Blood Tide (1982)

Director: Richard Jefferies

Notable Cast: James Earl Jones, Martin Kove, Mary Louise Weller, Deborah Shelton, Lydia Cornell, Jose Ferrer, Lila Kedrova

Between the cast, the writers, and a ‘creative consultant’ credit to Brian Trenchard Smith, I was positively excited for Blood Tide to get its new Blu Ray release from Arrow Video. Could this be another long-lost forgotten cult gem that was discovered while dragging the waters? On paper, absolutely. It reads like a sure-fire hit with its combination of Greek island cult elements, an ancient monster, and the horror meets adventure narrative. However, Blood Tide is a film that oddly evades ever dedicating itself to any of those pieces. Instead, it leans heavily into the convoluted dramatic tension of its characters and takes itself wildly seriously as it loosely ties together its genre elements. At the core, there is a great film, but the results of this 1982 aquatic thriller is far from there and the film ends up being more of a slog than the film it looks like on paper.

When Neil (Kove) and his wife (Weller) end up on a Greek island looking for his sister (Shelton), they stumble onto an archeologist (Jones) who is trying to uncover an ancient mystery. When he accidentally unleashes a water monster that is hunting the local women, they must all band together to figure out what the creature is and how to stop it.

Hired to Kill (1990)

Director: Nico Mastorakis

Notable Cast: Brian Thompson, Oliver Reed, George Kennedy, Jose Ferrer, Michelle Moffett, Barbara Lee Alexander, Jordana Capra, Kendall Conrad, Kim Lonsdale, Jude Mussetter, Penelope Reed, David Sawyer, Angela Gerekou

“Murder, blood and paranoia are gonna make fine company where you’re going. ‘Cause ladies, you’re going to hell.”

As the credits rolled on Hired to Kill, I had an understanding of why Arrow Video might want to do a slick new Blu Ray release of this film. It’s bad. It’s really bad. Notoriously speaking, bad films have a fairly robust cult following and partnering that with such an odd ball cast and cult director Nico Mastorakis, it only makes this film ripe for cult film picking. However, even as a vulgar cinema auteur myself, it was hard for me to ignore just how bad it was and accept it for its entertainment value as a bad film. Particularly because Hired to Kill fails at having the two things needed to be a truly iconic B-movie: charm and style. The release itself is pristine, Arrow Video went balls out in its restoration and the behind the scenes material is remarkably fun, but the film itself is going to be horrendously hit or miss for action fans. Hired to Kill is the epitome of a love it or hate it kind of B-movie.

Zero Boys, The (1986)

Director: Nico Mastorakis

Notable Cast: Daniel Hirsch, Kelli Maroney, Nicole Rio, Tom Shell, Jared Moses, Crystal Carson, Joe Phelan

For some odd reason, I seem to be the black sheep when it comes to disliking Nico Mastorakis’ Island of Death. Truthfully, I can’t stand the film and think it’s one of the most overrated exploitation films in existence. Don’t believe me? You can read my review for it over HERE. Because of my general hatred for that film, I have never delved into the director’s other work even when they came with friendly recommendations like The Zero Boys. With the latest Arrow Video release of The Zero Boys though, I found myself willing to try and set aside my bias based on the previously mentioned horror flick and go into it with a clean mind set. While The Zero Boys is hardly a perfect film, it is a massive step up in quality for the director and one that earns some praise for some well shot and executed moments. As a whole the film is horrendously hit or miss, but when it’s good, it’s great and cult cinema fans are going to find a buried treasure of strange with this film.