Wonder Women (1973)

It has been a while since I got my drive-in movie mojo going here at the site, so I thought since I’m taking a break from my most recent marathon I’d get back to the good stuff. This flick starts off with some topless ladies swimming and then doing karate. This feeds into a montage of them kidnapping world class athletes and smuggling them to an island where the dreaded Dr. Tsu uses them as spare parts to fix what ails her wealthy clients. Need a set of eyes or maybe some new legs… she has what you need… for a price!

One of her most recent acquisitions is a Jai Lai player who is insured by Lloyds of London for a cool half a million. The company brings our hero Mike in on the recovery, and he starts to unravel what is going on. This is with the help of his side kick Lapu-Lapu, played by Vic Diaz. When the local mob run by Won Ton Charlie fails to kill him on Tsu’s orders, she sends one of her lady assassins after him. But old Mike is way too sexy for her and eventually she leads him to the hidden island where there is a big showdown. Much Kung-Fu is done, bullets are shot, and the requisite basement of freaks is released to go on a killing rampage. That is about all one could ask from a movie shot in the Philippines.

Let me preface my review with the following. This is not a great movie. The actions sequences are silly, the acting is a bit wooden, and the story is goofy. Objectively there is no reason that I should have loved this as much as I did. But I love these shot in the Philippines flicks so much. They have a certain charm where the filmmakers just go for it, regardless of if they have the budget or a cohesive story to tell. Here the story is straightforward and simple in that sort of men’s magazine two fisted adventure style. The ladies are lovely, bed the fellas, and can’t resist their utter manliness leading to them betraying their bosses. Totally cheesy in that awesome drive-in “B” movie fashion that puts a smile on my face. There is always something interesting on screen and I was never bored by it.

Vic Diaz! This guy was awesome.

The cast has a lot of familiar faces that worked in the Philippines. I’ve already mentioned Vic Diaz, who was a legend and appeared is so many great movies. Here he has a decent part and gets to play second fiddle to our hero. Mike is played by Ross Hagen, who did quite a few flicks overseas and was a solid actor in “B” movies. Nancy Kwan is great as the deadly Dr. Tsu. I also recognize at least one of the lady assassins from the Women in Prison flicks made around the same time. Though my favorite is an unexpected appearance by the legendary Sid Haig as Gregorious, Dr. Tsu’s business partner, That dude can pull a ruffled shirt off like no other.

We also get some generic monsters that sort of play a part in the end, as well as some spare organs floating in jars. But this isn’t one of those that is going to lean heavily into the horrific aspects of things. Again, it is more about the action sequences, including a car chase where lots of crazy shit happens, including a great stunt with a guy getting hit by one of the cars. Only this wasn’t a stunt as they didn’t close or control the streets as they were shooting. The folks running away from the taxis weren’t acting and neither was the guy who got hit by the car! Now that is guerilla filmmaking.

I had a blast with Wonder Women and highly recommend anyone that is into these actors or the drive-in movies of the seventies to track themselves down a copy. I guarantee you will have fun with it.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

Throwback Thursday - Beyond Atlantis Blu-Ray Review/Sid Haig tribute

 note: I originally wrote this for Grindhouse Purgatory. I'm posting it here as part of the Throwback Thursdays that I occasionally do. This is part movie review, part Blu-ray review, and part musings about my love for this movie and the late Sid Haig. - John

The Blu-Ray Report: Beyond Atlantis

 

by John Shatzer

 

When Pete had mentioned wanting to do a tribute issue to the late Sid Haig, I immediately started thinking about how I could tie him into my usual article here at Grindhouse Purgatory. He appeared in so many great movies over the years that I was sure there was one with a recent Blu-Ray release that I could cover. After a few minutes it hit me that I had the new release of the drive-in classic Beyond Atlantis from the fine folks at VCI sitting in my to watch pile. A movie that I’ve always been a huge fan of. This might be the easiest decision I’ve had to make when it comes to what to cover.

In case you haven’t seen this movie, I’ll give you a brief recap of the plot. Things kick off with a fisherman, portrayed by Filipino legend Vic Diaz, dropping off some supplies to a beautiful blonde woman. She pays for them with pearls and the man leaves. As soon as he is out of sight some strange fish eyed natives come from the woods and she gives them orders while disrobing. Okay movie you have my attention.

