A young Dennis Hopper plays Johnny, a sailor on shore leave.  Johnny roams
the amusements on Venice Beach in search of companionship.  He enters a
beatnik bar and sets his eyes on a dark haired girl, enjoying the music.  He
approaches and introduces himself, but she acts weirdly, and leaves hastily.
Johnny follows her home (she lives above a Merry-Go-Round!) and learns her
name - Mora.  Johnny and Mora meet up the next day and begin building a
friendship and a love for each other.  Mora is a "mermaid" in the local
amusement - Patrons pay 25 cents to see the only living mermaid in
captivity!  While this seems cute at first, it becomes very eerie as Johnny
learns more of Mora.  She has a secret, and others offer him clues, but he
can't put them all together.  Is she really a mermaid?  Is she a murderer?
Is she just a tease?  Is she a giant rubber octopus?   Can the old English
sea captain or the Tarot reading Fortune Teller tell him the truth?  Will
Mora lead him to his death?

A decent flick, but nothing great.  It's very slow at parts... one that
sticks in my head is an overly long interpretive dance that Mora does to
bongo music on the beach.  yawn.  It does pick up towards the end as we,
along with Johnny, are mystified and yearning for the truth.  Hopper gives a
solid performance, although the other actors aren't anything great.  The
"effects" are horrible and few.  There is some interesting imagery, and some
good cinematography, but it's not consistant.  There are scenes where I
couldn't tell what was going on.  I was confused by a very important
underwater scene at the end... only to have it explained later.  So, in
conclusion, I wouldn't really recommend this movie, but it's really not bad.
 
 
 
 

Quality: 3.5  Visuals: 2.5  Intensity: 3.5 
OVERALL RATING: 3.2