The Bloody Pit

197 - A BOY AND HIS DOG (1975)

Writer Randy Fox returns to discuss a classic science fiction film from the 1970’s. A BOY AND HIS DOG (1975) was a box office flop initially but became a beloved cult movie pretty quickly. It is one of the very few adaptations of a Harlan Ellison story that got the author’s 95% approval and we dig into the reasons for that in our discussion.

Hugely influential, the film stands as a still relevant template for post-apocalyptic cinema all the way up to the recent TV series FALLOUT. Made for less than half a million dollars it is the rare low budget science fiction film that doesn’t show its financial constraints and manages to turn some detriments into positives. Featuring a fine central performance from Don Johnson and excellent supporting work from his canine companion (voiced by actor/musician Tim McIntire) the movie brings the original story to life brilliantly. We discuss the differences from the novella and the reasons for them as well as the few smart improvements the script weaves into the tale. Randy and I share our histories with the film and our own encounters with the legendary Ellison over the years. We dig into the charges of misogyny and misanthropy that are often leveled at the movie pulling apart the details to search for defenses. We find a few.    

If you have any comments about A BOY AND HIS DOG or other 1970’s science fiction films thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. Thank you for listening!

196 - SONS OF STEEL (1988)

John Hudson and Bobby Hazzard join me for a raucous discussion of this bizarre Australian oddity. Are we able to figure out the story? What do we think of the main character? Do we maintain our sanity before the invisible chimp rears his furry head to fling poop everywhere? Thank goodness for the laughing audience in the room to keep us on track and aware of how silly we can be.

 
SONS OF STEEL (1988) is a film built out of bits & pieces of earlier films but without the budget necessary to pull it off. It seems to be assembled from random parts of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Max Headroom and a little barbarian imagery for texture. The film follows Black Alice, a pompous singer strutting around a dystopian near-future momentarily mourning his dead girlfriend and trying to become a rock star. Strangely, he is also somehow an environmental peace activist – or at least we are told this by agents of the Oceana government. (Did I mention that 1984 is ripped off as well?) The movie is a series of music videos struggling to tell a tale of revolution, love and violence but the most memorable moments are the very 80’s songs scattered across the soundtrack. In Spiritus Wank’em!

 
If you have any thoughts on Black Alice, SONS OF STEEL or the sequel novels penning by the writer/director, thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. Thank you for listening to the show! 

195 - STAR TREK V THE FINAL FRONTIER (1989)

Mark Maddox and I continue our journey through the first six Star Trek movies and now reach THE FINAL FRONTIER (1989). We have been both dreading and looking forward to revisiting this film. Thirty-five years later is it still as bad we remember? Are there hidden moments of quality buried in this bad idea given cinematic form? Join us as we pull this thing apart and inspect it’s sad remains.

We use Shatner’s own story of the production from his Movie Memories book to supplement the usual sources. It adds a lot to know the genesis of the film’s basic story and emphasizes just how easily a poor central concept can cripple a project. Also, aspiring writers can take note of this film as a solid example of bad scriptwriting on nearly every level. Neither of us find much to admire in STAR TREK V but there are a few good moments. Sadly, those few quality elements have to rest side by side with insults to nearly every regular character and simply awful dialog. The film’s humor mostly revolves around laughing ‘at’ the characters and never ‘with’ them. It undermines so many years of goodwill built up by the franchise for the sake of bad jokes, dumb ideas and idiotic coincidences that we can only be grateful it wasn’t the last film to feature the original cast. Row, row, row your boat indeed.

Comments about this film, the podcast or Star Trek in general can be sent to thebloodypit@gmail.com and we’ll be happy to hear from you. Thank you for listening and we’ll be back soon.

194 - GHOST CATCHERS (1944)

Troy and I poke our heads into a Universal Studio haunted house, spot vaudeville act Olsen & Johnson and run away. Well – not really. But our first viewing of this nearly forgotten comedy horror film is not the fun we might have hoped. Did we enjoy it at all? Give the show a listen and we’ll point out the highs and lows.

