Category: 1980s

Killpoint (1984)

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Let’s get back into some action stuff and reunite with Leo Fong in Frank Harris’ 1984 action spectacular Killpoint!

This week’s B-Movie Enema article is the second of three new Leo Fong features celebrating this action star this year. Just about five or six weeks ago, I featured Blood Street on the blog, which itself is a sequel to his endlessly enjoyable Low Blow. Later this year, I will take a look at one from the mid 70s. But this week, with Killpoint, we see Fong teamed up with Low Blow co-star Cameron Mitchell as well as director Frank Harris. Here’s hoping we get some of that Low Blow fun feel in this movie too.

Frank Harris only directed films from 1983, Killpoint being his first, to 1990. He was better known for being a camera guy and a cinematographer. In fact, with both this film and 1986’s Low Blow, Harris is pulling down double duty as both director and cinematographer. Outside of those two films, the only other one that immediately jumped out to me on his filmography was as the cinematographer for 1996’s Skyscraper starring Anna Nicole Smith. In television, he worked as cinematographer for several episodes of 2009’s kids’ tokusatsu show Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. Harris passed away in April 2020 at the age of 76.

Okay, But now, let’s talk about Cameron Mitchell…

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Alien from L.A. (1988)

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From Bill Rebane last week to Albert Pyun this week.

Welcome to another B-Movie Enema article – the 328th if we’re counting, and… I do. This week, we’re going back to good ol’ Cannon Films to peel back some layers on a peculiar little sci-fi film from the late 80s – Alien from L.A. Now, why is it peculiar? Well, it’s because it doesn’t take itself very seriously. It’s almost a comedy in how our lead character, Wanda Saknussem (what kind of name is that?!?), acts with a nasally, dorky voice. But it’s played by the mega-hot Kathy Ireland, so isn’t that funny?!?

But, more to the point, it’s, yes, an ALIEN from Los Angeles that Ireland is playing, but not in the sense you’d think. No, she doesn’t go to outer space or accidentally stow away on a spaceship or anything like that. She actually gets into the center of the Earth and finds an underground civilization that isn’t too far off from what we have up here. It’s more like when you call someone who immigrates from another country an alien. So, yeah, it is a little different than we normally see, but it kind of makes it a much more interesting and subtle Cannon movie.

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Blood Harvest (1987)

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This week’s B-Movie Enema feature is one I’ve wanted to do for a while. Maybe more accurately, the film’s director is a guy I’ve wanted to feature for some time. This week, I’ll be getting into 1987’s Blood Harvest.

Without a doubt, the chief thing that will gain attention will be the fact that this stars the very eclectic novelty musician Tiny Tim. We’ll be getting to Tiny Tim momentarily. However, I would argue that this might just be the most interesting of all the films directed by Wisconsinite Bill Rebane.

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City of the Living Dead (1980)

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Fulci is back yet again on B-Movie Enema. Why? Because ol’ Lucio needs more attention if I’m being honest. Sure, I’ve covered many of his movies in the past, but there are oh so many more that I could cover. What better place to dig into more of his filmography than with the Gates of Hell trilogy of his?

So, here we are. I’ve packed my bags, bought my plane tickets, and have landed in the City of the Living Dead. This is Fulci in what’s likely his prime. He’s not too far off from his major success of Zombie (known in Italy as Zombi 2, but I’m not going to get into all that Italian titling business). That pretty much wrote a check for Fulci to do whatever he really wanted. He first stopped off with a crime action flick, Contraband, but started developing the idea of City of the Living Dead. This film was greenlit while he was working on the action flick, so, he took off and left Contraband under the direction of his assistant to get to work on City of the Living Dead.

It’s wild to think that a director can just leave a production to start his next, but Italy is a wild place, man.

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Blood Street (1988)

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Earlier this year, we lost the action star and director Leo Fong at the age of 93. Fong gained some notoriety over the last handful of years due to RedLetterMedia’s coverage of some of his films on their show Best of the Worst. A lot of it is that Fong always looked like a guy who is almost the opposite of what you’d expect an action star to look like. But, he was a pretty accomplished martial artist and friend of Bruce Lee.

Leo Fong would appear in Filipino martial arts films in the 70s. He then got into making his own films through the 80s and that’s where we would really know him best. Waaay back in 2016, I covered his Low Blow film. This week, I’m going to cover not the next film he made after Low Blow, but the actual direct sequel to Low Blow, Blood Street.

But what happened in Low Blow?

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