The action then moves to the city where the same fisherman is selling the pearls to East Eddie, played by Haig. Immediately realizing the value and rarity of the pearls, he attempts to pump the man for information, but the fisherman gives nothing but where he lives. This he will regret later. Later Eddie recruits a couple other Americans, Vic and Logan, to help him locate the source of the pearls. Together they make plans for their expedition and along the way are forced to bring along a woman named Kathy. She overheard them talking and as a scientist trying to make her mark realizes the pearls they have look much like some from an ancient stone mask she has been studying. Making some connections she threatens her own expedition including getting the authorities involved if she can’t join theirs. Along with some of Eddie’s men and the crew from Vic’s boat they head off.

After a quick stop at the fisherman’s village, where they rough him up for the location of the mysterious island, they arrive at their destination. They find some abandoned huts, but eventually do meet up with the natives. You have the odd-looking locals, those fish eyed natives mentioned earlier, as well as the beautiful woman and her father. We find out her name is Syrene and her father is Nereus. I’m jumping ahead a bit here but since it is in the title it should come as no surprise that they are descendants of refugees from the lost city of Atlantis. The timing of their arrival couldn’t be better since it is time for Syrene to mate with an outsider. Once that is accomplished then they can be committed to the sea… which is a nice way of saying they are going to murder the hell out of them! Some shenanigans go down with rejection, jealousy, greed, and a couple other sins before we get the explosive and somewhat odd ending.

Let me chat about my personal connection with Beyond Atlantis before I get into the general discussion of the qualities of the movie. I’ve mentioned more than once in these pages that I grew up with a lot of these films. This isn’t one of them. My first exposure to Beyond Atlantis was at Cinema Wasteland, a convention that I’m sure many of you readers are familiar with. They were showing the movie on 16mm film one Saturday night and I plopped down to watch it and was sucked right in. The next morning, I went looking in the dealer’s room for a copy of the movie to take home with me. The only thing available at the time was a bootleg that I think was sourced from another 16mm print. I can say that because I went right home and watched it again noticing different defects from what I had seen the night before. For years this was the best version that I could find, but I’ll save that discussion for later.

Now to the movie itself. The plot is tight and quickly introduces our characters before setting them off towards the island. It doesn’t feel rushed at all, but you still get a good idea who Vic, East Eddie, and Logan are in just a couple scenes. This includes some killer dialogue from Haig’s Eddie that lets you know where he is coming from right away. The line to one of his working girls, “You go pop for papa” sums his character up nicely. Toss in a fun bit of dialogue at the bar with Logan and Vic to cement who is playing what role in the rest of the story. For the most part the pacing of the story is perfect. Though as much as I love Beyond Atlantis, I will admit that some of the underwater scenes do drag, but the stuff surrounding them more than makes up for it. No matter how many times I watch it I’m never bored.

The great Vic Diaz

The cast for the movie is very impressive and includes John Ashley who was a frequent collaborator with director Eddie Romero and helped produce many of his movies in the seventies. I thought it was fun to see Ashely get a chance to play a heel here as he was normally cast as the romantic lead/hero. His character Logan is a greedy, womanizing, compulsive gambler that is always looking for an angle to score big. Patrick Wayne, yes John Wayne’s son is in this, plays the stoic good guy Vic. This role reminded me of a lot of his father’s western characters as he is fairly quiet. Wayne is decent but honestly is by far the least interesting of our leads. Vic Diaz has a very small part in the movie, but it is memorable. The guy is a legend in Filipino entertainment and pops up in a lot of the productions made for the U.S. market.

Finally, we come to Sid Haig’s performance. The guy was awesome in just about everything that he appeared in so there were a lot of movies to choose from. As much as I enjoy his collaborations with Jack Hill and his renaissance as Captain Spaulding later on this is my favorite performance/movie from his legendary career. From the moment he is on screen Haig owns every scene he appears in. Not only is he physically imposing but his quick dialogue delivery blows everyone else away. I have a feeling that director Eddie Romero knew this as he basically gives him all the best lines. This is the movie that made me appreciate who Haig was as a performer and in my humble opinion also laid the groundwork for what was to come. I think that East Eddie has more than a little bit of Captain Spaulding in him.