GHOST CATCHERS (1944) stars a number of very talented actors and singers but it also stars Olsen & Johnson – or, as I will eternally think of them, Faster & Louder. Nearly none of their supposed gift for humor translates effectively from the stage if this film is any indicator. The movie’s silly plot is actually two different story ideas welded together with four songs and a lot of flat jokes. For both of us the film squandered what little goodwill we may have had for it in a certain horsey scene, but we’ll let you discover that along the way. We were surprised that a couple of the songs were pretty great but when a horror comedy’s highlight points out that it is more successful as a musical than anything else, there is a problem. (And we even get the title of the best song wrong in our discussion!) But funny is in the eye of the beholder so you may actually enjoy this odd Universal effort. And did we mention Lon Chaney’s very small role?

 
If you have any comments about this film or vaudeville more broadly thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to write. Thank you for listening. 

193 - Revenge of the Email Sack!

It has been far too long since Troy and I gathered around the male bag….uuuhh…MAIL bag to find out what folks listening to the podcast think! Or, at least if they want to make fun of me. I’ll take any attention, so - cool!

 
We are months behind checking out the email account so some of these messages date back to 2023. I apologize about this but also think sometimes the wait is worth it. I mean what other show has a discussion of Bruno Mattei, Japanese comedy/drama film series Tora-san, WAR OF THE WORLD’s symbolism and the thousands of film appearances of actor Morris Ankrum. Clearly, The Bloody Pit is filling an important niche in the movie discussion podcast world! And did I mention we have a visit from Vincent Price? Or possibly his ghost. With a cold. It’ll all make sense when you listen to the episode. Maybe. 

And if you’re interested in the podcast mentioned in the show that dives into the Golden Age of Ninja movies, you can give it a listen at this LINK. 

For those who want to contribute to the next email episode thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send your thoughts. And thank you for listening! 

192 - Martian Invasion 1953!

WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) and INVADERS FROM MARS (1953) are two of the most beloved of the dozens of science fiction movies from that paranoid Cold War decade. Author Mark Clark joins me to compare and contrast them as we look at the massive differences in scale, budget and point of view that give each film its unique feel. Recent Blu-Ray releases allow a fresh evaluation of these movies and we dig into them from angles both personal and societal. Spoilers rise from every sandpit, so be aware!

 
We tackle the magnificent WAR OF THE WORLDS first, examining the elements taken from the source novel as well as from the classic Orson Wells radio adaptation. We discuss the story structure and the cast of amazing character actors familiar at the time from both radio shows and film. Design concepts and the faint traces of the book’s tripods are touched on before we dig into the film rushed to theaters to compete – INVADERS FROM MARS! The William Cameron Menzies production design is discussed as well as the ‘trashy science fiction magazines’ that seemed to inspire some the incredible images. We argue a bit over our preferred length but both of us wish there was less military stock footage slowing things down. The alternate British ending is brought up and I detail how I wish the American version ended. We do go on! 

If you have thoughts on either of these Martian invasion movies thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. Thank you for listening. 

191 - STAR TREK IV - THE VOYAGE HOME (1986)

Mark Maddox returns to the show as we continue our journey through the first six Star Trek films. STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986) is one of the most popular of the series and stood for decades as the most profitable entry. The humor and clever plotting of the story still works nearly forty years later with the original cast shining with few exceptions. Of course, we pick at the minor complaints I have with the movie while Mark tells me I’m a killjoy who can only be happy with darkness and violence. That might be (slightly) true but I will leave that mirror reflection as something for others to examine alongside me as I make fun of Mark for sillier things. Much sillier things!

 
We discuss the film’s production including our thoughts on the Eddie Murphy connection and how it would have changed all future Trek films. I lament the deletion of the pregnancy detail and the possible stories that could have come from it. I question the odd visual choice for depicting the time travel sequence while Mark’s respect for me falls even further into a hole. Those hoping for the two us to argue will have a few moments of fun. The strangest of these comes from our discussion of cringy 80’s humor with Mark somehow unable to remember one of the most common derogatory terms of the period. That man’s mind is going!

 
If you have thoughts on Star Trek IV or the series in general thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. We’ll be back soon to tackle V – oh, my! Thanks for listening. 

