Tag: science fiction

Dr. Caligari (1989)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

It’s December here at B-Movie Enema Industries, and that means things are getting a little cold. But I’ve got something to warm the bones. By that, I mean something really weird. This week, I’m looking at the avant-garde 1989 Dr. Caligari.

I don’t want to say this is a remake of the German expressionism classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but let’s try to sort all this out. That original version I just mentioned was released in 1920. This was during a time of massive film experimentation in post-World War I Germany. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one of the most influential early films in history. While 1922’s Nosferatu is a more influential monster film, Caligari twisted the way a story could be told. That wasn’t just a clever way of using the word twisted to describe the look of the film. There are multiple reads about how the narrative plays out.

Dr. Caligari, in the original that is, was a man who went from town to town and did sideshow-like performances with his somnambulist, Cesare, who is forced to obey his every command. Cesare is Caligari’s instrument of revenge against those who wronged him. It turns out that the character who is telling this story is actually a patient in an asylum. Caligari is actually the head doctor there. The other main characters, Cesare, and the girl whom Cesare falls in love with, Jane, are also inmates. It’s an early example of a twist ending and an unreliable narrator in a film.

Continue reading “Dr. Caligari (1989)” →

Krull (1983)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, Enemaniacs! I’ve got a bit of a feast for you for this week’s B-Movie Enema review.

In the early 80s, there were a couple of phenomena going on. The first was the re-emergence of the sword and sorcery or sword and sandal movies. That was mostly due to the popularity of 1982’s Conan the Barbarian but I would also count 1981’s Clash of the Titans as also being an inspiration for the genre of fantasy action films. The other big phenomenon was the adventure sci-fi genre thanks to the huge success of 1977’s Star Wars and 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back.

If you really think about it, Star Wars isn’t really science fiction. More accurately, it would be called space opera. That means it’s a little more fantasy than true science fiction. Star Trek is the more true action science fiction type of movie where it both features some action and adventure but also tackles other concepts that are more sci-fi in nature. The advancements made in special effects also made for movies that could feature more lasers and spaceships and different types of creatures, though maybe the last one would be more due to advancements in makeup effects and artistry. That brings us to this week’s topic, 1983’s Krull.

Continue reading “Krull (1983)” →

Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983)

Published on by Geoff Arbuckle2 Comments

We had ourselves a rough one last week, my dear Enemaniacs. The only way to make up for that? Reb Brown.

Oh yes, save us all, Reb! We need salvation from shitty robot ladies who weren’t robots but also maybe brainwashed but weren’t brainwashed. We need something Italian. We need something French. We need something Turkish. We need Yor, the Hunter from the Future!

Welcome to this looooong overdue review for B-Movie Enema. I picked up this Blu-Ray when it was released several years ago with the intention for this to be covered here. I don’t know what kept me from fulfilling that promise the day it arrived, but here we are.

This movie is, indeed, an Italian-French-Turkish co-production. I’ve only once before delved into the world of Turkish cinema, but know they like making movies. They really like making movies that look and play out like American films. But you know the Italians like doing that too. With the Italian side of the production comes director Antonio Margheriti. Margheriti did a lot of lower-budget stuff and was mostly doing the typical Italian genres of crime action films, science fiction, spaghetti westerns, and horror. Notably, Margheriti made films like Castle of Blood starring Barbara Steele, Cannibal Apocalypse starring John Saxon, Death Rage starring Yul Brynner in his final role, and several action movies with David Warbeck.

Continue reading “Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983)” →

The Stepford Wives (1975)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

I might need to tread lightly this week, my dear Enemaniacs.

Welcome to this week’s B-Movie Enema. The featured movie for this review is the 1975 version of The Stepford Wives. The film was based on a novel of the same name by author Ira Levin. Levin is actually quite the author. All but a couple of his novels were adapted into fairly large Hollywood productions. Aside from The Stepford Wives, which was adapted twice with this version having a trio of TV movie sequels, he was also the author of Rosemary’s Baby, The Boys from Brazil, Sliver, and A Kiss Before Dying (this was also adapted into two different films). On top of that, Levin was also a playwright. Several of those plays were also adapted into films as well.

