The Bloody Pit

147 - FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN (1973)

Where is the line between grotesque horror and dark comedy? Paul Morrisey’s FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN (1973) explores that blurry line with colorful delight. Often known as Andy Warhol’s FRANKENSTEIN this is a one-of-a-kind experience and is now finally available on Bly-Ray!

Mark Maddox and I discuss the film and our history with it as we look at what we like and/or love about this bizarre piece of cinema. The movie was produced without a full script while the director composed pages on the way to Cinecittà Studios every day of its three week shoot. This creates a strangely meandering story about Baron Frankenstein (Udo Kier) attempting to bring about a Serbian master race by creating a perfect mating pair. As you might expect, things do not go as planned. Scattered about the story we find the mad doctor’s sister/wife, their creepy children and the lower-class servants who are asked to participate in some grisly experiments. It’s a bloody, nudity filled madhouse of a movie and is sure to please or anger an almost equal number of viewers. Our talk ranges from the very talented cast and the opulent sets to the well-done gore effects and the disgusting visuals. Of course, by the end we are off track and talking about other things but we start with good intentions. Forgive us!

The email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com and we’d love to know your thoughts on this odd work of cinema or any other subject we bump up against in our discussion. Thank you for listening.

146 - BEYOND DARKNESS (1990)

John Hudson and Bobby Hazzard join me to discuss out first Filmirage production and, of course, it’s a horror film. 

BEYOND DARKNESS (1990) was directed by the man responsible for the astonishing TROLL 2, Claudio Fragrasso. That should let you know what kind of ride the movie will provide but it might not prepare you for the sheer madness. Consisting of ideas, characters and entire sequences cobbled together from at least six earlier films BEYOND DARKNESS serves up a low budget variation on the haunted house concept that must be seen to be believed. A Catholic priest and his family (!?) move into a home in his new Louisiana parish and are almost immediately assaulted by spectral nonsense. There’s a glowing otherworldly hole in a closet, ghostly witches creeping around and the lingering presence of a recently executed child murderer making a full night’s sleep pretty difficult to get. A sane family would leave but then we’d have no movie. 

The three of us try very hard to stay on topic but we each seem determined to run off onto side discussions that have only tenuous connections to the film. We start off well talking about the Otis House location BEYOND DARKNESS shares with Fulci’s THE BEYOND and the number of cast members that are also in other horror movies of the times. But eventually I’m babbling about alternative poster art for vintage films while Hudson drags us on another ‘Porn Talk’ sideroad and all of us are giggling about the haunted lamp in AMITYVILLE 4! What is wrong with us? Things repeatedly go off the rails as should be obvious by the fact that we end up referencing Zamfir, the Master of the Pan Flute, Gilligan’s Island and The Doors. Dive in and hang on – this one is a little crazier than usual.

 
We end the show with a tune from The Cocktail Slippers and you should check out their fine music wherever you listen to cool stuff. If you have any comments or suggestions thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. Thank you for listening to us go on about things and we’ll be back soon. 

145 - THE UNNATURALS (1969)

After our recent discussion of BED OF A THOUSAND PLEASURES (1972) over on Wild, Wild Podcast Adrian Smith and I continued our conversation about Antonio Margheriti here on The Bloody Pit.

Taking a look at this exceptional little ghost tale was long overdue and it is a shame that THE UNNATURALS (1969) is so difficult to see. It’s one of the director’s best gothic chillers and that is saying something. It feels very much like an early version of Bava’s LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973) and even shares some of the score from Carlo Savina who was clearly not above getting paid twice for the same music! Hopefully some Blu-Ray company will bring this excellent little film to a larger audience soon.

