Geoff Arbuckle

Can’t Stop the Music (1980)

Published on May 15, 2026May 9, 2026 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Do the milkshake, the milkshake, my Enemaniacs.

Guys… I… I’m not sure how to even start this review. Welcome back to B-Movie Enema and yet another review on this web zone. Boy oh boy do we have a doozy for you this week. 1980’s Can’t Stop the Music isn’t just a box office bomb. It isn’t just a critical disaster (to the exception of one movie reviewer’s very odd opinion), It isn’t just a movie about the disco group Village People, a group that, themselves, are kind of a massive dose of campy pop culture jokes. It also helped pave the way for a Hollywood tradition that is very hit and miss with me.

The movie was kind of meant to be about the formation and near-overnight success of Village People. Village People were formed in 1977 by Jacques Morali (played by Steve Guttenberg in his film debut) and his business partner, Henri Belolo. They were hitmakers in Europe and came over to New York City to break into the American music market. The first member to join the band was Victor Willis, who was the cop character in the group. Willis wrote most of their hits and was the lead singer of the group. He was the only performer on the first Village People album. To find other stage performers to mostly dance on stage to Willis singing, Willis first handpicked Alex Briley who portrayed the G.I. of the group and remained with the group for 40 years, and Morali chose Felipe Rose, who wore the Indian costume during performances. Rose was found in a local gay BDSM club with a name that is every bit as gay as it is awesome – The Anvil.

When the record proved to be a major hit, the rest of the band was formed by way of putting out an ad in a theatre trade paper. Glenn Hughes was added as the leatherman. Randy Jones saddled up as the cowboy. David Hodo built his entertainment foundation as the construction worker character. 1977’s Village People and 1978’s Macho Man were okay sellers, but later in 1978, Cruisin’ proved to be a MASSIVE hit, and it was followed by another hit album, 1979’s Go West.

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Killdozer (1974)

Published on May 8, 2026May 14, 2026 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

A new review at B-Movie Enema is KILLDOZING ITS WAY INTO YOUR COMPUTERS!

Hell yeah, brother! It’s time for this oddball made-for-television flick from 1974. Look out! It’s Killdozer! Killdozer was first released as a 1944 novella by Theodore Sturgeon. Sturgeon wrote a ton of reviews (somewhere around 400, which means I have written more, so take that, Mr. Killdozer), along with a bunch of short stories, and about 11 novels. He even ghost-wrote an Ellery Queen mystery novel. Ellery Queen was someone my oldest brother would read when I was a kid.

Sturgeon also wrote a couple of very popular Star Trek episodes in the 60s. The first was “Shore Leave” which featured members of an away team seeing a bunch of crazy visions like characters from Alice in Wonderland and damsels in distress. The second was a VERY popular one, “Amok Time.” This introduced the Vulcan mating ritual, pon farr, and the first time the phrase “Live long and prosper” was uttered. It was also the first episode to feature the Vulcan hand salute. Some other scripts he wrote that went unproduced introduced the concept of the Prime Directive, the doctrine that Starfleet and the Federation operated by when visiting new worlds.

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Moment by Moment (1978)

Published on May 1, 2026May 7, 2026 by Geoff Arbuckle1 Comment

Welcome to the most sexually charged review of B-Movie Enema ever.

This week, I’m going to review 1978’s Moment by Moment from director Jane Wagner. We’ll talk about Wagner momentarily, as she is the writer, collaborator, and wife of one of the stars from this infamous movie. But when it comes to Moment by Moment, there are two guys we need to focus on first. That would be the leading man of the movie, John Travolta, and producer Robert Stigwood.

Travolta’s rise to superstardom was already well on the way in 1978. Sure, he was already famous for the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. In 1976, he had a strong supporting role in the Brian De Palma horror masterpiece Carrie. But it was his leap to taking lead roles in 1977 that really made him a household name and one of the great movie stars for a few years to come.

And it was Robert Stigwood who launched that superstardom.

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Mata Hari (1985)

Published on April 24, 2026April 30, 2026 by Geoff Arbuckle3 Comments

Alright, everybody, if you’ll take your seat, your B-Movie Enema historical lesson can begin.