Since I’m reviewing the Blu-Ray release and not just the movie I suppose I should talk about the special features. This is easy because there isn’t much offered on this release from VCI. You do get a fifteen-minute-long short titled Remembering John Ashley which I was very interested in. The guy did a lot of work and not much is out there on his career but sadly this didn’t meet my expectations. If you have seen the excellent Machete Maidens documentary, then you will recognize most of this material as being recycled from it. There are interviews with Sid Haig, Patrick Wayne, and Eddie Romero to name just a few. But sadly, they couldn’t even give Ashley his fifteen minutes as halfway thru it becomes all about working with Eddie Romero. I was bummed by this. The rest of the features are the typical inclusion of television spots, theatrical trailer, and photo gallery. Not much to it at all. Though I’ve saved the best for last.

Sid Haig was one of a kind.

Remember way back when I was yammering on about my personal experiences with Beyond Atlantis and watching it for the first time at Cinema Wasteland and then searching out a copy? From that point until this Blu-Ray the only I could ever find were from 16mm prints and even worse the occasional VHS rip. The latter being inevitably dreadful. This time around I was watching a digital transfer from a 35mm negative and oh my God it was like watching the movie for the first time. The picture and sound are amazing and genuinely blew me away. I’ve revisited it twice in the week since my first viewing and I still shocked by how good it is.

I’m dangerously close to totally nerding out here so I’ll stop. Clearly, I love Beyond Atlantis and this release made me very happy. For many years I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that this was my favorite drive-in movie. It also has one of Sid Haig’s best performances and just got a beautiful new release. Does it get any better than this? I don’t think so and highly recommend that anyone reading this go out and get themselves a copy.

This brings things to a close. As always you can email me at gutmunchers@gmail.com with any questions or comments on this latest installment of the Blu-Ray Report. Agree or disagree I’d love to hear from you. Though if you disagree on this one you had better bring your “A” game cause I’m ready! I’ll see you all again here on the pages of this fine publication in six months to either steer you towards or away from the latest release. And as always, I can’t thank 42^nd Street Pete enough for the chance to participate in such a great project.

 

 

Ó Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

           

Night of the Cobra Woman (1972)

I found another shot in the Philippines movie to review here for the website. This one kicks off with some nurses looking for plants to help their patients. This must happen during World War II since a Japanese soldier shows up and rapes one of them, leaving her for dead. Luckily the other, Lena, went into a nearby cave and was bitten by a snake. One that just so happened to be a God! That allows her to save her friend because you know… snake magic!

The action then jumps forward to “today” being the early seventies when this was made. There is an American student in Manilla studying antivenom and she decides that she must find the legendary Firebrand cobra. That leads her to a still young Lena and all sorts of shenanigans ensue. When Joanna, the American girl, tells her boyfriend about her search he heads out to see Lena. That is a bad idea because not only is he bitten by a cobra, but Lena then falls in love with him. This is unfortunate since she isn’t kind to her lovers, draining them of their “years” and leaving them old men. Luckily, snake venom will temporarily reverse the process. This all leads to a big showdown where I think evil wins. Yeah, it really does.

This is a low budget cheesy drive-in movie that is silly in all the best ways. The story is a bit confusing at times but serves the purpose of getting Lena her victims while providing an excuse for her to disrobe. Most importantly is the plot is tight and there is always something interesting happening on screen. You will not be bored by this movie. The acting is passable, and the cast are trying their best with what is a silly idea. Speaking of actors, I absolutely love Vic Diaz in this movie. He plays a dual role as the hunchbacked child born of the rape as well as the Japanese soldier who fathered him. Neither role has any dialogue, but he excels as Lope, the hunchback, hopping and squealing thru his scenes. Seriously this dude is a treasure of the drive-in genre. I also did a double take when I recognized actress Joy Bang in the role of Joanna. She was in one of my favorites Messiah of Evil the following year. She didn’t work a lot seeming to retire in the early seventies, so it was neat to see her show up here.

Cobra Eyes!

The makeup effects are goofy looking though all the skin peeling did creep me out. Though that might just be a personal hang up. Unfortunately, the rest of the gore is real. There are cock fights, an eagle killing a snake, and another snake getting chopped up. I’m not terribly squeamish myself having grown up hunting but it sucks seeing animals killed for the purposes of entertainment. It didn’t spoil the movie for me as this was common in the Philippines and part of the culture, but it did bug me. If you are sensitive to that sort of thing, be warned.