The original 1972 novel of The Stepford Wives is classified as a satirical horror novel. In fact, it was an early example of “feminist horror”. Which, today, seems weird. I mean, in that era, I guess it would have to be a dude writing a feminist something. Today, it might not quite fly. Generally, the novel seemed to go over fairly well, though. It had some themes it wanted to explore.

Continue reading “The Stepford Wives (1975)” →

Flesh Gordon (1974)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Some weeks ago, I took a look at the 1972 cult, adult, animated classic Fritz the Cat. In that review, I talked about that movie having a reputation that precedes itself. Just the title almost gives it a mythical aura. I mentioned a couple other movies in that review, and one of those is the topic of this week’s B-Movie Enema review – Flesh Gordon.

Obviously, 1974’s Flesh Gordon is a sex parody of the classic Flash Gordon serials of the early days of swashbuckling matinees. So I guess we should start with the subgenre itself. The sex comedy actually goes waaaaay back to ancient Greek theatre. Basically, it’s farcical sex. This carried into the Roman times which actually then became the major influence of what we know as situational comedies, better referred to as the sitcom.

In the mid to late 17th century, of all peoples, the English brought the sex comedy back into popularity. However, the origins, and the eventual influence, of Flesh Gordon can go to a period of the 50s and earlier 60s when Hollywood would have these cheeky romantic comedies that were charged with a bit of sex appeal. This was directly influenced by the early sexual revolution of Playboy magazine being introduced and sexologist Alfred Kinsey of Indiana University studying the sex lives of women. This would eventually bring us to the late 60s and early 70s when Hollywood itself would shift to a new style and way of business and indie filmmakers looking for a start would make a whole bunch of scandalous comedies that could play with the new lifestyles that grew out of the late 60s as well as nudity and much more open discussion of sex lives.

Continue reading “Flesh Gordon (1974)” →

Nightwish (1989)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Welcome to a new review right here at B-Movie Enema.

Nightwish is one I’ve wanted to do for some time. The primary reason is that I saw this some years ago on the defunct Roku channel that we all love and miss, Bizarre TV. This movie has a nice mix of spooky horror business and sci-fi elements. And when I think about it, this is kind of what you might expect in the late 80s moving into the early 90s now that the genre was moving beyond the, at the time, quickly deflating slasher subgenre.

This movie is somewhat unremarkable when it comes to the behind the scenes business. Director Bruce R. Cook made only two films in his directorial career. This was his second of those. Interestingly, the art direction is quite good, though. It calls back memories of something that Stuart Gordon would have made. These would be movies like Re-Animator and From Beyond, and it really should look like that because the art direction on Nightwish was done by Robert A. Burns, the art director on Re-Animator and From Beyond – as well as other genre classics like The Howling, Tourist Trap, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He also did two more B-Movie Enema alumni Disco Godfather and the B-Movie Enema: The Series selection Microwave Massacre.

Not a bad career if you ask me.

Continue reading “Nightwish (1989)” →

The Killer Eye (1999)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Tentacle sex.

It’s a whole thing, ain’t it? Mostly, it’s known to be a Japanese fetish thing but we like to flirt with it over here in America from time to time. If we could draft a guy to make a movie to do a little more than flirt with it, my #1 pick would be David DeCoteau. How could you not?

Welcome to a new B-Movie Enema review, and, for this third chapter of our theme month called Full Moon Fever III: For the Love of Jacqueline Lovell, we’re going to take a look at the 1999 sci-fi/horror/sexploitation flick The Killer Eye. There’s a lot to talk about here in the lead up. First of all, we’ve already looked at the sequel to this movie, Killer Eye: Halloween Haunt, waaaaay back in the first Full Moon Fever in 2017. That one was directly made by the main man of Full Moon himself, Charles Band. However, that was during a time in which Band was kind of cranking out much, much lower budget films than he did before. It’s a cheap movie that just has the Killer Eye prop itself actually being a real Killer Eye and going around and zapping babes in the eyes and making them do sexy things. It’s got some qualities, but none of those are in the plot, if you know what I mean.

Continue reading “The Killer Eye (1999)” →