Tweet
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: October 15th, 2013.
Director: Curtis Harrington
Cast: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Gavin Muir
Year: 1961
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
The feature film directorial debut of Curtis Harrington stars a young Dennis Hopper as a sailor named Johnny Drake. When it comes time for shore leave, he heads to the nearest town for a little rest and relaxation and as he wanders around the boardwalk area looking for some fun, he meets a few of the locals. One of these locals catches his eye more than the others, however, and that's Mora (Linda Lawson), a beautiful dark haired woman who plays the mermaid in the sideshow at town's carnival.
The embark on a bit of a whirlwind romance but before too long Johnny starts to become suspicious that she may in fact be an actual mermaid and that she is responsible for the rash of murders that takes place during the full moon…
Shot on location on some amazingly atmospheric California beaches, Night Tide isn't a horror film that bombards you with monsters or killers or graphic set pieces but is instead a film more interested in the power of suggestion. Here Harrington goes for a 'less is more' approach and lets the cast and settings infer what may or may not actually be happening in regards to Mora's nocturnal activities, setting all of this to a pretty impressive free jazz score from David Raksin that really helps to set the mood nicely.
The movie is languidly paced, dreamlike for lack of a less cliché term, and Hooper's semi-out there acting style suits this approach to the material well. He's nowhere near as over the top as he is in some of his better known and more rambunctious roles but instead delivers a performance best described as pensive. So much of what happens (and in many ways what doesn't happen) revolves around his character that had he overdone it, the movie wouldn't have worked as well as it does as it would have been at odds with the rest of the picture. Instead we wind up with a case where everything fits together and his work alongside Lawson's turns out to be exactly what the movie needs. Also appearing in the cast as one of the women Johnny encounters on the boardwalk is Launa Anders.
The film gets a lot of comparisons to Carnival Of Souls, and that's a fair assessment as the two movies share a similar style and pace. Night Tide is a little weirder, a little more vague and a little less of a traditional horror film but it's an interesting and fairly experimental picture with some great acting from Hopper that's well worth seeking out.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kino's AVC encoded 1080p high definition fullframe transfer presents the black and white film in its original aspect ratio of 1.66.1 widescreen from elements that were restored by The Film Foundation. While there are some specks and scratches that appear on the picture this is a very film-like image showing no evidence of noise reduction, edge enhancement or digital tinkering. Detail is probably as strong as the aging source elements would allow for and generally speaking the image does look very good here. Texture is nice and consistently impressive and aside from a few fluctuations here and there that would appear to be source related, contrast and brightness look dead on. There's seriously nothing too drastic to complain about here - just a bit of minor print damage, really. Otherwise, things shape up quite nicely.
The only audio option on the disc is an English language LPCM 2.0 Mono track, there are no alternate language options or subtitles of any kind provided. Given the age and origins of the movie, it's not surprising that things sound a little hollow here and there but there aren't any major problems with the mix at all. This was quite a low budget picture so the sound mix is a bit on the basic side but dialogue is clean and clear and if some of the effects do occasionally sound a bit thin compared to other films made with bigger budgets, so be it. This would seem to be a pretty accurate representation of the source material.
The main extra on the disc is a commentary from Director Curtis Harrington and Actor Dennis Hopper that was recorded back in 2000 for the DVD release that came out through Image Entertainment. It's a pretty interesting track that documents some early work from these two. Hopper's memory is pretty spotty with Harrington doing most of the storytelling here and Hopper chiming in where he can or adding what he remembers to Harrington's anecdotes. Both men have great things to say about most of the other cast members that appeared in the movie and look back on the picture fondly.
The disc also includes a fifty minute Extended Interview with Harrington recorded in 1987 and conducted by film historian David Del Valle. It's an interesting piece that let's Harrington's enthusiasm for filmmaking really shine. If this covers some of the same ground as the commentary that's okay, as it goes into enough different directions that despite occasional repetition of information there's still a lot of unique ground covered in the talk. Additionally the disc also includes the film's original theatrical trailer, menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
The film gets a lot of comparisons to Carnival Of Souls, and that's a fair assessment as the two movies share a similar style and pace. Night Tide is a little weirder, a little more vague and a little less of a traditional horror film but it's an interesting and fairly experimental picture with some great acting from Hopper that's well worth seeking out. Kino's Blu-ray is a great way to do just that, offering the movie up in very nice shape and with some great extras.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