Adrian and I discuss the period setting and finely detailed interiors that were borrowed from a more expensive movie. The film is a classic example of the Old Dark House tale with bits of the James Whale 1932 movie of that title featuring heavily in the open act’s plot mechanism. Just how stuck in the mud was that car, really! Since this is a German co-production we look at the cast with an eye toward the inclusion of several familiar faces from the krimi cycle that was still thriving at the time. Happily, the wonderful Luigi Pigozzi (a.k.a. Alan Collins) has a major part in this film. Often called the Italian Peter Lorre he was a frequent collaborator with Margheriti and THE UNNATURALS may mark the most significant screen role of his career. He makes the most of it! So, with gorgeous widescreen photography, some surprising nudity and a slowing unfolding series of revelations this is a great little film. Certainly it is an attention grabbing look at lust, greed and murder as a catalyst for possibly supernatural revenge.

If you have any comments or questions thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. We’d love to know what’s on your mind. Thank you for listening to the show!

144 - Radio Sherlock!

Following on our coverage of SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON (1943) we once again dig into the wealth of radio adaptations of the original stories.

 
Beth has chosen two excellent audio versions of Arthur Conan Doyle tales with the connecting theme being that they involve an American character stirring up trouble. First we present The Noble Bachelor from the long running BBC Radio series starring Carleton Hobbs as Sherlock Holmes and Norman Shelley as Dr. Watson. This program aired from 1952 to 1969 and became the way an entire generation of British listeners became fans of character. We talk a little about the two main actors known primarily for their radio and stage work including the somewhat controversial work that Mr. Shelley was rumored to have done for Queen & Country. We then check out the CBS Mystery Theater’s 1977 version of A Scandal in Bohemia with Kevin McCarthy as Holmes and Court Benson as Watson.  It’s another fine adaptation and this time I’ve left in several of the commercials from the original broadcast to give you a sense of what it would have sounded like when aired. I snipped out the ExLax ads for your mental health!

 
Thank you for listening and if you have any comments thebloodypit@gmail.com is the show’s address. We’ll be back soon with a new episode! 

143 - SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON (1943)

Sherlock Holmes takes center stage again with Rathbone and Bruce traveling to America to secure a secret document.

 
I am joined by Beth Morris and Troy Guinn for a detailed look at the third in the Universal Holmes series, SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON (1943). This is one of the few that we all dreaded as memory told us we were in for a weaker entry. Imagine our surprise to find a much better movie than we expected. Exciting!

 
We dig into the production with some neat information culled from my ever-expanding pile of reference books on the subject. Beth finds some highs and lows in the deductive reasoning the script gives Sherlock and Troy finds his first viewing of this one to be his favorite of the run so far. We talk about the excellent cast and spend some time on the great George Zucco’s career as well as heaping some deserved praise on the screenplay. This being the first of the series with a completely original story Universal was wise in its choice of screenwriter Bertram Millhauser who went on the pen four more Holmes scripts for the studio. We lament the limited screentime of Henry Daniell and question the steady cruelty of Holmes to Watson throughout the story. We were all pleased to see Clarence Muse given a solid supporting role as a train porter where he gets to play directly with Rathbone as the search for clues ramps up. And, because I have a dirty mind, I spot a subtle sex joke that was sly enough to get past the production code. Busy, busy!

 
We end the show with three emails from listeners one of which pushes us into a long discussion of favorite actors in the Watson role. The email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com and we’d love to hear from you too. Thank you for listening to the show and we’ll be back soon. 

142 - DIAL CODE SANTA CLAUS

Holiday Horrors returns for 2021!

 
John Hudson, Troy Guinn and I discuss the amazing French Christmas film DIAL CODE SANTA CLAUS (1989). Although we had never even heard of this movie until Vinegar Syndrome released it on disc last year it has become a fast favorite for all three of us. It’s an amalgam of horror, action and coming of age stories that manages to hit nearly every emotional beat that it targets. On Christmas Eve, ten-year-old Thomas is determined to get evidence of Santa’s existence so he sets up his high-tech equipment to videotape him on his rounds. Unfortunately, the lad has accidentally gained the attention of a crazed man who dresses himself as the jolly old elf and makes the little boy the object of his homicidal curiosity. With his mother working late it is up to Thomas alone to protect his aged grandfather and stop the deadly St. Nick from killing all through the house. Who will survive?

