Young Terry Lambert returns home from serving a prison term for a gang-rape he was forced to participate in. He seeks revenge on his lawyer and the girl who framed him. But his real problem is his overbearing mother, whose boarding house he resides in and who keeps bringing him glasses of chocolate milk. One of her boarders, Lori, becomes attracted to him. However, while he was serving his prison sentence, Terry developed an interest in rough, violent sex, and gory death. Now, one by one, some of the town’s women pop up dead.

Writer/director Curtis Harrington does an admirable job working around the severe budget limitations of the 1961 psychological chiller Night Tide. Sailor Johnny (Dennis Hopper) falls in love with carnival-girl Mora (Linda Lawson), despite warnings that Mora is a “jinx” who has brought about the deaths of two previous suitors. Mora performs a mermaid act at the carnival, but to her it’s no act: she believes herself the descendant of an underwater race that must kill by the light of the full moon to survive. One evening, Mora tries to kill Johnny, prompting his quick exit. He returns some time later to discover, all too late, that the film’s real villain is the jealous carney owner (Gavin Muir).