Tag: science fiction

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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Marshmallow (2025)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle1 Comment

Welcome back to week #2 (heh) here at B-Movie Enema’s Camp Crappabuttawipe!

This week, we’re looking at something a little bit different… A horror movie taking place at a camp that is not just new, but more than just a generic slasher film. We’re reviewing 2025’s Marshmallow from director Daniel DelPergatorio and writer Andy Greskoviak.

I think we need to focus right there on that director’s name. Daniel DelPergatorio is a hell of a name for a horror director. That name sounds like he’s Danel of the Purgatory. And… well, what do you know? That’s actually how his name translates from Spanish. That’s fuckin’ rad. What’s also pretty fuckin’ rad is that I already know his work. He served as co-director for the 2009 animated short Tales of the Black Freighter that was released alongside Zak Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen. The Black Freighter story was interwoven into Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s Watchmen story, but, for very obvious logistical reasons, would not be able to be added to the live-action film’s flow. Still, that’s pretty awesome that DelPergatorio worked on that as his directorial debut.

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Killdozer (1974)

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A new review at B-Movie Enema is KILLDOZING ITS WAY INTO YOUR COMPUTERS!

Hell yeah, brother! It’s time for this oddball made-for-television flick from 1974. Look out! It’s Killdozer! Killdozer was first released as a 1944 novella by Theodore Sturgeon. Sturgeon wrote a ton of reviews (somewhere around 400, which means I have written more, so take that, Mr. Killdozer), along with a bunch of short stories, and about 11 novels. He even ghost-wrote an Ellery Queen mystery novel. Ellery Queen was someone my oldest brother would read when I was a kid.

Sturgeon also wrote a couple of very popular Star Trek episodes in the 60s. The first was “Shore Leave” which featured members of an away team seeing a bunch of crazy visions like characters from Alice in Wonderland and damsels in distress. The second was a VERY popular one, “Amok Time.” This introduced the Vulcan mating ritual, pon farr, and the first time the phrase “Live long and prosper” was uttered. It was also the first episode to feature the Vulcan hand salute. Some other scripts he wrote that went unproduced introduced the concept of the Prime Directive, the doctrine that Starfleet and the Federation operated by when visiting new worlds.

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Afraid (2024)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle2 Comments

There’s a part of me wanting to ask ChatGPT to write this new B-Movie Enema review.

But I won’t do that, Enemaniacs! If there’s one thing I have, it’s my integ…rit..y? Sure, my integrity. I’m full of it. Anyway, this week, I’m reviewing 2024’s Afraid (or AfrAId) from director Chris Weitz. But before we talk about Weitz and his movie about artificial intelligence run amok, we should maybe say a few words about Jason Blum and Bumhouse Productions.

If I’m being honest, Blum is maybe the guy who deserves Roger Corman’s mantle of being a guy who knows how to make movies on the cheap, and quickly, knows when to spend a lot more money, and how to usually turn profits. He’s also had a stable of filmmakers who have gone on to do pretty great things after having success with a Blumhouse film. Jason Blum kind of knows that it doesn’t take hundreds of millions of dollars to make a movie that will drive people to the theater. Each year, he’ll make a few films for less than $10 million, a few (like Afraid) for a little more, and then when to spend a lot more. It’s been a very, very long time since the company released a movie that made less than its production budget.

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Zardoz (1974)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle1 Comment

Welcome back to B-Movie Enema, my lovely Eternals and Brutals, it’s motherfuckin’ Zardoz!

Man… Where to begin with this movie? I think it’s best to start with the director, John Boorman. Boorman is a rare breed in filmmaking. The British filmmaker got his first directing work on TV in the early 60s. In 1965, he got his first film to direct, Catch Us If You Can (Having a Wild Weekend on IMDb and in its American release). That was part of the in-rush of British Invasion pop bands going from vinyl to celluloid, as it starred The Dave Clark Five. Two years later, he made an American crime drama film, Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin. He followed that up with a war film and a drama before making his biggest splash.

In 1972, Boorman made one of the all-time great 70s thrillers, Deliverance. This was a film that starred an already established leading man, Jon Voight, and established Burt Reynolds as the man who would become THE box office star of the decade. It’s quotable, and one of those movies that even if you haven’t seen it, you know it. If for nothing else, the idea of an intimidating pair of “Dueling Banjos” when you are somewhere you aren’t so sure you want to be in the South came directly from Deliverance.

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Howard the Duck (1986)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle1 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.

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Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle1 Comment

A new review from B-Movie Enema is bounding your way!

2025 was the year of Frankenstein. Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel of a scientist who plays God and cobbles together a living thing from dead flesh finally saw the light of day. That del Toro adaptation was well-cast with Oscar Isaac playing Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi doing amazing work as the Creature. It was gorgeously shot and designed. Seeing two perspectives to tell the full story was amazing. It was solidly in my Top 10 list for last year. I’m not alone in this praise. It was nominated for many Academy Awards.

Let’s also not forget that releasing to theaters today is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reimagining of the themes of loneliness and monstrous love in Mary Shelley’s seminal work, The Bride! So, yeah, Dr. Frankenstein and his creation(s) are all over the place right now. Plus, speaking of awards, while I’m sure del Toro’s Frankenstein will be picking up at least two or three awards come next weekend, the Queen of this year’s awards season, Jessie Buckley, is celebrating her crowning achievement with another solid performance as the titular Bride. If you’re a monster kid like me, you’re eating well at the trough of Shelley’s work and the present-day adaptations.

However, it was the success of last year’s Frankenstein that got me thinking I should do something for Shelley’s creature – especially as Gyllenhaal’s feminist monster movie is hitting screens. Obviously, I’m not so sure about Guillermo’s masterpiece being what should be covered at a site like this, and I literally just watched The Bride! last night. So I needed to look elsewhere. I landed on the movie that had an eye-popping (no pun intended) box art at the video store. 1990’s Frankenstein Unbound isn’t just what we’re going to be talking about in this review, but it also serves as the final film in which the great Roger Corman was ever credited as director.

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