Today, I’m reviewing 1985’s Mata Hari from our good friends at Cannon Films. This was during a time in which Cannon was raking in money from the Chuck Norris action flicks, but also was luring a lot of directors with a great deal of artistic talent. A lot of people think it was those Norris action exploitation films, or the authoritarian, at least semi-right-wing coded crime thrillers that Charles Bronson was making, that brought Cannon low. No, what led to Cannon’s demise was a combination of overpaying Sylvester Stallone for two films that didn’t really do the gangbusters that the company expected, and the big time swings for the fences that were utterly destroyed by critics. These were your Brooke Shields vehicle, Sahara, The Wicked Lady with Faye Dunaway, Bolero from John and Bo Derek, Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce, and Mata Hari. There were others, but these were the large productions that had massive scale and looked beautiful, but ultimately were not much more than sex and exploitation films that were just never going to sell to mainstream audiences the way Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus expected. I’m probably not really describing all these films in the best, most detailed or nuanced light, but that’s what more or less happened.

With Mata Hari, they did have a very capable director, though, brought in to tell a war epic. Curtis Harrington was no hack job. Harrington was an experimental filmmaker in the 50s and 60s, but his career actually began as a film critic. In the mid 60s, Roger Corman brought Harrington to make Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and Queen of Blood. He also made Whoever Slew Anutie Roo. He also worked on well-known TV movies like How Awful About Allan and Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell. Most importantly, though, Harrington, himself a gay man, was instrumental in two things related to James Whale (most famous for Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein). He was instrumental in rediscovering and recovering Whale’s thought-to-be-lost film The Old Dark House. He also served as an advisor on Bill Condon’s Gods and Monsters about Whale in his later years.

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Fright (1971)

Published on April 17, 2026April 23, 2026 by Geoff Arbuckle4 Comments

Welcome to another FRIGHTening review here at B-Movie Enema!

Quick! What was the first slasher film? The one that created the subgenre that would dominate the horror section of 80s video stores and late night cable TV? I bet you’re thinking Halloween. Or maybe you muttered to yourself, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” If you really wanted to flex some horror muscle or just simply sound like a smarty pants, you might have mentioned Black Christmas. Hell, I think I just heard someone shout Hitchcock’s Psycho.

I don’t know if there is any one real answer, but I want to enter 1971’s Fright into the conversation.

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Golden Needles (1974)

Published on April 10, 2026April 16, 2026 by Geoff Arbuckle1 Comment

This week’s B-Movie Enema is on the hunt for a legendary statue with needles, which, when stuck into an adult male in a very particular pattern, will turn that guy into a sexual Tyrannosaurus.

And it’s Joe Don Baker who is one of the men after it!

Yes, you read that right… Joe Don Baker is after the seven Golden Needles that will turn him into a sex machine (well, maybe not so much, but still…). If it wasn’t for a very specific appreciation for Baker, I might just have to barf. *Hurk*

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J.C. (1972)

Published on April 3, 2026April 9, 2026 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Happy Good Friday and Easter, my Enemaniacs.

Now, some people might celebrate Easter with a family get together. Normally, people are sitting around eating ham and enjoying the fresh spring that just sprung. Some years, it’s the fourth Sunday in March. In others, it could be as late as the fourth Sunday in April. Do not ask me why this is. It’s some weird old rule set like a thousand years ago. But either way, Good Friday (which, all things considered, doesn’t seem like it would be “Good,” but, again, don’t ask me) is the fabled day on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Easter, two days later on Sunday, is the day that Jesus rose and ascended to heaven.

I bet you’d think that because this is B-Movie Enema, I’m-a go with the whole “zombie Jesus” angle, right? Nope! I’m going bikers. Oh yes… 70s bikersploitation, baby! This week, I’m reviewing the 1972 action/drama J.C., directed by and starring William (Bill) F. McGaha.

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Afraid (2024)

Published on March 27, 2026April 2, 2026 by Geoff Arbuckle2 Comments

There’s a part of me wanting to ask ChatGPT to write this new B-Movie Enema review.

But I won’t do that, Enemaniacs! If there’s one thing I have, it’s my integ…rit..y? Sure, my integrity. I’m full of it. Anyway, this week, I’m reviewing 2024’s Afraid (or AfrAId) from director Chris Weitz. But before we talk about Weitz and his movie about artificial intelligence run amok, we should maybe say a few words about Jason Blum and Bumhouse Productions.

If I’m being honest, Blum is maybe the guy who deserves Roger Corman’s mantle of being a guy who knows how to make movies on the cheap, and quickly, knows when to spend a lot more money, and how to usually turn profits. He’s also had a stable of filmmakers who have gone on to do pretty great things after having success with a Blumhouse film. Jason Blum kind of knows that it doesn’t take hundreds of millions of dollars to make a movie that will drive people to the theater. Each year, he’ll make a few films for less than $10 million, a few (like Afraid) for a little more, and then when to spend a lot more. It’s been a very, very long time since the company released a movie that made less than its production budget.

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