Impressive directorial bow for Harrington, in which he remakes _Cat People_. Harrington's fascination for nuance and detail and strong work from Hopper, Lawson, and Anders make this haunting little movie one of the most fascinating low-budget chillers of the 1960s. Look fast for Bruno Ve Sota.

Hopper in another off the wall character study. Interesting and different little love story, sometimes advertised as horror, which it is not.

Cheaply made and very derivative romantic fantasy which seemed to hold a promise never fulfilled.

A little cheesy, but effective.

A low-budget drama with plenty of innovative touches.

Some nice interplay between reality and fantasy. Dennis Hopper is cool.

Good photography and occasional flashes of directorial vision put this movie well above countless other uninspired horror films of the era, although it's not stylish or intriguing enough to go up against classics of the genre like Carnival of Souls. I loved seeing Dennis Hopper play an ineffective passive-aggressive wimp (are we sure this guy's a real Navy man?), so refreshingly different from what he does nowadays.

Strange, gently poetic horror film that features a fine early Dennis Hopper performance (as a wholesome, innocent young man?!?) and Linda Lawson as an exotic young lady who may or may not be a mermaid. The California beach atmosphere and the carnival attractions on the amusement pier are very well done.

Obviously inspired by the Val Lewton-produced classic _Cat People_, Harrington's moody seaside chiller emerges as a sort of _Cat*fish* People_. Like its model, this is less an all-out horror film than a supremely eerie mood piece, heightened by B&W cinematography that captures the otherworldly aura of Santa Monica and Venice, California's seedy piers and amusement parlors. A West Coast cousin to _Carnival of Souls_, this movie rates as an essential addition to any genre-film library.

A nicely atmospheric piece of work that I find compelling yet comforting. I'm a sucker for sideshow stuff so I had no trouble getting into this. Harrington never made a film better than this, and although I have an odd affection for his films, this is probably the only one that's essential.