‘Low Tide’ by Alumnus Kevin McMullin ’14 Now Playing

By
Gina Hackett
November 14, 2019

Low Tide, written & directed by Kevin McMullin ’14, is now playing in select theaters and available to stream online.

The film, a micro-budget feature distributed by A24, is a coming-of-age thriller about the power struggle that ensues when latchkey kids Alan and his brother Peter happen upon a bag of gold coins, seeding greed and distrust amongst the boys and their friends.

Low Tide premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and stars Keean Johnson (Nashville), Jaeden Martell (ItMidnight Special), and Daniel Zolgahdri (Eighth Grade). Shortly after the film’s Tribeca premiere, McMullin spoke with Filmmaker Magazine about Low Tide.

“Our main challenges occurred during production in the form of locations and physical elements,” McMullin said. “We were trying to make an extremely low budget adventure film in a seasonal shore town during peak tourist season...But adversity tends to bring people closer together, and we had an amazing cast and crew that kept pushing to make every shot better.”

Variety likened the film to Stand by MeThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Stephen King’s work. 

Low Tide captures as only someone who has lived it can the restless ennui of muggy summer nights in a dead-end East Coast community—a sense of cooped-up boredom that can easily lead to trouble,” wrote Peter Debruge of Variety

Boys searching a dark space with a flashlight

Brian Tallerico of Rogerebert.com wrote that the film “feels like a slow-motion car crash” and is “a confident debut that seems like a film we’ll be looking back at [sic] in just a few years as an early work of at least one major acting talent.”

Originally from New Jersey, where Low Tide is set, McMullin first conceived the film as a proof of concept teaser. Prior to Low Tide, he wrote & directed short film First Prize, which tells the story of a young boy who finds a dinosaur in the woods but finds that no one believes him. 

McMullin also founded Boy And Star Productions, a commercial production company. McMullin has directed national television commercials for Crest, Band-Aid, as well as PediaSure and digital spots for Reese's Puffs Cereal, HP, Neutrogena, and Listerine.

Low Tide is available to stream on Amazon Prime and YouTube, in addition to select theaters.