Adventures in Movies: Dirty Deeds (“The Coffee Table”, Bruceploitation)
This week, things get nasty with a horror film touted as deeply disturbing and a 1970s film that exploits Bruce Lee’s legacy.
The Coffee Table
The first movie we reviewed this week was The Coffee Table.
Critics’ quotes discuss how uncomfortable it will make audiences feel. The director has stated he wanted to make a “cruel” film. And it definitely succeeds on both accounts. But does that make it good? It is one thing to make people watching a film rethink their positions on things; it is something else entirely when the goal is just to make people feel ugly.
It can be argued that Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave (America bangmungaeg) is just as disgusting, though for completely different reasons. Released just three years after Bruce Lee’s death, the U.S. distributors added a tasteless opening and title that have nothing to do with the actual plot. This was simply about capitalizing on someone’s death in the most crass way possible.
The fact it stars Bruce K.L. Lea (aka Jun Chong) may be the most sensitive part of it all.
The actual movie has nothing to do with Lee or anything supernatural. It is a straight-up action movie about a man trying to find his missing brother. It is filled with the wackiness expected of a martial arts movie from the 1970s. Unsurprisingly, it does not live up to anything done by Bruce Lee.
The question is, should you spend an hour and a half of your life with it?
Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave (1976)
You can watch Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave on Tubi.
You can rent The Coffee Table on Amazon Video.
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
Every week AIPT Movie Editor Nathaniel Muir and his cinema partner in crime Blake Heath discuss indie and genre movies you have have never heard of, the ones you cannot hear enough about, and the ones you never want to hear about again.
Episode 370: Mid year recap
Time moves more quickly now than it ever has. It was not that long ago that we were talking about a new show executive produced by the Duffer brothers. About a month later, it is one and done. As someone once reminded us, we are just two guys who watch movies. Production budgets and domestic grosses are only a passing interest to us. Still, there are some things that catch our attention. Were we right to say that Michael would get to $1 billion? And what does the future hold for Obsession?
There was a major change to our humble little podcast this year. We decided it would be in our best interests to be a little more focused. To that end, we went to just covering one movie each show. Despite this, we still managed to cover twenty-three movies over seventeen episodes. And twenty of them were released in 2026.
So, what do we have to talk about? And will we get as worked up as we did last week? The horrors of high school, zombies, musicals, buff nuns, and grindhouse adjacent fun. It may not all have been good, but everything left some sort of impression on us.
Adventures in Movies! is a part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Morbidly Beautiful is your one stop shop for all your horror needs. From the latest news and reviews to interviews and old favorites, it can be found at Morbidly Beautiful.
Adventures in Movies! is hosted by Nathaniel and Blake. You can find Nathaniel on Instagram at nathaninpoortaste. Blake can be found on Twitter @foureyedhorror and on Instagram at foureyedhorror. You can reach us personally or on Twitter @AdventuresinMo1.
Music in the background from https://www.FesliyanStudios.com
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Adventures in Movies! is hosted by Nathaniel and Blake. You can find Nathaniel on Instagram at nathaninpoortaste. Blake can be found on Twitter @foureyedhorror and on Instagram at foureyedhorror.
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