Category: Reviews

31 (2016)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle1 Comment

After this week, we’re 66.7% of the way through this October’s spoopy theme, Rob Zombie’s Spookshow, here at B-Movie Enema!

I ain’t gonna lie… We kind of peaked last week with Rob Zombie’s best film of them all, The Devil’s Rejects. I mean, not only is it a well-crafted, very viscerally terrifying film, but it kind of was the pinnacle of Zombie doing his 70s retro grindhouse thing. Where are you gonna go from there? Well, today, in the year of our Dark Lord 2026, we know where he went. We’ll talk about that starting next weekend. But he kept rolling with this retro grindhouse, throwback to 1970s exploitation horror, probably well past its prime.

Certainly, by 2016, it seemed reviewers were kind of done with it. This week, we’re looking at one of his films that I have not actually watched, 31. In fact, to date, this is the only Rob Zombie movie I haven’t seen. I largely didn’t see 31 because I heard not-so-great things about it. Despite getting some pretty cruddy reviews, it still holds around 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s actually not as bad as you might think based on the talk around it.

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The Devil’s Rejects (2005)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle3 Comments

Welcome to the very exact midpoint of this year’s Rob Zombie Spookshow here at B-Movie Enema.

In 2003, after a couple of years of trying to find a distributor or studio willing to take a chance on his grindhouse throwback, Rob Zombie introduced a terrifyingly raw and visceral form of horror that, maybe ahead of its time, really put audiences through more of a horrifying experience than a form of entertainment. This was his debut movie, House of 1000 Corpses. It really played like the nightmarish and realistic grit that was seen in movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. At times, it felt like you were watching something you weren’t supposed to see. It was equal parts a movie narrative and a window inside a scattered and deranged mind.

What made the movie terrifying were the members of the Firefly family. Specifically, Otis, played by Bill Moseley, himself a veteran of the TCM franchise, Baby, played by Sheri Moon Zombie, and friend and accomplice to the family, Captain Spaulding, a deranged clown played by Sid Haig. They were violent. They were antisocial. In the case of Captain Spaulding, he was charismatic. In the case of Baby, she was sexy – a honeypot waiting to reveal a psychotic who liked to play with her prey.

While working on House of 1000 Corpses, Zombie would have what he called a “vague” idea for a story that featured the brother of a sheriff the Fireflies killed coming back for revenge on the family. This revenge plot leads him on a manhunt for the three most interesting characters to complete his revenge. Thus was born what is undoubtedly Zombie’s masterpiece, The Devil’s Rejects.

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The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)

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Welcome back to Rob Zombie’s Spookshow at B-Movie Enema!

Last week, we looked at Rob Zombie’s take on The Munsters. While that movie ended up with some mixed results, it showed something that I don’t think many people realize about Zombie by looking at him, listening to his music and his on-stage persona, and the films he’s made over his movie career. Zombie has a real love for stuff he grew up with too. He isn’t all exploitation, foul-mouthed characters, and disgusting redneck murderers. No, he still likes comic books, the family-friendly TV shows he grew up with, and animation.

This brings us back to two elements of Zombie’s early influences and career that I hinted at last week. One of the guys he wanted to be was Stan Lee. Obviously, Lee is best known for his work in Marvel Comics, but it’s clear that Zombie sees Lee as a showman, something he would end up becoming in his music career. He also sees Lee as someone who created a shared universe of characters that seem to naturally fit in when they interact with one another. Zombie’s films have that shared universe feel to them. They all kind of show a darker side under the surface of the rest of the world’s brighter shine.

Now, when it comes to this week’s movie, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, it’s clear this is taking on that love of comic books that were directly from guys like Stan Lee. This is Rob Zombie’s animated feature that is much more on the action and superhero side than the horror. It’s the yin to his horror yang growing up. It also features another famous Bela Lugosi element.

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The Munsters (2022)

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Welcome to the most wonderful time of the year at B-Movie Enema!

Ah, yes… October. The weather gets cooler. The movies get spookier. B-Movie Enema celebrates an anniversary. Each year, I choose a theme for the month, and I thought it was high time to feature the works of one Robert Bartleh Cummings, better known to the world as singer/songwriter/producer/filmmaker/actor Robert Zombercrombie.

Er… I mean Rob Zombie.

Now, to get things started with what I’m dubbing Rob Zombie’s Spookshow, I think it’s important to understand that I’m not here to bash on Mr. Zombie’s films. I actually have a more nuanced take on his works. While I can say not all his movies are exactly my speed, there are a few of his works I very much like (one of which I will definitely review in a couple of weeks). The movies that aren’t really my speed still aren’t entirely worthy of the onslaught of snarky commentary the internet is oh so well known for. And speaking of… Let’s kick things off with Zombie’s 2022 take on The Munsters.

