Category: 1970s

Beyond Atlantis (1973)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle1 Comment

Welcome back to B-Movie Enema. How do you follow up a titty movie starring Daleks? No, not the Cinema Snob. I already did that last month. No, you do a family movie.

Because of course that’s what you do.

This week, I’m looking at the 1973 Filipino-American sci-fi/horror(?) flick Beyond Atlantis. Yeah… This is apparently a family-oriented sorta-horror movie. Considering it’s made in 1973 and the poster has a mostly naked woman riding a giant seashell and being carried around by bug-eyed black dudes… I have concerns. For one, I saw a trailer that has one of the bug-eyed guys (who was not a black dude, but a white dude in body paint – uh oh) slapping the barely covered blonde chick shouting that she WILL MATE. Then Sid Haig is shooting people left and right. There’s murder action happening.

This is what a family movie was in 1973.

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Mean Johnny Barrows (1976)

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Welcome to this week’s B-Movie Enema. This week, we’re following the exploits of Mean Johnny Barrows as he tries to bring himself up out of the gutter and get back at the Man for always standing in the way of him and his prosperity.

Now, you may look at that opening salvo for this article and think, “Sweet! This is Fred Williamson in a blaxploitation classic!” I don’t blame you for thinking that. I thought that too. However, it’s not. It’s not listed as a notable blaxploitation flick. It’s more of a crime drama than an exploitation movie. Yes, it is directed by Williamson himself and he likely got that opportunity because of the 70s black cinema coming into prominence. Yet, this seems to transcend the blaxploitation moniker.

I’m sure there will be elements here. I mean he’s dishonorably discharged from the military. He’s busted for being drunk. He’s homeless. He’s not able to be with the woman he loves. He blames these things on the Man, and there’s probably fair reason to. So, yeah, the mistake thinking this is part of the blaxploitation subgenre that was running through black cinema of the time is acceptable and understandable.

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The Candy Snatchers (1973)

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Welcome to the 299th B-Movie Enema article!

This week, we have something that isn’t too common a thing around these parts – a movie loosely based on a real life event. The Candy Snatchers is a 1973 exploitation cult classic about a trio of kidnappers who snag a girl and ultimately bury her alive while waiting for their ransom to be paid. We’ll go into more about the actual movie in just a moment. First, I want to talk about the real world connection this movie has.

In 1968, college student Barbara Mackle was sick during the 1968 flu pandemic at a motel in Georgia waiting for her mother to pick her up so she could care for her at the family home in Florida. Someone knocked on the door of the motel wearing a policeman’s cap. This man claimed her boyfriend (and later husband), was in a terrible car accident and was injured. Mackle let the “officer” in, but it was actually Gary Krist and accomplice Ruth Eisemann-Schier (posing as a man). The couple kidnapped Mackle and buried her in a ventilated box outside Duluth, Georgia while they attempted to collect ransom. After three days of being buried alive, Mackle was recovered after Krist left a tip with vague directions on how to find her. Aside from pretty bad dehydration, Mackle was alive and went on to show no other ill effects of being kidnapped. Krist and Eisemann-Shier were both arrested later, Esimann-Schier was deported to her native Honduras after spending 4 years in prison and Krist spent the next 40+ years in and out of prison.

While there is much more to learn about the Barbara Mackle kidnapping, one more item of note, Ruth Eisemann-Schier was the first woman to ever appear on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list.

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B-Movie Enema: The Series Episode #25 – Blood Freak

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You’ve seen movies with people taking drugs. You’ve seen movies with hippies. Have you ever seen a movie where drugs turns a guy’s head into a turkey? That’s what this week’s B-Movie Enema: The Series is all about in Blood Freak!

Or watch it on B-Movie Enema’s YouTube Channel!

Zaat (aka The Blood Waters of Dr. Z, 1971)

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In for one classic Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie, in for another am I right?

This week, I’m taking B-Movie Enema to The Blood Waters of Dr. Z and check out this substance called Zaat that is used to make, I dunno… like fish monsters or something? I think it’s fish monsters. Anyway, Zaat has a bit of a reputation in certain corners of the bad movie loving world. Not only has it been riffed on MST3K but it was discussed by Red Letter Media’s Mike Stoklasa and Jay Baumann on an early episode of Half in the Bag. There’s something almost adorable in how silly it is.

But while it is kind of adorable in its silliness, it’s also oddly sterile. The story goes it was one of those regional movies made in Florida. It was produced by Barton Films out of Jacksonville, Florida. It’s the only film this company that mostly made commercials and industrial films ever made. It’s got that sterile look to it. It’s a lot of static shots, a lot of stock footage, methodical, etc. However, it starts to get a little kooky later on in the movie. In some ways, I’d even argue it has some atmosphere and look of one of my favorite early 70s horror movies, Messiah of Evil.

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