Tag: tv movie

Pajama Tops (1983)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

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

January 2025 has been dedicated to Pia Zadora. Right here in the middle of the month dedicated to the lil’ starlet is not a feature film shown on the big screen. We’re going to look at the 1983 TV movie Pajama Tops. This “movie” was directed by Robert Iscove. Iscove has a whole lot of credits on his filmography. This includes a LOT of TV stuff. He directed episodes of Wiseguy, Star Trek: The Next Generation, 21 Jump Street, The Flash, American Playhouse, Great Performances, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

However, Iscove then made two kind of famous movies. One is famous for being one of those 90s movies that gained a huge fanbase and the other is kind of infamous. The one with the fanbase is 1999’s She’s All That. Yeah, everyone loves She’s All That, right? Rachel Leigh Cook, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Paul Walker! Yeah! We love those guys. However, the other film that isn’t so well-liked is 2003’s From Justin to Kelly. That’s the movie that starred the winner and runner-up of the very first season of American Idol – Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini.

Can you believe American Idol is still going?!?

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Portrait of a Showgirl (1982)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Well well well… Look at what the cat dragged in… You guys! I love you guys!

Welcome to another review here at B-Movie Enema. This week, we’ve got ourselves a TV movie. Not only that but a TV movie that is also a Primetime Emmy nominee from 1982! This week, I’ll be talking about Portrait of a Showgirl. Now, check it out… Somewhere along the way, this movie also got titled Portrait of a Stripper. My guess is that the second title there was a little sexier and so it became marketable. I’m not sure if the movie could have been aired on network television as Portrait of a Stripper back then. However, could it have been named that for home video or a cable release? It would certainly be a tiny bit more provocative and attract a little more attention.

Either way, the movie stars some pretty recognizable folk who I’ll talk about here shortly. Directing this TV movie is a director who did a bunch of them. In fact, it’s not even the first time I’ve brought him up. Steven Hilliard Stern made this movie four years after directing the season five finale of B-Movie Enema: The Series – The Ghost of Flight 401. Wait… did I say I talked about Steven Hilliard Stern? I’m sorry, that episode was hosted by Geoff Bob Buckle, that smooth-talkin’ film enthusiast from possibly Texas. I sometimes forget that I took that week off. I do know that he was also the director of the bitchin’ Rolling Vengeance that was about a kid customizing his own revenge death machine. I guess you could say that it was a good year for Steven Hilliard Stern here at B-Movie Enema. As for his career, in just under 30 years, he racked up over 60 credits with a vast majority of those being either episodes of TV shows or TV movies like the one we’re looking at today.

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The Birds II: Land’s End (1994)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Welcome to this week’s B-Movie Enema. We’ve got ourselves one of the all-time most ill-advised sequels for this week’s review. Yup, it’s the 1994 made-for-television shitbomb The Birds II: Land’s End.

If we were to start with the fact that The Birds II was an Alan Smithee film, you’d understand something kind of interesting in terms of the history of this blog. This is the very first time I’ve ever covered a movie directed by the notable Alan Smithee. The Alan Smithee moniker was a famous pseudonym given to movies in which the director refused to take credit. Basically, it’s for troubled productions and movies so bad the director just throws his hands up and disowns it. It wasn’t supposed to be a thing we outsiders were to be aware of. It was only after mainstream attention was brought to the pseudonym in the late 90s did the Directors Guild of America retire the name.

The Birds II was actually directed by Rick Rosenthal. We know Rosenthal for Halloween: Resurrection. However, he made a far superior Halloween sequel when he did Halloween II in 1981. Rosenthal has done stuff all up and down the scale of good and not-so-good. But he’s mostly worked in television and has been nominated twice for Primetime Emmys.

It’s not totally out of bounds to think that a Hitchcock film could have a sequel. Psycho II is quite a good film and Psycho III is notable for being kind of kooky in interesting ways. But, outside the various sequels and other things based on Psycho, no other property of Hitchcock’s garnered a sequel up through the 1980s. So, the thought of making a TV movie sequel for The Birds seemed ill-advised at best and downright sacrilegious at worst. Considering the budget, the quality of actors, the cheapness of how it looked, and Rosenthal needing his name removed and replaced by Alan Smithee, The Birds II: Land’s End takes the cake for having a pretty awful reputation.

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I’m Dangerous Tonight (1990)

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Hello and welcome to B-Movie Enema.  This week, I’m gonna discuss something I’ve wanted to do for a while – Tobe Hooper’s 1990 made-for-television thriller I’m Dangerous Tonight.

Now, the easy joke here is to say that “I’m Dangerous Tonight” is something I’d exclaim after a Crave Case of sliders from White Castle, but…  Actually.  Wait.  That’s a pretty good one.  I’m pretty bummed I didn’t lead with that.

Eh…  Never mind.  There’s a lot here I could discuss.  You have Tobe Hooper in the director’s chair.  The fact this was a TV movie and not a cinematic release.  Mädchen Amick lookin’ gooood.  Anthony Perkins is right there on the poster…    Yeah.  I guess I can go with other things than a farty poop joke. Continue reading “I’m Dangerous Tonight (1990)” →

Poison Ivy: The Secret Society (2008)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Man, I love girls dangerously exploring their own sensuality.

That’s just a simple fact.  It has nothing to do with this blog.  I just like it when girls get a little cuckoo over the bone.  Who doesn’t?

I’m also a big fan of the Poison Ivy movies.

That has a lot more to do with this blog – and today’s entry in particular.  Back in December of 2016, we looked at the second entry in this series, 1996’s Poison Ivy II: Lily, starring Alyssa Milano.  A third movie came out a year later starring Jaime Pressly.  For a little over a decade, the series laid dormant until a fourth film, Poison Ivy: The Secret Society, came along. Continue reading “Poison Ivy: The Secret Society (2008)” →