Curtis Harrington's debut feature reveals his debt to Val Lewton, a fabled film producer who favored the sensed over the seen. What is seen of Mora (Linda Dawson) is her scaly tail at a freaky sideshow in Santa Monica. What is sensed is the dark calling of the nearby sea. When Johnny Drake (Dennis Hopper in youthful perfection), a lone sailor on liberty, meets her, he falls hook, line, and sinker for her belief that she's a member of an ancient aquatic race of Sirens. This enchanted fish tale is a watery noir where mariner and mermaid meet in the murky depths of dream. Night Tide inhabits a sensual place of broken-down piers, boozy dives, and wharfside amusements seeping an eerie mythos. “The tide pulls at my heart,” says the unfathomable Mora. Desirous and determined, Drake follows her into the brine only to find he's in over his head. It's all catch with no release.