Category: 1980s

Howard the Duck (1986)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Oh boy, Enemaniacs… This week and next is gonna be a doozy at B-Movie Enema.

Near the end of 1973, the 19th issue of Marvel Comics’ anthology series Adventure into Fear, writer Steve Gerber introduced a new character that was a parody of what were once referred to as cartoon funny animals (what we would call anthropomorphic animals today). This character was cynical. He chomped cigars and was a bit ill-tempered. A little over a decade later, for some reason, largely unknown producer George Lucas… Wait… Let me double-check that. Oh… I meant to type “one of the most powerful producers, George Lucas.” My bad.

Sorry about that. But anyway, for whatever reason, one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood thought his follow-up to ending the phenomenon that was the Star Wars Trilogy should be a movie based on this character whose popularity might not exactly be as widespread outside the comic spinner racks. The movie proved to be one of the greatest missteps in film history. The movie was 1986’s Howard the Duck, directed by Willard Huyck and co-written by Gloria Katz.

Continue reading “Howard the Duck (1986)” →

Firebird 2015 AD (1981)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

On your marks… Get set… B-Movie Enema!

Alright, it’s 1981… Due to some circumstances that I am positive we didn’t help, the United States entered into a period known as the 1979 oil crisis. What this meant was that we were having some issues procuring oil for our gas-guzzling cars. Now, I know this because I had a couple in the course of my lifetime, but cars in the United States were either guzzling gas due to being MASSIVE and very long, or if you weren’t cool like me, you might have had a car that was just thirsting for gasoline because it was a sportier car or a Hemi. Really, all throughout the 70s, there were periods in which gas stations didn’t have gas, or there were long lines for people to put just a couple of gallons into their cars to be able to make it to work, or they went without.

Now, what would happen in the decades that followed (minus a couple of short periods of instability) was falling gas prices thanks to what would be known as the 1980s oil glut. No foolin’, prices would fall by about 65-70% in just a few years. However, in between the crisis and glut, pop culture decided to use the energy problems as the basis of some stories. Famously, the whole concept behind why there was a millions-of-years-long war between the Autobots and Decepticons on The Transformers was over energy, thanks to the real-world energy crises over the prior decade. That is also our starting point for the movie I’m reviewing this week, 1981’s Firebird 2015 AD.

Continue reading “Firebird 2015 AD (1981)” →

The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

This week’s B-Movie Enema review gets… biblical?

Eh, sure. Anyway, not long back, I covered The Toxic Avenger Part II, the long-awaited sequel to the smash Troma hit from 1984. Filmed at the same time was a second sequel, and the topic of this week’s review, The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie. That title should give a hint to a couple of things in this movie. First, Toxie is going to be tempted by a deal with the devil, specifically the devil that Toxie knows – Apocalypse, Inc. Second, I think the title was likely inspired not just from the 1988 Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ, but probably more by that film’s pop culture popularity while both of these Toxic Avenger sequels were being filmed.

The Last Temptation of Christ wasn’t just a well-reviewed film for Scorsese, but it really was a hot-button topic during late 1988 and early 1989. No foolin’, the film created a BUNCH of controversy. There were terrorist attacks, death threats, and a whole lot of protests from upsetty Christians and Catholics because the film depicted a scene in which Christ, played by Willem Dafoe, and Mary Magdalene, played by Barbara Hershey, consummated their love for one another. When it comes to canonical religious texts, that’s not something the Jesus folk like to hear about. They like to think that the Christ was above earthly passions and/or Magdalene was a whore.

But I definitely digress because I ain’t no religious guy so I can’t speak to too much gospel.

Continue reading “The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989)” →

The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Enemaniacs!

This year, B-Movie Enema celebrates by leaving campus for Christmas break. Well, not really. I’m here. I’m always here. I am forever. Please kill me.

Anyway, the movie I’ve chosen for this review to close out 2025 is one that I’ve wanted to cover for a while now. 1982’s The Dorm That Dripped Blood is also known in some parts as Pranks. In a bit of a twist in the usual expectations of how naming and renaming conventions go for old, lower-budget horror flicks, this is a movie that was actually ORIGINALLY released as Pranks, but became best known under the other The Dorm That Dripped Blood title. In fact, that was the title it had when I first saw it. Much like with last week’s Terror Eyes, I’m almost positive I saw this for the first time on the much-loved defunct Roku channel, Bizarre TV.

