REGION 1 BLU-RAY IMPORT / DIRECTOR: EDDIE ROMERO / SCREENPLAY: CHARLES JOHNSON / STARRING: PATRICK WAYNE, JOHN ASHLEY, LEIGH CHRISTIAN, SID HAIG, LENORE STEVENS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (US ONLY)
The presence of Patrick (son of John) Wayne in this waterlogged “adventure” – and, indeed, its very title – might lead you to believe that we’re in store for some fanciful romp involving unconvincing sea creatures and dinosaurs stamping around in a lost kingdom populated by nubile pouting slave girls and dominated by big blokes with growly voices and silly bears. Patrick Wayne, after all, eventually graced the world of fantasy cinema in The People that Time Forgot and served time as the legendary saucy sailor in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (both released in 1977). Maybe Beyond Atlantis was an early calling card for his brief tenure as a big, bold action hero?
No chance. Beyond Atlantis is a horribly dull and turgid yarn in which nothing of any interest happens for a good eighty minutes and when it does start to display a pulse, it’s far too late for us to even begin to care. Two strangers wash up on a remote island populated by inbred with oversized – and rather laughable-looking – eyes. Somebody gets a spear in his back for his sins – whatever they are. A bunch of sleazy mainland hustlers come into possession of some rare pearls and, together with boatman Vic Mathias (Wayne) they set off to find the source of the pearls along with scientist Katherine Vernon (Stevens). Inevitably they find the island and its peculiar inhabitants (they can live both on land and in the sea) but the island leader decides, for reasons far too boring to recall here, that his daughter Syrene (Christian) should mate with Vic. Syrene’s Dad then decides that the intruders should all be killed which is when stuff starts to happen but it’s all far, far too late for anyone watching to even pretend to give a damn
Patrick Wayne apparently agreed to star in this howler on the understanding that it was made and promoted as a ‘family film’ which makes its themes of incest and inter-species breeding and scenes of violence – the spear-in-the-back incident and one unfortunate islander devoured by piranhas – seem a little misplaced and entirely at odds with the actor’s well-meaning intentions. But more crucially, Beyond Atlantis is just desperately boring and uninvolving. None of the characters are remotely interesting or likeable, there’s no sense of excitement or tension, and the script lumbers along dragging its actors in its wake with director Romero utterly unable to wring any sense of wonder or drama out of its lifeless story. But because we like to try to find the good in everything – even when there’s very little of it about – we’re happy to report that the numerous underwater sequences are well-filmed (even though Romero’s camera seems to be fixated on Christian’s loincloth-clad posterior) and we laughed like drains at the fight sequences punctuated by a score which includes the theme to ITV’s News At Ten but without the bongs.
Beyond Atlantis is irredeemably worthless, a 1970s relic done no favours by a washed-out, rather scratchy print which doesn’t even manage to make the most of vivid and colourful locations. Beyond Atlantis deserves to sink without trace.