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Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)

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I guess September was planned as something of a return of various subjects or actors, and in this case, also directors.

Welcome back to B-Movie Enema. I guess when I programmed what September was going to feature on the blog, I was thinking about a lot of things I hadn’t done in a bit. I had Red Letter Media come back, another killer primate movie, and some blaxploitation. So I guess it’s only fair to bring Charles Bronson, J. Lee Thompson, and Cannon Films. This week, we’re gonna learn about Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects.

Cannon is all over this blog. So much so, there’s a whole tag for Cannon Films. There are so many, I bet I have forgotten to tag some with that. Shit, I almost forgot to tag THIS review with Cannon Films. Charles Bronson, surprisingly, has not been covered as much here on B-Movie Enema. Maybe I’m worried his ghost will come back, ask me if I believe in Jesus, because I’m gonna meet ’em. I’ve only covered two of his movies before, Assassination waaaaay back in 2018, and then 10 to Midnight back in the summer of 2024. One of those movies is far better than the other. The other is a Cannon production.

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Truck Turner (1974)

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And just like that… Isaac Hayes is back, baby!

Welcome back to B-Movie Enema, and welcome back, Isaac Hayes, and especially welcome back, blaxploitation! Just not too long ago, we had a quick appearance of Isaac Hayes in Return to Sleepaway Camp, playing the chef at the camp. He was dressed just like his Chef character from South Park. That’s how everyone knew that was Isaac Hayes, aka Chef, playing a chef.

This week, though, we’re getting Isaac Hayes into the place I think most people expect him to be – blaxploitation action. Yes, it’s 1974’s Truck Turner, also known as Black Bullet. By the time Truck Turner hit screens in June 1974, Hayes was already an Oscar winner. Yeah, I don’t think many people realize that Hayes won the Oscar for Best Original Song for his “Theme from Shaft.” That was a major achievement in 1972. Most Best Original Song Oscar winners were kind of stuffy, or sappy, or, to put it mildly, very white. Shaft was a hit, though, and it signified a shift into the 70s that black folks could play in the movie sandbox too… quite well. Isaac Hayes put together a banger of a theme song for the movie, and Oscar history was made.

And that history? It wasn’t so much the act of winning an Oscar as much as Hayes was only the THIRD black person EVER to win a competitive Academy Award. The other two were Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind and Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field. It was an incredible feat.

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Shakma (1990)

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SHAKMA!!!

Welcome back to B-Movie Enema, my dear Enemaniacs! So, check it out. Last week, I revisited Red Letter Media by reviewing their 2016 comedy Space Cop. Whenever Red Letter Media comes up, there are a few things that you know are also going to be mentioned. One of those things is their panel show, Best of the Worst. When I was setting up what I was going to review, I thought this would be an excellent time to slot in a movie I’ve wanted to have on this blog for some time, 1990’s baboon out of control flick, Shakma.

Shakma is probably better known over the last decade or so than the decade before that because it was featured in one of the earlier episodes of Best of the Worst. That… That’s the connection between Space Cop and Shakma. That’s all I have to say about that.

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Space Cop (2016)

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Ah… It’s good to be back from camp.

We spent the entire summer out in the great outdoors, but it’s time to get back to serious business here at B-Movie Enema. And since it’s time to deal with serious, very grown-up business, I think we should look no further than Red Letter Media. Wait… Really? They’re our serious business?

Last time we looked at ol’ RLM, it was for their 2010 horror comedy Feeding Frenzy. Back then, they were still largely known as the guys who did the Mr. Plinkett reviews. They wouldn’t have actual sustained success as a YouTube channel until Mike Stoklasa and Jay Bauman created their review show Half in the Bag, which, in itself, rolled into other popular shows, the most popular of them all being Best of the Worst. Through these shows, this is where Rich Evans would gain most of his popularity.

Evans, a guy who was largely in the Plinkett reviews as the on-screen portrayal of Harry Plinkett, and reprised that in Feeding Frenzy, was maybe a little understated and shy early on in his Best of the Worst appearances. However, whether by way of him really kind of becoming one of the more common panelists on the show, or through Stoklasa’s constant belittling and lampooning, Rich Evans would become a major figure on RLM. This would often lead to him being the guy I think most viewers might say they appreciate even more than Mike and Jay, the obvious faces of the media company. And so, he got the chance to create another character, the title character of this week’s featured film, Space Cop.

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