Geoff Arbuckle

The Beast in Heat (1977)

Published on July 16, 2021July 22, 2021 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before ol’ B-Movie Enema returned to the world of 70s nazisploitation.

This week, we’re talking about the 1977 Italian flick The Beast in Heat. Now, try to keep up here. The movie was originally called La Bestia in calore which is the Italian translation of The Beast in Heat. I point this out because you can look and see that the director on this is “Ivan Kathansky”. That name makes you think, “Ooh! It’s a Russian director! This is either extra spicy because it is a movie about a Nazi monster made by a damn, dirty Commie, or… Or…” I don’t know how to end that sentiment other than to make sure you understand that I’m thinking this is a Commie Nazi movie.

However, the director is actually Luigi Batzella, which now makes me think of a giant monster bat tearing apart a Japanese town. Kathansky is not the only pseudonym of Batzella’s, but that’s notable because critic Tim Lucas of Sight & Sound stated that this film is so reprehensible that there’s not a single real name associated with anyone in the movie. Exactly how true that is, I don’t know, but with a reputation like that, B-Movie Enema had to come calling.

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The Black Cat (1981)

Published on July 9, 2021February 15, 2024 by Geoff Arbuckle3 Comments

I love cats. Guys, I don’t mind saying it. I’m not a dog person. In fact, for the vast majority of the last 29 years, I’ve lived with at least one cat, and very often with two. These cats are as good as kids from my perspective. Most of those cats have been partners in crime with me. So, I guess you can say I have something in common with our lead in this week’s movie, The Black Cat.

However, this is only very loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story by the same name. In that, it’s about a man and his wife who love animals. In particular, he seems to have a special bond with a large, black cat. When he develops an addiction to the sauce, the cat decides he doesn’t really like the guy anymore which is only made worse by the drunk man torturing the cat by removing its eye, and even hanging the cat from a tree.

This 1843 story has been the inspiration, suggestion, or basis for many a film version. Universal Studios twice made movies “suggested” by the story, but neither held any kind of similarity outside having a black cat in them. Multiple times, Italians have made adaptations of this like Sergio Martino’s Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (a title that just rolls off the tongue) in 1971, Dario Argento’s version in the anthology film Two Evil Eyes, and then Fulci’s version that we’re going to talk about today.

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Nightmare Sisters (1987)

Published on July 2, 2021February 15, 2024 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

We’ve got ourselves a trio of sexy scream queens for this week’s B-Movie Enema!

This week’s movie, Nightmare Sisters is one of only two films that featured all three of the 80s main ladies of b-movie horror – Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer, and Brinke Stevens. The other movie? Well, that was Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. It should be noted that not only do those two movies featuring every teenage boy’s trio of preferred prom dates appear together, both movies were directed by our good friend David DeCoteau.

Now… Last time we saw ol’ Dave around here, it was the very disappointing Beach Babes 2: Cave Girl Island. It was very clear to me that there was hardly a script and hardly any budget. This time around I know there is hardly a script and zero budget. In fact, this movie was filmed in only four days. When you know these things going into your succubi movie, you’re going to view the movie through a much sharper lens. I mean, I expected a great deal out of Beach Babes 2. However, this time, knowing this is a weekend project and, well, having seen this movie before, I know what to expect.

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Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987)

Published on June 25, 2021July 2, 2021 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Well, this is very much overdue, but here we are – a return to the world of Andy Sidaris.

Almost five whole years ago, B-Movie Enema took a ride on the Malibu Express. It was always my intention to start plowing through the Sidaris filmography, but there was an issue right away. This week’s movie, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, is very, very well covered – which is funny because the girls in this movie are hardly covered at all (note to self: insert rimshot). All kidding aside, Hard Ticket to Hawaii is the one movie in the Sidaris library that pretty much everyone knows.

Between being covered by RedLetterMedia on one of the very earliest episodes of Best of the Worst, it already having been covered by the gang at How Did This Get Made, and having been featured in just about every possible podcast that ever pod casted, it’s not one that has much more room for commentary. Shit, in 2014, Paste Magazine called it THE best B-movie of all time. High praise indeed. But, alas, here I am. If I had acted sooner, I wouldn’t have had to keep putting it off because of its popularity, but I had so many other things to cover back in those early days of this blog. What… Did you think the 1968 William Shatner/Adam West version of Alexander the Great was going to cover itself?

