Ever go looking for your missing sister in Greece only to have your life fucked up six ways to Sunday by a sea monster that can only be appeased by the blood of virgins? Sure, we all have… and so has Neil (The Karate Kid‘s Martin Kove) who has come to that beautiful island along with his wife Sherry (Mary Louise Weller) to track down his sis Madeline (Deborah Shelton) who has pulled a vanishing act.
Once there they encounter miserable ol’ bastard Nereus (José Ferrer), as well as treasure hunter Frye (the legendary James Earl Jones cuttin’ himself a big ol’ slice of ham), over-sexed space-case Barbara (Lydia Cornell who starred in the Cosmic Cow vehicle Too Close for Comfort on the ol’ boob tube)… and his sister (also a space case)… wait, that’s it, less than fifteen minutes in and it’s “mystery solved?”
Obviously there’s more to this terror tale, and as you may have ascertained from my wicked words above (if you’re not a complete dumb ass), our heroes soon find themselves in dire fuckin’ straits once Frye’s search for riches starts to involve massive amounts of explosions… explosions that re-awaken a monster hellbent on ripping those on the island a new one…. yeah, I suspect virgins will be chucked at this fucker toot-sweet so our heroes can engage Project: Save Ass…
BloodTide is a creature feature with a lot going for it… and a major thing going against it. Let’s put our eerie eyeballs on the positives first, shall we?
The cast assembled here is tight n’ outta site… Kove, Earl-Jones, and Ferrer are all as solid as they always are/were, and Cornell and Shelton bring a quirkiness to their respective sex appeal, the location sun-kissed and gorgeous, and the equine monster is unique and rather awesome… but seldom seen.
On the downside, while never boring, the film has a rather leaden pace at times, and as stated; the creature is woefully underused. Both of these keep this one from being the monsterpiece it could of been, but it’s a solid fright flick overall.
As for extras on this Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment Blu-ray release, the new audio commentary featuring director/co-writer Richard Jefferies is worth the price of admission as he takes us through the film’s production in a warts-and-all, ultra-detailed chat that is as entertaining to listen to as it is informative.
Also included are two trailers (one original, one new), and a new interview with producer/co-writer Nico Mastorakis… but I couldn’t get that to play for some reason, so it’ll be up to you lot to see how that chat goes for your own damn selves… as well as a reversible sleeve featuring new artwork by Graham Humphreys, and a collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author Mike Gingold.
So there you have it; BloodTide is sometimes slow, and suffers from a lack of monster action… but the cast, location, and narrative make it a solid dip in the ol’ horror biz!
