Beyond Atlantis — Beyond Atlantis( Blu Ray & DVD)
Beyond Atlantis came out in 1973- been one of the two films Romero made in that year, the other being the decidedly more sleazy women-in-jungle-prison movie Black Mama White Mama. As a director Eddie Romero had a long, and highly prolific career- making 55 films between 1947 and 2008- he dipped his toes in most exploitation sub-genres, but is probably most known for his Blood Island films, which saw him offering up a decidedly z-grade blend of lo-fi monsters, 60’s gore, fleeting female flesh- and a truck full of cheesiness.
As Romero films go Beyond Atlantis is fairly well, shot, cast & made- with some particularly impressive underwater camera work. Compared with his Blood Island films- it really has zero gory & zero nudity- though it does have crappy monster make-up, which is basically bug-eyed masks the aquatic tribe wear. The films plot sees pimp/ small-time crook Fast Eddie- played wonderful by a young Sid Haig- getting his hands on pearls as payment for a job from a local fisherman. And fairly soon he & a group of drivers- headed up by Romero regular John Ashley, are off to find the island where the pearls came from. They find a part amphibious tribe led up by blonde bombshell Leigh Christian- who is one of the few without the stuck on bug eyes, and convinces them to give up their pearls.
As I mentioned in my opening paragraph this is very much Sunday afternoon fooder- with slightly quirky & campy twists. It’s basically just a low-grade/ mainly effect-less fantasy adventure film- with lots and lots of undersea footage of the tribe & Christian in her figure-hugging & pearl edged bikini. There are moments of sly humour, one or two fairly dramatic flights, and a ton of cheesy dialogue. Personally I found it all a bit too safe & not wacky enough- I think I would have enjoyed it as a child more, but now it just feels a little too light & uneventful- but if you’re a fan of Eddie Romero, and the more campy/frivolous side of the Filipino exploitation genre I think you could get a kick out of this.
The new print of the film looks great- really enhancing the very impressive underwater footage scenes. The commentary track features filmmaker, Howard S. Berger and filmmaker/ Pinoy film historian, Andrew Leavold- and the pair are huge fans of the Filipino exploitation scene- they give a chatty, through very informative & impassioned track- talking about the scene in general- as well as key figures & actors, going onto focus on the film to hand- if your interested in the scene I’m sure this will be highly fascinating. Next, we get an around twenty-minute feattreet discussing John Ashley, as well as a trailer. You also get a fairly lengthy write-up/ essay from Howard Berger- discussing the film, and it’s place in the wider Filipino exploitation scene.
I guess I went into Beyond Atlantis expecting at least a little sleazy, blood & oddness- but sadly it’s just a campy & light action fantasy with some fleeting quirkiness & laughs running it through it. As I said early it just wasn’t for me- but if your either a fan of 70’s campy fantasy or the lighter side of Filipino exploitation- then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.