Simultaneously beautiful to look at and tensely suspenseful DIAL CODE SANTA CLAUS is a worthy addition to the list of scary stories centered around the year end holidays. Filled with Christmas atmosphere and luminous visuals it checks all the boxes for candy colored feel-good sentiment but then drops its likable characters into a vicious home invasion scenario. The killer Santa’s motivations are never revealed which makes his actions all the more terrifying and unpredictable. And although this film plays out a story similar to 1990’s HOME ALONE, there are real consequences to violence in this movie and truly deadly stakes if Thomas fails to defeat his nearly silent adversary.

 
We talk about the film’s production taking note of the combination of real locations and elaborate stage work. The director’s ability to seamlessly meld the real and unreal allows the film to achieve some surprising moments and it’s not a shock to learn he went on to do high quality work in Hollywood. We have a good time discussing this great little movie with only a few short tangents about illegal VHS tape dubbing along the way. Oh! And at one point we are interrupted by a stack of my new Blu-Rays tumbling over into my chair. Sorry. I’ve been too busy to put them away.

 
The show winds down with an email from a fan of the show and a text from another co-host. They’re trying to wear me down, folks! If you have any comments or suggestions thebloodypit@gmail.com is the address. Thank you for listening! 

141 - Space: 1999 with John Kenneth Muir

John Kenneth Muir has been writing about film and television for more than twenty-five years. His published works range in subject matter from the horror films of various decades and books focused on individual movie directors to in-depth tomes about several different science fiction television series. His first published book was about a much maligned Gerry Anderson produced science fiction show from the 1970’s called Space: 1999. The two seasons of that show have recently been released on Blu-Ray by Scream Factory, reigniting my interest in engaging with its highs and lows. Forgotten by most but beloved by many Space: 1999 has always been an odd series that is somewhat difficult for a broad audience to embrace, but its finer points are extraordinary, its special effects are superb and the production rarely lacked ambition. It is a television program ripe for rediscovery even in this age of endless streaming possibilities.

 
Mr. Muir and I discuss the show from the perspective of a novel he wrote several years ago that uses the first season episode ‘Space Brain’ as a starting point. Along the way we talk about our own history with Space: 1999 and how our opinions have changed over time. The stark differences between the first and second season are debated and we certainly engage in the age-old conversation about favorite and least favorite episodes. The scientific implausibility inherent in the show’s set-up are hashed over with a number of details explained about how various writers acknowledged the biggest one within the body of their scripts. We discuss the philosophical approach taken by the show’s creators and how it differs from what people expected from sci-fi TV in the 70’s – and possibly today. We do get off track at one point and talk about a few horror movies, but we are soon back onto MoonBase Alpha – I promise! 

If you have anything to say about Space: 1999 or any other subject we talk about in the show thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send your emails. We’ll be thrilled to hear from you. Thank you for listening to the podcast. 

140 - FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943)

Troy and I rejoin the Universal Horror Films of the 1940’s, already in progress. 

With FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943) Universal’s monster films took off in a radical and cinema altering direction. For the first time the studio combined characters from two different series into one new story regardless of the things that have to be ignored to make this work. In what decade are we supposed to think this movie is happening? It’s a sequel to THE WOLF MAN (1941) which took place firmly in the 1940’s but it’s also a sequel to THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942) which seemed to be happening in the early 1900’s. And dialog clearly states here that four years have passed since Larry Talbot was killed by his father, so mid-1940’s would seem to be accurate. But everything feels like WWI never occurred and certainly like WWII wasn’t a factor in anyone’s thinking. Welcome to the alternative world of Universal Land where several European decades are mashed together with bits taken from any time and place to create a habitat where monsters can come together to work toward shared goals. And then try to kill each other! 