I like this movie. It checks a lot of those must have drive-in movie boxes. A small cast doing their best. Just a couple locations for most of the shoot. Special effects on a low budget. And an attitude of just going for it. This isn’t a perfect flick at all, but Night to the Cobra Woman does have its moments. I recommend checking it out.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

 

 

Beyond Atlantis (1973)

 

note: This review is part of a larger series that I’m doing on the Filipino exploitation and horror movies made in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. While it isn’t necessary to read those to enjoy this review, I do reference them so recommend that you start reading from the beginning of the series. The list of those can be found here.

The movie kicks off with a fisherman named Manuel, played by the legendary Filipino actor Vic Diaz, trading some supplies to a beautiful young woman. Taking the rare pearls he receives in payment to the big city he meets East Eddie, played by another legend Sid Haig. Realizing what is being offered Eddie tries to get the location of the woman’s island from Manuel but fails. He does however find out where the fisherman lives which is important later on. Using the few pearls he has Eddie recruits a couple other Americans named Logan and Vic to help him locate the source and harvest the rest. Along the way a lady scientist manages to cajole her way onto the boat by threatening to organize her own trip to the island and drawing attention to what they are up to.

The group arrives and after some shenanigans including the best use of crabs in a booby trap ever they finally meet the locals. The beautiful young woman is Syrene and her father is Nereus. He is king and she is princess. Their loyal subjects are strange fish eyed natives that we find out later are mutated due to their time spent diving underwater and inbreeding. If you haven’t figured it out yet they are the source of the pearls. There are also connections made between those living on the island and the ancient lost city of Atlantis as well as the royal bloodline being kept pure by them mating with outsiders. I suppose that explains the lack of fisheyes… Syrene is supposed to choose one of our protagonists to mate with and then they and the rest will be killed. Of course, they are blinded by the pearls and don’t realize the natives are using them as an excuse to delay their departure. It all ends in an explosive and somewhat odd manner.

By now the names of director Eddie Romero and actor John Ashley should be very familiar. Beyond Atlantis is yet another collaboration between the two, though not in any way part of the Blood Island series. It does follow the very familiar formula of outsiders arriving on an island, this time in search of treasure, and leaving it in much worse shape than when they arrived. Though I did notice the lack of monsters and nudity that dominated those earlier films. After some research I found that when they cast Patrick Wayne as Vic, he insisted the movie have a PG rating and thus a lot of the more exploitative stuff was left out. I know that might bug some viewers, but I feel like it gives the movie some of its charm.

I’ve already mentioned Ashley and Wayne, so I’d be remiss in not saying something about our other male lead, Sid Haig. He is simply awesome as East Eddie dropping some lines of dialogue that always make me laugh. The character is a shifty criminal type involved in all sorts of criminal behavior which is why we get lines like “Go pop for Poppa” when he is talking to one of his working girls. Haig brings a gleeful over the top performance that carries the movie. I get that I shouldn’t be rooting for the violent criminal, but I’ll be damned if I don’t want him to win! Dare I say there are some shades of Captain Spaulding in this character?

The only negative that I will bring up is that they seemed to be in love with some of the underwater footage that was shot. We do get several scenes of them diving to get the pearls as well as some general aquatic horseplay. While I don’t mind it that much it does drag down the pacing a bit and feels a bit like padding. Other than that the movie is solid in both the story and action. Like I mentioned in the synopsis we do get some explosions as well as a gunfight and even a random piranha scene! This movie has it all. 

I love Beyond Atlantis and consider it one of my favorite drive-in movies of all time. Director Eddie Romero had the formula down by this time and delivers a fun romp. The cast is excellent with Haig standing out from the others. When he passed away I started thinking about all the characters he portrayed over the years and I came to the conclusion that East Eddie is probably my favorite. Considering how many great roles he had that is saying a lot.

Is the movie a bit cheesy? It is, but that is why you watch it. Clearly, I’m recommending you check it out. When you do, I’d also recommend getting a copy of the new Blu-Ray from VCI. For years your only option was to pick up a VHS rip or a DVD sourced from a 16mm print. But this new disc has a transfer from a 35mm negative and looks amazing.

 

© Copyright 2020 John Shatzer