At a southern California beach, Harbor Patrol officer Harry Caulder (David Huffman) witnesses the disappearance of Ruth Hutton (Harriet Medin), a friend and mother of a woman he loved Catherine Hutton (Marianna Hill) who returns once she hears the news. As Sgt. Royko (Burt Youngyko) and Lt. Piantadosi "Piano" (Otis Young) investigate Ruth's disappearance as well as several others on the same stretch of beach, it becomes clear something unheard of is behind these disappearances.
Blood Beach is a 1981 horror film directed and written by Jeffrey Bloom. Made in 1979 and based off an idea of Bloom's and producer Steven Nalevansky, Blood Beach was one of a number of independent horror releases that tried to ape the success of Jaws often prioritizing quickness and cheapness over quality. While critical reception was negative (as expected), the film was a decent financial success earning an estimated $6.5 million over its theatrical run. With a movie like this you don't expect anything too ambitious, just something schlocky with some exploitative elements. Unfortunately Blood Beach commits the greatest sin a movie like this can, being boring.
While actors such as John Saxon, Burt Young, and Otis Young bring some life and punch to their mostly underwritten roles (making them the best parts of the movie), the actual leads of David Huffman and Marianna Hill as Harry and Catherine respectively are so bland and so uninteresting that they serve only as a lead weight on the film making an already tedious slog even more so. But even if we're to forgive the characterization and remember this is a movie about a monster in beach sands, the actual creature feature stuff isn't that great either. Aside from a scene where a would be rapist gets his appendage eaten by the creature or the design of the creature itself, most of the kills in this movie are completely off camera with mostly scenes of people slowly sinking into the sand. For a movie called "Blood Beach" it's got a surprising lack of blood and I think Jaws despite being PG was bloodier.
Blood Beach is just a waste of time. It's not scary, not interesting, and not exploitative enough to provide much entertainment value even of the riffing kind. If you want to see a Jaws cash-in that's actually fun, stick with either Alligator or Piranha from around the same time.
Blood Beach is a 1981 horror film directed and written by Jeffrey Bloom. Made in 1979 and based off an idea of Bloom's and producer Steven Nalevansky, Blood Beach was one of a number of independent horror releases that tried to ape the success of Jaws often prioritizing quickness and cheapness over quality. While critical reception was negative (as expected), the film was a decent financial success earning an estimated $6.5 million over its theatrical run. With a movie like this you don't expect anything too ambitious, just something schlocky with some exploitative elements. Unfortunately Blood Beach commits the greatest sin a movie like this can, being boring.
While actors such as John Saxon, Burt Young, and Otis Young bring some life and punch to their mostly underwritten roles (making them the best parts of the movie), the actual leads of David Huffman and Marianna Hill as Harry and Catherine respectively are so bland and so uninteresting that they serve only as a lead weight on the film making an already tedious slog even more so. But even if we're to forgive the characterization and remember this is a movie about a monster in beach sands, the actual creature feature stuff isn't that great either. Aside from a scene where a would be rapist gets his appendage eaten by the creature or the design of the creature itself, most of the kills in this movie are completely off camera with mostly scenes of people slowly sinking into the sand. For a movie called "Blood Beach" it's got a surprising lack of blood and I think Jaws despite being PG was bloodier.
Blood Beach is just a waste of time. It's not scary, not interesting, and not exploitative enough to provide much entertainment value even of the riffing kind. If you want to see a Jaws cash-in that's actually fun, stick with either Alligator or Piranha from around the same time.