Lily Tomlin remakes a classic as we wrap up January 1981
Plus a Polish classic makes its American debut and a silent classic gets a special showcase
Time to wrap up this first month of 1981. There’s a rhythm to this that I remember from recording ‘80s All Over, a way that each year in the ‘80s is shaped, and the start of the year is always going to have a few months of very strange programming before we launch into the real meat of the release schedule.
When I’m breaking these up, I like to have at least one “big” film in each installment, but a month like January 1981 really tests that, and just by the luck of the draw, it feels like this last installment is the meatiest of the three. I still don’t think this is a great line-up, but at least there’s a wide range of titles.
Also, there’s a little something special at the end of this installment, a regular feature from the podcast that I was hoping I wouldn’t have to break out for the newsletter. Let’s just say there was a boner… and it might have gotten pulled.
But before we get there, let’s jump back in with the next to last weekend of the month and a movie that had a great poster…
JANUARY 23
Blood Beach
David Huffman, Marianna Hill, Burt Young, Otis Young, Lena Pousette, John Saxon, Darrell Fetty, Stefan Gierasch, Eleanor Zee, Pamela McMyler, Harriet Medin, Mickey Fox, Laura Burkett, Marleta Giles, Jacqueline Randall, Don Barlow, David Wysong, Charles Rowe Rook, John Joseph Thomas, Julie Dolan, Sandra Friebel, Christopher Franklin, Bobby Bass, Reed Morgan, Barney Pell, Marcus Chong, Mary Jo Catlett, Ian Ambercrombie, Robert Newirth, Lavelle Roby, Jimmy Ogg, Lynne Fienerman, Steve Finkel, David Jacob, Stefanie Auerbach, Steve Ballard, Judy Walker, Muriel Bakcha, Lynne Marta
cinematography by Steven Poster
music by Gil Mellé
screenplay by Jeffrey Bloom
story by Jeffrey Bloom and Steven Nalavansky
produced by Steven Nalavansky
directed by Jeffrey Bloom
Rated R
1 hr 32 mins
A monster living beneath the sand starts eating people on Santa Monica Beach.
There are a few moments in this film where it lurches to life and you get a glimpse of the fun, unapologetic exploitation film it could have been. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them.
That poster promises something fun. A movie about monsters that live under the sand of a Santa Monica beach, eating people, is fun. You’ve got John Saxon, Burt Young, and Otis Young (no relation) all starring. Fun, right? So why isn’t the film actually fun? For one thing, it’s way too focused on the cops who are investigating the disappearances. This movie shamelessly borrows from Jaws, among other sources, and the movie’s opening scene is a clever inversion of what we expect based on Jaws. A lady sits on the beach watching a man go out for a moonlight swim, but instead of him getting attacked, she’s the one who gets eaten by something that pulls her under the sand, leaving her dog behind. This sets up a running joke that we’ll see duplicated by Blake Edwards in S.O.B., and it establishes Harry (David Huffman), the guy who went swimming, as our lead.
It’s a film that leans on monster-movie cliche, but it is not entirely without merit. There’s something brute-force-effective about the image of a person being eaten by the sand, and director Jeffrey Bloom stages those scenes well. I like the actual design of the monster and I think the film wisely holds the reveal until the right moment. But with a human cast this packed with solid character actors, this should be more fun in-between the monster moments, and it’s not. It’s clear that the actors are all trying, doing everything they can, and whatever joy there is to be found in the the majority of the film comes down to Bloom letting his actors riff off each other. This feel ultra low-budget and I’m guessing the majority of the $2 million budget was just locking down actors you recognized. If you find the poster and the premise irresistible, Blood Beach isn’t awful, but I can’t really call it a good film, either.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Last '80s Newsletter (You'll Ever Need) to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.