Beyond Atlantis

To say that you've seen an Eddie Romero film that's actually enjoyable for its merits than its inconsistencies is a lot like saying you've seen an Andy Milligan film that's just okay. Anyway, BEYOND ATLANTIS is a fond memory from the good old days of late night television viewing... before the tube was taken over by relentless ads for salad spinners.

From MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND to BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA, Romero's films are sweaty hybrids of 1940's RKO B-adventure programmers, tinny melodrama and 1970's exploitation elements. Regardless of how bad his films get (and you can't get much worse than BRIDES OF BLOOD), they are still curiously affecting.

This entertaining, well-shot adventure-fantasy concerns some cut-throats looking for undersea treasure being protected by amphibian-like humanoids (featuring the lovely Leigh Christian). The movie is genuinely well-made, with a surprisingly energetic shootout finale, and some interestingly surreal moments, like when the troublesome brood is suddenly surrounded by the amphibian people (who wear these interesting crustacean-like things on their heads). Plus, there's a few unintentional giggles when one of the men mates with the mermaid girl underwater. In all, a totally engaging movie. I'm glad it has resurfaced in the DVD world-- it will be fun to see this again after so many years.

A fisherman (the always amusing Vic Diaz) heads to the big city to sell some rare pearls to the local pimp/dealer/criminal of all trades East Eddie(trash cinema king Sid Haig). Smelling more money where that came from, Eddie rounds up a crew for an expedition to the source of the gems. Fence Logan (John Ashley), scuba diver Vic (Patrick Wayne) and a lovely lady scientist Katherine (Lenore Stevens, who is quite beautiful) head off in search of this island for fame, career advancement(Katherine) and a small fortune in pearls (everyone else).

The island is populated by some laughably bug eyed villagers(their "eyes" are masks/headdresses that look like they belong in a primary school Halloween parade) ruled over by the slinky blonde Syrene (Leigh Christian)who spends the entire film amply filling a brief bikini. They are accommodating of the outsiders initially, because they need Syrene to mate with one of them to insure the survival of the fish/half mer people/whatever.

Folks get greedy, natives get suspicious and betrayal, mayhem and general silliness ensues.

The underwater photography is of better quality than you'd expect, both female leads are attractive in skimpy sunwear, John Ashley is kept to a minimum of stinking up the joint, and Sid Haig gives us his usual delightful scene stealing.

In addition, for a PG film, "Beyond Atlantis" manages to hit a lot of exploitation touch points ( abundant skin showing, a Syrene vs. Katherine catfight, some piranha action, explosions, a giggle inducing underwater "mating" scene and Sig Haig's sleazy heavy delivering goofy machismo camp with style).

Lightweight and by no means a classic with a rather unsatisfying ending, "Beyond Atlantis" is still a fun little trifle of the drive in era, and worth watch if you have a few hours to spare.

Needless to say that I had never actually heard about this 1973 movie from writers Charles Eric Johnson and Stephanie Rothman. I happened to stumble upon it by random chance here in 2024, and opted to give it a fair chance, as I had never seen it, nor heard about it. I figured that it was an adventure movie of sorts, given the movie's cover and synopsis.

The storyline in the movie was fair enough. It made for adequate entertainment, but it was lacking a bit in the excitement department, because the movie had a rather monotonous pacing to it.

I will say that the movie was off to a good start when I saw that it had Sid Haig on the cast list. Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with Sid Haig and Vic Diaz. But it should be noted that the acting performances were fair.

The bug-eyed people were the source of a good laugh. It just made zero sense, and it was nearly impossible to take it serious. I can only guess at what the writers where thinking when they came up with the idea for that thing.

The music in the movie was a bit too over-dramatic, and it sort of added a comical aspect to the movie. Instead of actually being suspenseful or exciting, or whatever they were aiming at, it just came out ridiculous, and it was a rather swing and a miss with the music.

Watchable, sure, but not an outstanding or particularly memorable movie. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of director Eddie Romero's 1973 movie "Beyond Atlantis" lands on a four out of ten stars.

