arfdawg-1
The Plot. On leave in a shore side town, Johnny becomes interested in a young dark haired woman. They meet and he learns that she plays a mermaid in the local carnival. After strange occurrences, Johnny begins to believe that she may actually be a real mermaid that habitually kills during the cycle of the full moon. First off, I've never been a big fan of Hopper. I think he's an overrated actor who is rather whinny. And I think this is one of his worst roles.Next, this is a very cheaply done movie. The subject matter is sort of interesting but it's directed like Carnival of Souls without the chutzpah.It's an OK period piece, documenting the change in the way movies would be made, but you are sure to get bored before the end comes. Because this is a Roger Corman production, I think it gets a lot more hype than it deserves.
MartinHafer
Aside from seeing an early starring role for Dennis Hopper, there isn't a whole lot to recommend this low budget film. The basic story idea of a dangerous woman who destroys men isn't bad, but the execution of the story is the problem. Again and again, the story is badly paced. In some cases, irrelevant scenes go on too long and deaden the pace. A good example is the dancing scene...you see it all. As a result, my attention wavered. Additionally, the cinematography is dark and fuzzy and the film just looks bad. And, while we know Hopper could act, here he just seemed lost--editing his performance to tighten things would have helped a lot.Only for the die-hard Hop-heads and the curious. otherwise, there are better low-budget public domain films out there.
preppy-3
A sailor on leave named Johnny Drake (a young Dennis Hopper) meets and falls in love with beautiful Mora (Linda Lawson). She also plays a mermaid in a side show...and thinks she's descended from a race of "fish people" and can never be with a human being. Johnny tries to prove that she's wrong...but is she? There's a lot wrong with this movie--Hopper (an excellent actor) is terrible in his role and there's some incredibly inappropriate music during it. But it's shot in moody black and white with excellent direction by Curtis Harrington and Lawson is great in a very difficult role. The movie has a dream-like quality to it. You're not sure if this is all happening or is just a fantasy of Johnnys. The dialogue and the images all have a dream-like quality to it. When I originally viewed this back in the 1990s it was a poor quality print on tape. That actually worked in its favor! It made the dream feeling more realistic (so to speak). TCM showed a beautiful letter-boxed print which (somewhat) detracts from that feeling...but it's still there. Also the last part of the film was far too dark to make out on tape but is crystal clear now. So this is a moody and definitely odd fantasy--not really a horror film like many believe. Far from perfect but worth a look. I give it a 7.
dbborroughs
Good little film that is probably about 15 minutes too long for what it is. the plot concerns a sailor on leave who meets a young woman who plays a mermaid in a sideshow attraction. The question arises is she really a mermaid and does she kill according to the lunar cycle.Moody film benefits from some great performances and a sure hand from director Curtis Harrington. Harrington spins out the tale in such away that you really believe what is happening on the screen. Certainly the belief is a screen belief, at the same time you don't doubt its internal logic. I don't think there was any point where I was trying to out think the film or saw any chink in the armor that allowed the film to come apart. If there is any flaw is that the film tries to keep its spell cast for too long. Somewhere about an hour in the film seems to become less special and less magical and you attention becomes diverted. Its still a really good film, just not a the great one of the first hour.Worth seeing
AD