Continue reading “The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982)” →

Terror Eyes (1989)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Welcome back to B-Movie Enema and the second chapter in my two-part Vivian Schilling adventure!

Last week, I looked at the movie that is Schilling’s best-known movie, Soultaker. The popularity gained by the movie is mostly thanks to Mystery Science Theater 3000. That is a tad unfortunate because the popularity also gave it a reputation… not a good one at that. It’s not that bad of a movie, but the riffs from the Satellite of Love often wire viewers’ brains to think that the uncut movie is every bit as bad as the comedy of MST3K’s writers want you to think it is for their jokes to work. Don’t think that’s me saying that MST3K is bad or anything. There would be nothing more opposite than that. It’s just how things are.

This week, we have a movie from Schilling’s filmography that is even earlier in her timeline than Soultaker. This week, I’m going to review the horror/comedy anthology Terror Eyes.

Continue reading “Terror Eyes (1989)” →

The Allnighter (1987)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Welcome back to another bodacious review at B-Movie Enema!

The 80s… I’m surprised there were any movies like Reds or Gandhi or Terms of Endearment or Out of Africa released during that decade. It seemed like most movies from the era were either muscle-bound hunks of men with giant guns or sexy boner comedies or beach party movies… that were also boner comedies. In a sort of way, the 80s revived the beach party movies of the late 50s and early 60s. I guess people, for some dumb reason, like seeing sexy people in skimpy bathing suits frolicking and making kissy faces with each other.

Enter writer/director Tamar Simon Hoffs and her 1987 comedy The Allnighter. Now, The Allnighter was one of those movies that ALWAYS caught my eye at the video store. Why? Because Tamar Simon Hoffs put her own daughter, singer Susanna Hoffs, on the cover with her graduation gown wide open and her skimpy matching bra and panties showing. That’s a hell of an ad campaign.

Continue reading “The Allnighter (1987)” →

The Prowler (1981)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Just like this week’s killer, B-Movie Enema is peepin’ and sneakin’ up on all you dressed in our best, most spookiest World War II fatigues.

But I’m only here to deliver a rose and a new review! Welcome back, my dear Enemaniacs. This week, I’m finally reviewing one I’ve wanted to do for quite some time – 1981’s The Prowler from Joseph Zito. The Prowler is probably most remembered for those great Tom Savini kills. While the movie didn’t get great reviews upon release, as well as not making a profit off its meager $1 million budget, the movie does have a cult following. Again, I would assume it’s the Tom Savini gore effects, but there are a few more things to consider.

One of those things I’ll talk about later, but I think there is a guy behind the camera who helped get this to cult status, Joseph Zito. Zito is known for genre schlock. Zito’s first film was 1975’s Abduction, and he followed that with 1979’s Bloodrage. Both are considered those extremely sleazy types of exploitation horror. That served him well for his next two movies, the one we’re going to be diving into in much more detail shortly, and 1984’s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, the entry many consider to be the best in the franchise.

What’s kind of funny is that The Final Chapter would be the last horror film he’d make.

Continue reading “The Prowler (1981)” →

Trapped (1982)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

You can’t say we don’t get around here at B-Movie Enema.

Over the last month and a half or so, we’ve gone from outer space by way of Japan to the sewers under Los Angeles before we hopped across the Atlantic to hang out with crooks in Italy to a top secret facility out in the American desert lousy with dinosaurs to New Zealand to Tromaville, back to Japan, and here we are… headed to Canada for some thrills and chills. We are definitely piling up the frequent flyer miles. Anyway, this week, B-Movie Enema is reviewing a 1982 film that has a few different titles. We’re going to refer to it, as seen above in this article’s headline, as Trapped. The other titles it is known by are The Killer Instinct and Baker County, U.S.A. The latter is one I’ve either seen at a video store or heard of somewhere along the way (as well as being the title given to the film by IMDb).

Trapped has some returning folks that we’ve talked about before. The director of this flick is William Fruet. Fruet directed 1986’s Killer Party, which is a VERY old review here dating back to, like, 2017. Fruet also worked on the 1983 Peter Fonda/Oliver Reed horror film Spasms, which is definitely one I remember from the video stores thanks to an eye-catching box. Seriously… was I supposed to be looking at the naked girl screaming in the shower or the monster-faced man below her?

The answer was “yes.”

Continue reading “Trapped (1982)” →