Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68328 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-12-28
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

CLASSIC MERMAID MOVIE!!!
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!
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....
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.