Tag: norman j. warren

Loving Feeling (1968)

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B-Movie Enema carries on with the first of another 500 reviews!

This week, we’re returning to the early days of our friend, our grandpa, the man we miss, and the guy who we have covered nearly all of his filmography – Norman J. Warren. Some time ago, I watched the 1968 Warren film, his debut as a feature filmmaker, Her Private Hell. This week, we’re looking at his second film, the other 1968 film on his filmography, Loving Feeling. As a fan of this man’s work, will I get that loving feeling from this movie?

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Her Private Hell (1968)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle1 Comment

Welcome to another review here at B-Movie Enema.

If you have been around this website for a while, you know that we’re fans of the works of British director Norman J. Warren. So much so, of the nine feature films he directed between 1968 and 1987, I’ve already covered two-thirds of them over the years. Well, it’s time to start getting into that final third I’ve not yet touched. While I’ve mostly covered his best known films in the horror genre, the last time out, I looked at 1979’s Spaced Out, a return for Warren into the world of the sexploitation circles.

Sexploitation was where Warren got his start. In 1967, our favorite director was 25 years old and already had two shorts under his belt, 1963’s Drinkin Time and 1965’s Fragment. As he would put it, he was desperate for a job, especially one on a feature film. Enter producer Bachoo Sen and arthouse cinema owner Richard Schulman. The two had just entered into a partnership to start making their own films. It just so happens that Schulman had been screening Warren’s Fragment at his cinema. They needed a director for their first film, and they approached Warren. Warren, as I mentioned, was desperate and had no idea what he would be asked to make, but a job was a job.

Norman J. Warren’s feature film career began with this week’s movie, Her Private Hell.

Continue reading “Her Private Hell (1968)” →

Spaced Out (1979)

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Since this is the holiday season, Enemaniacs, I figured I deserve a bit of a gift. After all, Metamorphosis was so lacking in charm and good vibes, that I kind of need something. So, for this week’s B-Movie Enema review, and with Christmas just around the corner, I’m gifting myself the return of a favorite around these parts, Mr. Norman J. Warren.

Hell yeah, guys, gals, and non-binary pals, Norman J. Warren is back!

One of the things I’ve always loved about our friend Norman is that he doesn’t seem to ever make the same movie twice. Certainly, if you go through his filmography, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any two movies that resemble each other in succession. That’s what we have here with 1979’s Spaced Out. In the 60s, Warren made sex comedies but decided to move into horror in the 70s. In three consecutive years, he directed Satan’s Slave, Prey, and Terror. All three of those have been covered here, and all three are quite different in terms of horror films. Spaced Out would be a return to his old form, as it were, with a comedy.

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Inseminoid (1981)

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Okay, so maybe last week I closed out one tradition on this site, but I still have a lot more that I can draw from!

That’s what’s up this week as, yet again, it’s time to check out a Norman J. Warren joint!  This week’s movie is one that I often see a lot of negativity float about on social media sites and groups I belong to.  I don’t care, I think this is a perfect example of the strangeness in one of Warren’s movies.  I’m going to talk about Inseminoid.

But, here’s the deal.  This movie is actually quite well liked in a few circles.  First and foremost, it impressed Roger Corman who nearly hired Warren for movies he was producing.  It was made on a shoestring budget, but that actually works in its favor as the cave where they filmed the scenes for the scientists doing their excavation produced the perfect effect Warren wanted.  He also got a boost when the famed Shaw Brothers from Hong Kong provided half the budget.  It was a little bit of a tortured set though.  The cave provided little light and air, and it would often be damp and cause quite a few injuries to cast and crew.  On top of that, Robin Clarke, an American actor cast as one of the more important roles, didn’t get along with Norman.  The two clashed often. Continue reading “Inseminoid (1981)” →

Satan’s Slave (1976)

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Well hey there!  It’s another Norman J. Warren joint!

If you’ve been around the site for a while, you know I’m a fan.  Prey is a good little home invasion story that is wrapped up in an alien invasion story – that also features lesbians.  Terror is a fun supernatural flick that has a vengeful witch – that may or may not have included a near miss for a fat guy on a train to have sex with a really pretty British lady.  Bloody New Year is just…  Well, it’s just bonkers, silly fun – that also happens to include an experimental plane that broke time and space.

Satan’s Slave is the first horror film that Warren made that pre-dates all of the above mentioned greatest hits.  As it turns out, it’s not the first of his films I covered in 2020 and it won’t be the last.  That said, I should maybe hold up because I’m quickly running out of his movies! Continue reading “Satan’s Slave (1976)” →

Bloody New Year (1987)

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Happy Bloody New Year (a few days late), my Enemaniacs!

You might be wondering, “Geoff, what’s up with all this festive cheer and shit?”  Well, don’t worry, fellas and lady fellas…  I just had to clear some slates before I got buried beneath a load of movies I always want to write about but don’t have a particularly perfect timing to do so.  Besides, this does check a couple extra boxes for me:

  1. Another Vinegar Syndrome release
  2. Another Norman J. Warren joint

So yeah, as you might have picked up by reading this blog over the past couple years, I buy a TON of Vinegar Syndrome releases.  They are a marvelous purveyor of cult classics, nearly forgotten gems, and exploitation.  These are things I am particularly in favor of.  So I had to help clear some of that backlog before I can get to some of the other finds I’ve picked up at various conventions and what have you. Continue reading “Bloody New Year (1987)” →

Prey (1977)

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It’s time to get back into the works of one Norman J. Warren.

Think back to earlier this year when I discussed the movie Terror.  This was about a witch cursing a family that ultimately leads to both cousins having to deal with some freaky shit around them.  This time around, we don’t have a set of long-lost cousins, but instead with Prey, we have a pair of lesbians that live in a remote area of England dealing with an alien with a voracious hunger.

Now, when I intro-ed Terror, I made some observations about Warren’s work.  Specifically, I wanted to call out certain ideas that he would have and then mix them with other ideas to create this very strange mixture of characters or situations for his movies.  In fact, allow me to quote myself from that article: Continue reading “Prey (1977)” →

Terror (1978)

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Let’s talk about Norman J. Warren.

He’s someone who I’ve yet to really feature on this blog, but I will be correcting that big time from this point forward.  He’s a British filmmaker who was always into the movies growing up.  His films were often deemed part of British “New Wave” Horror.  Basically, taking what Amicus and Hammer did with sexuality and gore and pushing it a little further for the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s.

His movies are really interesting – and, in my opinion, actually fascinating and fun to watch, if not good.  He seems to have ideas, even if what he starts with isn’t that groundbreaking.  Want to tell a ghost story?  Well, he’ll tweak it here and there and include a time element and give you Bloody New Year.  Want to tell a story about an alien coming to Earth?  Well, how about we throw in abuse and a lesbian couple and a sinister reason for the alien to be here and give you Prey.  How about yet another alien story, but this time include impregnation and have the mother of the new alien/human hybrid become murderously protective of the monster?  Yeah, we’ll call that Inseminoid. Continue reading “Terror (1978)” →