190 - EATING RAOUL (1982)

I am joined by the bane of my podcasting existence John Hudson and the much nicer Bobby Hazzard to heap praise upon EATING RAOUL (1982).  This is the film I’ve always though of as ground zero for Paul Bartel appreciation and more than forty years later I think it still holds up as the perfect introduction to his comedic sensibilities. If you laugh your way through this film, chances are good that you will love his other movies as well. Even the ones that don’t involves running over little old ladies to win a cross-country race or cannibalism. 

We jump into the discussion by detailing our history with Bartel’s work and what each of us find so appealing about his screen persona. All three of us bring some tales of the production history to the table with the start and stop nature of the filming process leading to information about locations and casting. We do eventually get to a synopsis of the plot and spoil most of the funnier moments so be aware that you should probably watch the movie before listening to us giggle our way though the many deaths by frying pan. Our peanut gallery has returned for this episode taking the time to laugh with and at us during the show. Long time podcast fans will recognize Beth and Steph from previous episodes but we also get some very funny contributions from Laura as well. Luckily, she keeps John in line and I will take any help I can get corralling the monkey-mad Mr. Hudson. Strap in for this one, folks and stay out of the hot tub!

 
The show can be reached at thebloodypit@gmail.com where we’ll be thrilled to hear from you. You can also find the show on our Facebook page and wherever odder podcasts are downloaded. Thank you for listening. 

189 - Mabuse 1960's Films

I welcome writer Holger Haase to the show to discuss the 1960’s Dr. Mabuse films! Holger has written an essay published for Kindle called ‘The Many Masks of Dr. Mabuse: Mabuse in the 1960s’.  Reading this prompted me to finally talk directly to Holger. The two of us have known each other for decades but it took our mutual love of these German crime films to use the internet to speak in a non-text based way. It was a little weird.

 
We go (mostly) chronologically through the six films discussing each in turn. If you want to follow along at home here’s a list of the movies we talk about in this episode:

1. THE 1000 EYES OF DR. MABUSE (1960)
2. THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE (1961) 
3. THE INVISIBLE DR. MABUSE (1962) 
4. THE TESTEMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1962)
5. DR. MABUSE VS SCOTLAND YARD (1963)
6. THE DEATH RAY OF DR. MABUSE (1964)

We touch on the cast members with extra attention to the ones that show up in multiple films even when their character’s names mysteriously change. Scriptwriter Ladislas Fodor’s impressive career is discussed as well as directors Fritz Lang and Harald Reinl who brought their many talents to the series. This series of films seems to have been forgotten over the past couple of decades, overshadowed by the original Lang films from 1922 and 1933. We hope to spur some interest in cinema fans curious to discover the hidden joys of these clever crime movies. They really are addictive!

 
If you have thoughts on the Mabuse films or the krimi cycle that they parallel thebloodypit@gmail.com is where you can send them. We’ll be happy to hear from you. Thanks for listening. 

188 - THE INVISIBLE MAN'S REVENGE (1944)

Troy and I return to the Universal Horrors of the 1940’s to check out the fifth and last of the Invisible Man series. THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE (1944) is sometimes seen as a strong final entry but both of us find far too many loose ends and discordant elements to fully enjoy the film. I must caution you that we spoil this one completely early on and I find myself cursing more than normal as we discuss the questions the movie throws in our faces. Sorry about that.

 
This is an interesting film but mostly for the wrong reasons. We try to pinpoint all the spots where the original, nastier version of this story peeks through the softened final product. The amazing Gale Sondergaard is a victim of the alterations to the story and disappears after only two scenes – we were displeased by this! The timeline of the Robert Griffin character is confusing and neither of us can work out how he carried around a piece of paper with his name on it for five years but didn’t know his own identity. I spend time marveling at how unlikable Griffin is throughout the story. Jon Hall does a great job in the role but he is playing a man with no redeeming qualities and a hair-trigger propensity for violence. This is our hero? Following on from the previous sequels we get the series’ now standard irritating ‘humor’ culminating in a dart competition that goes on forever. Both of us found this to be the weakest of the Universal Invisible Man cycle and would be curious to find fans of the film to defend it.

 
If you do want to stick up for THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE drop us a note at thebloodypit@gmail.com – we really are interested in hearing a defense of this one.