Bloodtide

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.

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.

My review was written in September 1982 after a screening at Lyric theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Blood Tide" is a monster film lensed in Greece as "The Red Tide" during the summer of 1980, which over-emphasizes the scenic beauty of its locale at the expense of thrills. Commercial prospects appear dim.

As with the competing horror release "Q", picture marks a return to monsters, born of ancient evil, worshiped by present-day cultists. Madeline (Deborah Shelton) is a young American artist in Greece, drawn to the ancient ritual wherein a local virgin girl is sacrificed to the sea god. Her brother Neil (Martin Kove) and his wife Sherry (Mary Louise Weller) are visiting her when the monster gets loose due to explosions in the underwater grotto set by local treasure hunter Frye (James Earl Jones).

Though there are some swift, gory killings, "Blood TIde" mainly dwells on lovely shots of the Greek coastline and attractive young bodies that seem to have wandered in from Randal Kleiser's "Summer Lovers". There's no horror atmosphere developed and no real scares.

The cast is willing but the script is weak. Things get off to an unpromising start when a very hammy, top billed James Earl Jones is introduced by girlfriend Barb (Lydia Cornell): "He played Othello once in college and never got over it". Jones proceeds to spout Shakespeare for the rest of the pic while doing some of the wildest double-takes since Mantan Moreland. Jose Ferrer and Lila Kedrova are strictly along for the ride as locals.

Of the handsome young principals, Deborah Shelton is a cooly sexy beauty capturing the ethereal fantasy aura of Jenny Agutter. Tech credits are very fine, but the sea monster designed by Vince Jeffords turns out to be a grey, rubbery piece of schlock that has wisely been edited down to just a few frames on screen.

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.

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.