by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden
In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s The Red Tide Massacre from directors John A. Russo, Gavin Peretti, Joseph M. Setele and Hurricane Film Partners.
Synopsis
A female TV reporter investigating the red tide environmental disaster in Southwest Florida becomes the target of an unknown monster.
The Good
Joseph: As a youngster, I would have loved a low-budget version of a cross between Slithis and The Incredible Melting Man, two movies I dug back then. Decades later, it has arrived in the form of The Red Tide Massacre — and I do indeed love it! This low-budget effort is earnest in its approach, and though it may not hit all of the marks for which it aimed, it’s ultimately a fun, highly entertaining watch that also attempts to deliver an environmental message. Director John A. Russo takes a game cast — led by Susan Elle as a television news reporter trying to break into the Florida market, Michael Paré as the small town’s beloved sheriff, Sam Schweikert as his son who is reluctant to follow his father’s footsteps as a peace officer, and Rich Sands as an escaped convict who falls into the wrong body of water at the wrong time, with nice work from the film’s sizable number of supporting players — and does solid helming with the screenplay from Palmer Edward and Joe Majestic.
Mike: There’s clearly a lot of heart that went into The Red Tide Massacre and taking the low-budget aspect away from the equation leaves you with a film that is fairly entertaining. The story is mostly engaging and the characters are all likable enough making it easy to find yourself rooting for the bad guy-turned-monster to get taken down.
In its own way it also has something to say about pollution and global warming without making it an in-your-face aspect of the story. Not to dismiss this very serious issue, but sometimes you just want to see a dude in a monster mask terrorize some folks, and The Red Tide Massacre does just that.
The Bad
Joseph: Mike suggested that I include some of my texts to him that I sent while watching The Red Tide Massacre. A few examples are “You can’t imagine how much I love this movie! They just now shoehorned in Bigfoot research!” “And everyone has a name — even the cameo victims! Plus the shot blocking!” “Ha ha, the annual wings-eating contest lasted less than a minute! Why was this even in the movie?!?” “Oh, man, this movie just went from ridiculous to ludicrous.” I meant this last remark in the most complimentary way. To give away why I said it would be a spoiler, so suffice it to say here that it involves a suddenly introduced plot point involving the villain and a protagonist newly arrived in town. I’m sure viewers will understand what I mean once they watch the movie. So it is obvious that The Red Tide Massacre has its flaws, but to me, they are lovable ones. They certainly won’t be for everyone, though. The budgetary limitations show, including a newsroom staff sharing one telephone and the look of the final monster head, but again, if I look at what the director, cast, and crew were striving for, I can overlook this as I enjoyed the final result. One other quibble: For all of the fun practical effects work that went into this one — some of it rather gory — the use of CGI blood a couple of times seemed really out of place.
Mike: There are some things that can be forgiven when it comes to something with a low budget, but there are others that are basic enough that they can’t be overlooked and storytelling is the most important one. The Red Tide Massacre, despite its best intentions and earnest exterior, makes a few bad mistakes in this department.
The sheriff makes a deal out of his son needing to “watch out” for the female scientist who’s looking to catch herself a man. This little subplot plays out for a while and COULD have played an important part of the overall story — had it not been totally disregarded.
The characters constantly refer to their “little town”, yet it’s quite obvious that a large metropolitan area is a few hundred yards away across a body of water. A little creativity on some of these, and other exterior shots, could have truly made this look like a small town. Would a small town have their own TV station based out of a large building? And the offices for said television station looked like the kind of offices that can be rented out on a daily basis for freelance workers. A little more time spent on finding more suitable locations would have added a lot more realism to the story, making it a better film.
The Verdict
Joseph: As you might guess from my “The Bad” comments, I can forgive a movie that has shortcomings if the heart behind it is in the right place, and for me, The Red Tide Massacre is one such motion picture. It reminded me of what I loved when going to watch B-movies at the drive-in back in the day, and why I am a lifelong monster kid. I recommend this one for creature feature buffs.
Mike: Clearly the bulk of the budget for The Red Tide Massacre went towards paying for Michael Paré, but if you look past this you’ll find an entertaining monster flick that has its heart on its sleeve. Is it the most original horror movie you’ll ever see? Most certainly not, and there are some basic flaws that could have been corrected or improved upon that might have made it a better movie, but if you take it at face value, it’s not the worst way to spend ninety minutes.
If you’re a fan of low budget and regional horror flicks, I’d say grab a couple of your favorite beach beverages and settle down and check out The Red Tide Massacre, or as it could also be called, "Michael Paré Makes a Mortgage Payment".
The Red Tide Massacre
Directed By: John A. Russo, Gavin Peretti, Joseph M. Setele
Written By: Palmer Edward, Joe Majestic
Starring: Michael Paré, Susan Elle, Sam Schweikert
Run Time: 1h 28m
Rating: NR
Release Date: September 10, 2022 (United States)