The late Curtis Harrington has directed a lot of genre titles ranging from "Queen of Blood" (1966) to the tv movie "Devil Dog: Hound of Hell" (1978) and a lot of tv show episodes in between. "Night Tide" (1961) stars Dennis Hopper as a likeable sailor who, while on shore leave, meets a girl in Santa Monica, who makes a living as a "living mermaid" in an amusement park attraction. It sounds okay, until the sailor discovers that his new girlfriend, Mora (Linda Lawson) is suspected of murdering her previous two boyfriends who were both drowned, and that Mora may in fact be a deadly, siren-like, creature of the sea.
Along the lines of "Cat People" this movie is a psychological thriller where much of the time the audience, and the sailor are wondering if the fantastic element of the story is true, or if it is merely some deep rooted psychological problem that may have terrible repurcussions of its own, or may merely be potentially thwarting a blossoming relationship. This movie has the look and feel of an "art house" movie of the period. The story does hold the viewers interest, and its a pleasure to see Dennis Hopper in a role so different from the wackos he'd end up being saddled with later in his career.
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