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.
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.