MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Contentar
Best movie of this year hands down!
the fox
Great b-movie with a good cast and typical jaws scenario.
i saw it years ago on uk sat tv and stubbled about it on a cable channel this evening.
if you like the classic killerfish story, then watch this - also, or because the monster is not in the water!
the mood in this movie is, as you know it from A movies water & beach flicks.
recommend it to everyone who, like myself enjoys such films.
Chase_Witherspoon
Routinely panned though it might be, "Blood Beach" isn't a bad little thriller at all. Something of a hybrid of "Day of the Triffids" meets "Jaws", Huffman plays the lifeguard of a popular beach-front community where strange disappearances have the locals worried. The mother (Medin) of his estranged wife (Hill, in one of her last movies to date) embarks on a regular morning walk along the beach, never to return. Pretty soon, his girlfriend (Pousette) and other random victims have disappeared. With each disappearance, the plot thickens and without a suspect or motive, nonchalant detectives (Burt Young and Otis Young, no relation) continue to run into investigative cul-de-sacs. Does the strange bag lady residing at the disused amusement park know the identity and whereabouts of the killer? Huffman seems to be the only one capable of locating the clues to this baffling mystery.Tense, humorous and well paced little suspense thriller includes a strong cast of veterans and some sharp, witty dialogue. Burt Young's character is a great detective parody and Saxon, who appears toward the latter part of the film, plays a character not unlike that in "Black Christmas". High body count and a genuinely unsettling mood builds hysteria and the suspense is palpable when the police cordon off a section of beach-front with assistance from biological scientist (Gierasch) who believes he's detected a foreign presence. The climax that ensues is a cracker and the post script that runs into the end credits is both fitting, yet unexpected.Short, sharp with a great cast and some genuine thrills, and, chronically underrated.
Seb
Blood Beach is a cheap movie with quite an original monster. This monster lives under the beach and sucks people into the sand which is quite scary, unfortunately there's very little monster action. You won't see much of the monster at all in fact, much less than for instance the boom mike or people sharing a candlelit meal which trust me you'll see plenty of.This isn't really horror, it's a romance with a couple of early deaths to keep your hopes up. There's also a drunk looking detective who spouts meaningless lines, often about Chicago and some totally random and not terribly good singing thrown in. My favourite character was the vet/doctor/coroner who puffs away on his unlit pipe and robs his lines of any meaning whatsoever with his glacier slow delivery.I wish this had been a movie about a sand monster as billed, that would have been quite fun but this film is just too slow and lacking in thrills to really be entertaining. It did leave me with one question though - is it wrong to date another woman the day after your girlfriend is eaten by a sand monster? Sure your friends will never mention her again and you'll show no signs of remembering her and your new romantic interest won't care but still..I think I'd leave it another day but maybe I'm just an old romantic.
The_Void
Believe it or not, Blood Beach actually surpassed my expectations. Of course, I didn't go into the film expecting a masterpiece; but I decided if it was half as fun as the other beach related John Saxon film that I've seen (Umberto's Lenzi's Nightmare Beach), then I'd be happy. Despite being a schlocky eighties mess of a movie, Blood Beach is a lot of fun to watch and the idea of monsters living underneath the sand of a local tourist beach is fairly original. The film takes more than its fair share of influence from the classic film Jaws, and I was actually surprised that it wasn't produced in Italy - given how adept the Italians are at making Jaws rip-offs. As mentioned, the plot focuses on a tourist beach, except this time the danger isn't in the water but in the sand. After several people disappear into the sand, it is up to the local law enforcement to keep people off the beach. There's also a rather superfluous sub-plot about a couple of long-lost lovers bumping into each other and rekindling their relationship...but you've got to expect a bit of filler with a plot this thin! The film's main asset is undoubtedly the fact that it features a performance from prolific cult actor John Saxon. Unfortunately, Saxon isn't the star of the show, but he makes his presence felt in every scene he's in. The main roles go to David Huffman and Marianna Hill, and while neither impresses; their performances at least fit with the film. The main reason why this film fails as a 'good' horror film is down to the plotting - it's never really all that interesting, and it seems obvious that writer-director Jeffrey Bloom knows this as he continually throws in yet another sand death scene every time things are getting boring. Unlike a lot of eighties horror; this one is practically bloodless, and while I'm not a big fan of that fan of that fact; I have to respect the film somewhat for not throwing in a bucket of gore, which wouldn't have fit with the tone and theme of the movie. The ending doesn't really resolve much, and while the conclusion is typical of this sort of film; it does at least work fairly well. Overall, Blood Beach is hardly a must see film - but it's certainly worth seeing if you manage to get your hands on a copy.