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Turkey Shoot (1982)

Published on June 18, 2021June 24, 2021 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

It’s been a little while since I covered anything from the Ozploitation era of Australian filmmaking. I think it’s the perfect time to check back in with our friends Down Under! This is one that I questioned whether or not it fits properly on B-Movie Enema. It’s not so much because it seemed like a crazy dystopian “Most Dangerous Game” sort of scenario. Mostly it’s because of this movie featuring Olivia Hussey, an actress that I’d say has a considerable amount of standing in the world of acting in the 70s and 80s.

When I do my research for these movies to see what I can do to punch up the start of one of these articles, I’m usually curious what the reviews were. That’s when I realized Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Turkey Shoot would not disappoint. I think it might be best to talk about Trenchard-Smith first.

He is an English-Australian director, producer, writer, etc. that has a filmography that could cover a buttload of B-Movie Enema articles for months. He was a producer on a past movie featured here that came out the same year as Turkey Shoot – Blood Tide. He did Dead End Drive-In, BMX Bandits (with a very young Nicole Kidman), Night of the Demons 2 (a sequel to a favorite Halloween movie of mine), and even two Leprechaun movies – Leprechaun 3 and Leprechaun 4: In Space. These are all things I know a thing or two about. In fact, I have BMX Bandits on my shelf. I may have to look into scheduling that for an article.

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Penitentiary II (1982)

Published on June 11, 2021June 18, 2021 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Let’s go back to the story of Martel “Too Sweet” Gordone for this week’s new B-Movie Enema.

Some time ago, I covered the first story in Too Sweet’s trilogy. This week, we pick up where the last left off with Penitentiary II. As seen at the end of the first film, Too Sweet won the prison boxing tournament and was released. However, there’s a bit of a caveat with that freedom as we’ll see in this week’s sequel.

As with the first, Penitentiary II is written and directed by activist and leading member of the L.A. Rebellion, Jamaa Fanaka. Fanaka would ultimately make three films in the saga of Too Sweet Gordone. However, this film has a couple other notable actors appearing in it.

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Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975)

Published on June 4, 2021June 11, 2021 by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Every now and then, I like to do a thing for me on B-Movie Enema. You know, like one that is in honor of, well, me? That’s what we have here with this movie. This week, I’m going to dive into the 1975 pulp action hero adventure Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze!

Why this movie? It’s really obvious when you break apart the title. I’m sort of a doctor. I am the Enema Man! So, yeah. I don’t know if you have to be a doctor, but look at some of the early articles on this blog or my YouTube show for further reference of my credentials. Second, I’m relatively savage. You want further proof of my savage nature? Check out what I had to say about Pot Zombies. I still get irrationally angry at the thought of that turd.

Third, I assume most people think I’m a man. Some people may even think I’m THE man! And lastly, yes, I am a man of bronze. My buttery colored skin is a sight to behold and something that women desire and men desire to have.

So yes, I’m a barrel-bellied man of action, and THAT’S why I am dedicating this movie to my life mate and partner – me!

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Blood Debts (1985)

Published on May 28, 2021June 3, 2021 by Geoff Arbuckle2 Comments

Welcome back to B-Movie Enema!

This week, it’s time to do a truly dumb bonkers of an action flick – Teddy Page’s Blood Debts. Teddy Page is a Filipino film director who wrote from time to time. He is mostly known for working on low budget action flicks for Silver Star Film Company. The primary claim to fame for Silver Star Film Company is that they made very, very low budget movies. Page, whose real name is Teddy Chiu, would get hired to crank out these cheap-o movies, but he would get a little bit of an ace in the hole from producer K.Y. Lim’s Silver Star – he’d get some established actors.

Chief among them in a few early Page films was Richard Harrison. He was a former Spaghetti Western and Sword and Sandal star who racked up over 130 credits. A whole bunch of these credits, like Blood Debts, came in the 80s. This was considered a real low point in his career. What didn’t help him much was when he reunited with Chinese filmmaker Godfrey Ho. By this point in Ho’s career, he would make these cut-and-paste type of ninja movies. He’d get the rights to a film already made, cut them in half, hire actors to make another full movie, cut them in half, and create these full movies. Harrison didn’t so much mind getting work, he did end up being in WAY more movies than he signed up for, thus making him frustrated and an unwilling star of twice as many really low-grade movies.

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