Coastal Horrors in my Heart 🐚🧜🏼♀️⚓️🌊✨
I love being by the water. Maybe it’s the swimmer in me but the ocean calms me. But also simultaneously, huge bodies of water, terrifies me. I have nightmares where I am in the middle of the ocean or in a massive pool 20+ feet deep. I’m sure there’s some deep seated reasoning behind this.
All this to say is that I didn’t even realize that coastal horror was even a genre but I get it now and I am hooked! It all started when I saw this tiktok of saks11thavenue giving their recommendations of coastal horror films to watch. It was this video where they introduced me to NIGHT TIDE amongst other films.
saks11thavenue shares their recommendations of coastal horror movies.
Now, starting with NIGHT TIDE, here are some coastal horror films and novels I’ve been consuming lately.
NIGHT TIDE 🧜🏼♀️
Starring Dennis Hooper in his first role, we follow a young sailor who is attracted to a mysterious mermaid performing at a carnival. Soon he suspects that the girl is actually a siren who draws men to their watery deaths during the full moon.
What a fun premise! I feel like I haven’t seen a film about a mermaid since THE LURE (2015) came out. I was pleasantly surprised by the surreal and noir-ish aspects of this film. What begins as a fun romantic meet-cute, soon dissolves into a murder mystery. It’s dreamy, haunting, and atmospheric.
““Because I feel the seawater in my veins. Because I listen to the roar of the sea and it speaks to me like a mother’s voice. The tide pulls at my heart. And the face of the moon fills my soul with a strange longing.” ”
Watch NIGHT TIDE on TUBI.
JAMAICA INN by Daphne du Maurier 🏴☠️
After reading Daphne du Maurier’s REBECCA earlier this year which was one of my favorite reads, I decided to dive further into her bibliography and read JAMAICA INN. She has such a way with words and the way she writes is so captivating and enthralling.
Set on the bleak Bodmin Moor in Cornwall around 1815, the story follows young Mary Yellan as she moves into a sinister coaching inn run by her brutal uncle and terrified aunt, uncovering a violent local ring of ship-wreckers.
““Dead men tell no tales, Mary.””
I must admit, I had high hopes after reading REBECCA but I soon came to find out that JAMAICA INN read quite sluggishly and the plot only picked up during the midpoint of the novel.
I saw that Hitchcock had adapted the film so I thought that maybe the film would be better and boy, was I in for a rude awakening. My logic was surely a film made by Hitchcock couldn’t be bad?! Like myself, Hitchcock was also obsessed with du Maurier’s work and had adapted several of her stories into film, JAMAICA INN (1939), REBECCA (1940) which won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, and THE BIRDS (1963).
JAMAICA INN was one of Hitchcock’s last UK production before he moved to the US and he expressed his disappointment in the film. It seems like there was internal conflict with the star Charles Laughton who was also the Co-Producer of the film which really explains a lot of why the film was not good.
First off, the film was completely restructured so the main character was Charles Laughton’s Sir Humphrey Pengallan character instead of Mary Yellan which I found so odd. Second, du Maurier created a gloomy and atmospheric feel within her story which was not present at all in the film. The film came off more campy than anything and the plot was very shallow. It was bad enough Hitchcock didn’t like the film but even worse, du Maurier was not pleased and had considered withholding the rights to REBECCA.
I’m glad du Maurier re-considered and let Hitchcock adapt REBECCA because he really redeemed himself by making a truly beautiful and faithful adaptation that both critics and fans adore.
Watch JAMAICA INN on TUBI.
Now that I know that the coastal horror genre exists, it’s one I will continue to fawn over. The most immediate films that come to mind is THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019), THE WICKER MAN (1973), and one of my childhood favorites, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997).
And of course, I will continue to devour more of du Maurier’s novels which are primarily set on the coastlines, inspired by her upbringing of growing up in Cornwall, England.
Which coastal horror films and novels are your favorite?