A gang of thieves and adventurers : John Ashley , scuba driver Patrick Wayne , pimp Sig Haig , Leonore Stevens , Vic Díaz go to an tropical island looking for hot pearls, there they confront the native islanders ruled by Nereus : George Nader , as they are really determined to keep their sacred treasure well hildden . These islanders have enormous eyes and allegedlly their ascendants were from lost continent of Atlantis . Their Spawning Ground... The Ocean Epths ! Forgotten by nature .. invaded by modern man...half human...half fish!

An adventure movie with thrills , emotion , shootouts , gorgeous photography and lots of underwater scenes. The tale is silly and laughable but effects and action are quite well . Some illogic parts in the plot are more than compensated for the excitement provided by the underwater images , the colorful coral reef and bikini-dressed mermaid Leigh Christian. It follows in the wake of the films directed by Kevin Connor of the 70s set in fantastic islands such as "Land that Time forgot" , "At the Earth's Core" , "Warlord of Atlantis" , "The People that Time Forgot" , usually starred Doug McClure or Patrick Wayne himself . An agreeable cast mostly formed by B-actors as John Wayne's son : Patrick Wayne , John Ashley , Sid Haig , George Nader and Vic Díaz , Eddie Romero's regular .

It displays a colorful cinematography that's the best factor of the movie , being shot on location in the Philippines Islands . This cheesy motion picture was professionaly directed by Eddie Romero , though has several flaws and gaps . This Philippino director usually collaborated with John Ashley and Roger Corman and he made a lot of films of exploitation and all kinds of genres as Terror, Women In Prison , Adventures , Wartime , Thrillers , outstanding the following ones : Black Mama White Mama , Savage Sisters , Terror is a Man , Day of the Trumpet, Mad Doctor of Blood Island , The Woman Hunt , Raiders of Leyte Gulf , Beast of Blood , Mad Doctor of Blood Island , among others . Rating : 5/10 . Passable and acceptable . The movie will appeal to adventure fans.

A group of fortune hunters - diver Logan (John Ashley), pimp East Eddie (Sid Haig), and boat owner Vic (Patrick Wayne) - travel by boat to a remote island where they hope to gather a fortune in rare pearls from the seabed. Also along for the trip: sexy redhead boffin Kathy (Lenore Stevens) who is looking to make an important scientific discovery. However, with the island inhabited by strange mutants who don't take kindly to strangers, will the adventurers and the lady scientist succeed in their missions or die trying?

Beyond Atlantis opens with chubby Filipino Manuel (played by chubby Filipino cult actor Vic Diaz) arriving on a tropical island with beautiful blonde Syrene (played by beautiful blonde Leigh Christian), where the lovely lady hands over a handful of pearls in exchange for supplies. Syrene then strips to a skimpy bikini, and heads for her village, arriving just in time to witness an intruder getting a spear in his back while bug-eyed natives look on.

It's a promising start to what looks set to be an entertaining piece of trashy exploitation; however, it has been my experience that the presence of Vic Diaz is seldom the sign of a great film. Or even a so-bad-it's-good film. More often than not, he appears in virtually unwatchable junk. While Beyond Atlantis isn't the worst film he's appeared in, it definitely goes downhill after the opening sequence, with way too much in the way of boring underwater scenes, and not nearly enough in the way of a decent plot or exciting action.

After much swimming - so much swimming - things do eventually pick up for a rousing final act, in which a native is eaten by piranhas, Haig blows up the islanders' temple, and Syrene and Kathy have a catfight (made all the more entertaining by being set to a piece of library music called The Awakening, best known to UK viewers as the theme to The News at Ten). A dumb final scene sees Manuel and his men trying to make off with the treasure, the box of pearls falling into the ocean during a scuffle (like the ending of The Italian Job, Logan can be heard coming up with a plan to retrieve the loot).

5/10. Haig is always fun to watch, but it was thanks to curvaceous beauties Christian and Stevens that I managed to make it to the end without wanting to hit the off button. And no, it's never explained why Syrene and her father don't have bug-eyes like everyone else in their tribe.