such a small budget, I found the picture to just be an average movie. Nothing more and nothing less.
Essential viewing for cult movie fans
2003-09-01 - I adore this little film . It was obviously made on a shoe string but it offers more entertainment value than many big budget blockbusters. All the players do a grand job and they've all got interesting characters to work with . The two standouts for me , however , are the woman who plays the fortune teller (haven't got her name on me right now) and Gavin Muir as Captain Samuel Murdock. The fact that much of the action takes place at the Santa Monica pier amusement park adds to the film's surrealistic air of fantasy. If you're looking for an excellent , low budget early 60's movie that's really well crafted stick this one in your trolley and proceed straight to the check out. If you like "Carnival of Souls" you'll like "Night Tide". It certainy goes into my basket of "Desert Island" videos. Essential viewing for cult movie fans.
