The King Tide

Grace miscarries during a storm. The next morning, her husband Bobby and community doctor Beau repair damage and rescue an infant girl from the sea. A wound Bobby received spontaneously heals while he holds the girl.

Ten years later, Grace and Bobby are raising the girl, named Isla. The community has isolated itself, relying on Isla's powers. Grace's mother Faye, who has recovered from dementia, oversees ritualized "visitations" under Isla's healing influence. Faye is also the community's schoolteacher, framing the community as a "chosen folk". "Many thanks to Isla" is a common valediction.

One day Isla and Beau's son Junior find a wasp nest. Isla becomes fascinated as wasps congregate on her. However, when the wasps attack Junior, she closes her eyes and clenches a fist, instantly killing the entire colony. She makes Junior promise to not tell anyone.

The men engage in bare-knuckle boxing. Champion Dillon beats Bobby, winning a wager for Isla to aid the fishermen. Isla and Bobby accompany Dillon and Frank purse seining from rowboats, and within minutes Isla attracts hundreds of fish. Meanwhile, children play a game of dares: Frank's son Philip ingests poison and runs to Isla's house, believing she will be there. Gravely ill, Philip is brought to the disused clinic where Beau pumps his stomach. Frank, Bobby and Isla are summoned, but Philip dies and Isla cannot revive him.

Isla's parents notice that her healing effect has stopped. As mayor, Bobby calls a meeting to alert the community and suspend visitations, stating that Isla needs rest, but Faye calls for a vote which overrules his decision. Faye extends her influence over the community by organizing a support group, despite experiencing periods of dementia.

Frank and Melissa want help from the mainland for their daughter, and Beau suggests the same for Isla. However, Bobby won't approve this, fearing that Isla would become experimented upon. Beau and Frank decide to escape on a boat Frank is secretly building. Beau brings Isla and Junior a wonder: a working television he had hidden. That night, Grace and Bobby find Isla heals wounds while sleeping. They argue about treating Faye, as Bobby feels Faye is endangering Isla, but Grace is compelled to help her mother escape a demented state.

Beau visits the support group and reminds them of life before Isla arrived, when they were immensely proud of their hard-won accomplishments. They grow nostalgic but become angry when Beau criticizes their dependence on Isla.

The community hasn't caught enough fish to feed themselves through the winter. Faye suggests using decade-old sleeping pills to drug Isla so that she can attract fish while asleep. Bobby is against this and considers leaving the island, but Grace convinces him to wait. Fishing at night, Bobby holds a drugged Isla while Faye and her followers chant "Many thanks to Isla" from the shore. The next day, while the community celebrate the catch, Bobby explains everything to Beau and confides that he needs to escape with his family. Beau reveals that Frank's family are leaving at sunset, offering his and Junior's places.

That evening Beau returns home to find Faye in his kitchen. Discussing their future, she flatly rejects that she will ever return to a demented state. Faye leaves Beau to die from poisoned whiskey. Bobby takes Isla to escape, but Frank and his family departed on seeing a fire blazing at the clinic. The community watch helplessly, Beau's body seen lying within the flames.

The next morning, coast guard officer Lucy arrives with social worker Emily to perform a welfare check on Isla. Emily is reassured until Isla informs her that people are supposed to say "Many thanks to Isla" when they leave. Emily decides to bring the family to the mainland for their safety.

The entire community gathers at the home, becoming unruly when Faye shouts that the family is being kidnapped. Dillon and Lucy aim firearms at each other. Bobby steps between them in an attempt to de-escalate but is shot while protecting Dillon, who fatally shoots Lucy. Faye denies Bobby help until he swears fealty, then prepares to drug Isla. In her room, Isla demands to be told what's happening but Faye and Grace try to force the drugs on her. Junior bursts in with a shotgun taken from the coast guard boat, demanding the truth and accusing Faye of killing Beau. Faye lunges at Junior, who shoots her. Isla screams, her eyes closed.

A few seconds later, Isla opens her fist. As she walks out of the house, it is shown that everyone has fallen dead. She slowly walks through the empty village and watches as multiple coast guard boats speed toward the dock.

The science fiction/fantasy film received $655,567 of funding from Telefilm Canada.^[3]

The film was directed by Christian Sparkes. It was written by Albert Shin and William Woods, based on a story by Ryan Grassby and Kevin Coughlin.^[2]

Portions filmed in Newfoundland and Labrador were shot in fall 2022.^[2]

The film was produced by Woods (for Woods Entertainment),^[4] Toronto's Resource Films and Newfoundland's Sara Fost Pictures.^[5]

The film premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on 11 September,^[1] as one of twelve entries in the Platform Prize program for films with "unique directorial perspectives".^[6] It was also selected for the 28th Busan International Film Festival in the World Cinema section and was screened on 7 October 2023.^[7]

It was awarded Best Feature and Best Editor (Justin Oakey) at the 2023 Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia.^[8]

The film had gala screenings in St. John's for National Canadian Film Day on 17 April 2024,^[9] ahead of a limited theatrical release on 26 April in Canada and the United States.^[10] The film was distributed in Canada by VVS Films and internationally by Altitude Films.^[6]