Blood Tide Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Blood Tide Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 7, 2020

Home theater fans of cult horror films may recall a 2001 effort called Dagon, an arguably lesser known outing that may have gotten at least a bit more attention when Lionsgate Films’ Vestron Video imprint released a Blu-ray version a couple of years ago in 2018. For those who have seen Dagon courtesy of that relatively recent Blu-ray release, there may be just the slightest whiff of deja vu during Blood Tide, since both films share certain similarities, including two strangers arriving at a mysterious island which initially seems deserted but which ends up having some less than friendly natives. Also featured prominently in both films is the threat of some underwater (and possibly supernatural) nemesis lurking just offshore, ready to do the unwary (and maybe even the wary) in. If Dagon had the perceived imprimatur of H.P. Lovecraft (the film was very loosely adapted from a couple of Lovecraft tales), Blood Tide has by far the more memorable cast, including what must qualify as one of the strangest aggregations of “strange bedfellows” stars, with two venerable winners of the Academy Award, José Ferrer and Lila Kedrova, paired with an Oscar nominee with his own impeccable acting pedigree, James Earl Jones. Also on hand are perhaps somewhat less legendary actors who nonetheless have attained a certain degree of renown, including Martin Kove from The Karate Kid , Marie Louise Weller from National Lampoon's Animal House and Deborah Shelton from Dallas.

Blood Tide pretty much lets the cat (and/or underwater monster) out of the bag from the get go with an opening narrated sequence which gets into atavistic “religious” practices which included the sacrificing of virgins in order to placate angry divinities. That of course alerts viewers to the fact that two adventurers, Neil (Martin Kove) and Sherry (Mary Louise Weller), are in for more than they’re bargaining for when they arrive at a gorgeous Greek island. They’re ostensibly in search for Neil’s missing sister Madeline (Deborah Shelton), and about the only “mystery” for some viewers will be wondering if Madeline has already been a “virgin sacrifice”, or is about to be.

Suffice it to say that for a supposedly isolated Greek island, there’s a lot going on featuring any number of characters. These include a nun named Sister Anna (Lila Kedrova) who runs an ostensibly Christian religious order, and the island’s mayor, Nereus (José Ferrer), who, along with Sister Anna and most of the other natives, seems to be hiding something from Neil and Sherry, beyond the location of Madeline, that is. Also entering the fray is an explorer named Frye (James Earl Jones), who is on the hunt for underwater riches he insists can be found on the ocean floor surrounding the island. Frye’s dotty girlfriend Barbara (Lydia Cornell) is on hand to provide a different kind of “scenery” than the spectacular vistas of the island, though instead of wearing a skimpy bathing suit, she might have more appropriately been clad in a “red shirt”, since she’s kind of obviously going to be grist for the monster mill at some point.

Madeline in fact turns up pretty early in the enterprise, thereby taking any suspense out of that particular plot element, but there are whole reams of character context and backstory that simply didn't make it into the finished screenplay. Madeline is first seen with Frye, in fact, though there's no real connection between them, and later she's shown restoring an ancient icon in the monastery run by Sister Anna, another element that is woefully underdeveloped. But the biggest issue here, aside from a general lack of tension, is the film's reliance on a monster that, when very briefly revealed a couple of times, is probably as prone to provoke laughter as fear (there's a screenshot in position 19 for those who may be curious). What's really funny about the monster is that while it's intimated and even shown that the beast likes to munch on folks, when Madeline finally gets to an underlayment of what appeared to be a Christian icon which reveals the monster in all its glory, let's just say that the implication is that it's another part of the creature other than its teeth which may be the "problem".

Blood Tide is filled with gorgeous scenery (it's pretty easy to imagine Ferrer, Kedrova and Jones signing up for this low rent adventure simply to have a paid vacation of sorts), but, kind of like Barbara, is largely brain dead. The film has occasional moody passages, and at least a couple of jump scares (including the old standby of a cat, though in this case it's thrown by island children), but it never builds to any substantial amount of terror.

Blood Tide Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blood Tide is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet has the following information on the restoration:

Blood Tide has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at R3Store Studios. Color grading and restoration was completed in 2K resolution at Silver Salt Restoration, London.

The original mono mix was remastered from the optical negative reels.

This is another cult item that has received some rather gorgeous treatment from Arrow and its assorted teams. There are a few rough patches here, notably the optically printed credits sequence, some day for night moments, and just a couple of the underwater or cave scenes, but on the whole this is a really lustrous looking presentation that offers a beautifully suffused palette and really nice detail levels. Fine detail is often commendably noticeable even in some midrange shots, where, for example, the cobblestones and ancient stonework of the island look virtually palpable. Some of the aforementioned day for night sequences looked just a tad blue/purple to my eyes, but otherwise everything appears natural and on the whole very warm. Grain resolves very nicely throughout the presentation, albeit with some pretty apparent spikes in the darkest material.

Blood Tide Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Blood Tide features and LPCM Mono track that capably supports the synth laden score of Jerry Mosely, as well as the dialogue. Some of the islanders speak Greek, and there are two sets of optional subtitles on the disc, one which translates only the Greek, and another that provides subs for all of the dialogue, no matter which language it's in. The outdoor material features some nice sounding ambient environmental effects, and some of the underwater sequences also feature good effects work. I noticed no issues whatsoever with regard to damage, distortion or dropouts.

Blood Tide Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Swept by the Tide (1080p; 28:58) is a really fun newly done interview with Blood Tide's producer and co-writer Nico Mastorakis, conducted by Ari Gerontakis.


• Original Trailer (1080p; 2:19)


• 2020 Trailer (1080p; 1:50)


• Audio Commentary with Director and Co-writer Richard Jeffries is moderated by Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Productions, and features a number of fun anecdotes as well as some background information of Jeffries.

Arrow's typically nicely appointed insert booklet contains stills, cast and crew information, technical data, and an enjoyable essay by Michael Gingold.

Blood Tide Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Blood Tide has a decent enough, if kind of derivative, premise, but it never seems to know exactly what to do with it. Perhaps if the screenplay had tried to better tie together pagan worship with the nascent Christianity that evidently eventually came to the island, some of the elisions that viewers simply need to accept could have been better filled in. It is fun to see James Earl Jones just chewing the scenery in an over the top performance, and it's also kind of fun to see Kove as the hero for a change. One way or the other, there's lots of stunning scenery of different kinds. Arrow has provided another release of a cult item with really strong technical merits and some appealing supplements, for those who are considering a purchase.