We plunge immediately into our long-awaited discussion of this classic, pulling on every loose plot string we can find and marveling at the bizarre changes from the previous movies. Was the last film’s finale set in a modern hospital or an ancient ancestral castle? Who cares! We just need to get a massive amount of dynamite into the hands of the local hot-headed pub owner so we can drown everyone and a castle looks much cooler being ripped apart by water. Fire last time so water this time! How did they never end one of these movies using an earthquake? It seems like the obvious next step. And then a tornado. But, I digress.

 
In just under two hours we talk about the fine cast, the wonderful atmosphere, the decision to edit out all of Bela Lugosi’s dialog and some subtle moments that are often overlooked even by fans. To us it seems clear that the written work of Doctor Frankenstein must be destroyed if for no other reason that it has the power to turn even most mild-mannered physician into a mad scientist. I mean, damn! Has there ever been a faster turn to the dark side than Dr. Mannering? Were there any warning signs at all?

 
We hope you enjoy the show and thebloodypit@gmail.com is how we can be contacted. The next film in this series is another Sherlock adventure and we’ll have a new NaschyCast episode up soon too. Thanks for listening. 

139 - EVILSPEAK (1981)

I am joined by John Hudson and Bobby Hazzard to discuss another strange horror film from the 1980’s.

 
EVILSPEAK (1981) is an independently made supernatural tale of teenage bullies and the righteous revenge eventually visited upon them. It introduces us to poor charity case Stanley Coopersmith (the great Clint Howard) attending a California military academy where he is the target of verbal and physical abuse from most of his classmates. Oddly, he is also insulted and demeaned by the faculty as if he is somehow repulsive to their vision of who should be allowed in this school. What is a miserable misfit to do? Of course, any and all similarities to CARRIE (1976) are completely on purpose. But is it any good?

 
John Hudson makes his case for this often-maligned horror movie with more than a little pushback from the rest of us. We all agree that the film is character actor heaven with R. G. Armstrong, Richard Moll, Claude Earl Jones, Charles Tyner, Joe Cortese and Hamilton Camp lending their skills to the slow destruction of Clint Howard’s sad loser, Coopersmith. But the film has a number of points of interest beyond the cast. For cinephiles curious about movies that present early 80’s computers being used to accidentally invoke a centuries dead Spanish Satanic monk so that hell on earth can be unleashed – this is your film! If you have ever wondered what an attack of satanic pigs erupting from the netherworld would look like – this is your film! If the sight of a sweaty Clint Howard makes you happy – this is your film! If you are working your way through a list of the British Video Nasties – this is one you have to see. And if you are curious to see what one million dollars and a three-week shooting schedule can give you in 1981 – here you are! We can’t promise a smooth ride or that you won’t spot the flying-harness wires but we do all agree that the pig and sword violence infused finale is well worth seeing. It’s debatable that this is good, but it certainly is EVILSPEAK good!

 
If you have any comments or concerns for our sanity thebloodypit@gmail.com is the address. Let know what you think! We’ll veer back into covering European films shot in America next time out. 

138 - Creepy Sherlock Radio!

For your October listening pleasure here are a couple of spooky Sherlock Holmes radio tales!

 
Beth has chosen these two as representative of the scary end of the classic radio format featuring the great detective. The first is from the 1940’s and is titles The Adventure of the Carpathian Horror so you know it’s going to be fun – with a splash of vampires! It has Nigel Bruce continuing his run as Dr. Watson and Tom Conway taking over from Basil Rathbone as Holmes. The second features Kevin McCarthy in the role for the CBS Mystery Theater and was originally broadcast in 1977. I think it is a solid version of that tale of a spectral hound! You know – the one that haunts the Baskervilles. I’ve edited out most of the commercials from the show but I left in one to give you a taste of what radio sounded like in the late 1970’s. Forgive me!

 
If you have any comments or suggestions thebloodypit@gmail.com is the address to which you can send them. We’d be glad to hear from you!