Andy Sidaris's guns 'n girls thriller.
Review by Mike Vaughn
Directed by: Andy Sidaris
Starring: Dona Speir, Hope Marie Carlton, Bruce Penhall, Al Leong, Teri Weigel
The films of Andy Sidaris are basically shrines to straight teenage boys looking for cheap thrills in the form of action and lots and lots and lots of bare breasts. Lots of breasts. In fact, the entire principle cast of Savage Beach is made up of former Penthouse Playmates, which explains the stellar performances.
The plot, such as it is, centres around two feds who crash on an island during a delivery. This island just so happens to have buried gold somewhere, waiting to be discovered. It turns out other very bad people are coming to the island to look for the gold and the two tough as nails agents come into conflict with them.
While not my favourite, Sidaris’s Savage Beach does check off a lot of boxes for his fans, including but not limited to: cheesy dialogue, bad acting, action, explosions, campness galore and of course, hot women getting naked often and for no real reason.
The plot itself is just alright, but let’s face it, you don’t watch a Sidaris movie for the brilliant writing and subtle nuances. It's all just a bit of mindless entertainment.
At just over 90 minutes, the film clips along at a decent pace, though the beginning is a bit slow, setting up a lot of exposition. When the film does gets going, boy does it, with hardly a dull moment in sight. Even the glaring issues with the film - the acting and the at times wildly funny dialogue - all just add to the so-bad it's enjoyable aspects.
Similar to Ed Wood Jr, Sidaris seems to have put his fantasies on film, or at least his great vision of a perfect action film full of big bangs, tough as nail women with guns and of course teeming with sex.
Like his other films, Savage Beach tries to have an emotional core, this time using World War II and Japan as its centre, but it’s hard to buy into this, with the film being as over the top as it is.
Overall it's a fun film, once it gets going. Mill Creek really outdid themselves with this blu-ray, as the film has never looked and sounded better.
Extras:
Savage Beach includes an introduction by the director, which can be played separately or before the film (which is a nice feature) and also includes a feature length commentary by Sidaris. The movie currently retails for $11.99 on Amazon, which is an amazing price. Mill Creek has thus far released four movies in their Andy Sidaris Collection with two more due out in September. I for one am very excited. Keep them coming folks!
Savage Beach is on blu-ray July 9th from Mill Creek Entertainment.
Michael Vaughn is a rabid horror and cult fan who turned that love into a career. He is a writer, blogger and film historian and now author of 'The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema' which Shock Wave Podcast named their pick of the month, and Chris Alexander of Fangoria called “recommended reading.”
You can get your copy at amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Strange-Cinema/dp/0764354280
His other credits include Scream Magazine, Fangoria and websites like Films in Review and Bloody Flicks(UK). Please follow his Twitter @StrangeCinema65 and Instagram @castle_anger.
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