TOY STORY 4 (2019) Teaser Trailer with Key & Peele

I had no idea that Key &Peele were playing characters in the new film! I'm already loving it! 

The Bloody Pit #75 - THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967)

After too long a delay Cort Psyops returns to The Bloody Pit to dip back into the Brazilian madness of the second Coffin Joe film - THIS NIGHT I WILL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967)! As I admit in the show, I was hesitant to go back to this series because I felt that Cort and I set a pretty high bar with our discussion of the first of Jose Marins' horror epics. That film forced us to examine our own moral precepts and how humanity's cruelty can easily form a philosophy of life twisted toward nihilism. We touched on the various topics of Marins' obsessions as we went through that film using it as a jumping off point for probing the darker aspects of our own psyches. With this second discussion, we do the same thing but - because all sequels have to go further to shock their jaded audience - we aim to dig a little deeper. Listen in and see if we manage it!

We do slip down a few odd side roads that were not on the original map. Besides a brief discussion of Dario Argento's late trilogy wrap-up MOTHER OF TEARS (there's a good reason) we also find creative new ways to relate the tale of Coffin Joe to modern stories of note. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this will be the first podcast to ever link the horror output of Jose Mojica Marins to the TV shows It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Better Call Saul. Visions of monsters might be universal across all cultures in some surprising ways. We do our best to not lean too hard into the Catholic criticism that seems such a vital part of the subtext of the world of Coffin Joe. We get a few Mormon jokes in there to level things out a little! Sorry.

If you want to contact the podcast the email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com or the FaceBook page is still a thing you can join. I try to post things of interest there and keep the talk fun. Thanks for downloading and listening!

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Trailer and Poster Art for THIS NIGHT I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967)

Podcast coming soon! 

Quote from Leigh Brackett

The other night I watched for the first time a 59 minute Republic horror effort called THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST (1943). I picked it up on Blu-Ray out of curiosity and because I love the cheaper chillers from that period. I was shocked to realize that it was at least co-written by the amazing Leigh Brackett and that it seems to be her first official screen credit. Sadly, the film is pretty weak even with an interesting take on vampirism and some occasionally good dialog. When I looked up Miss Brackett's credits to verify her attachment to this film I came across this excellent quote from her -

"They were all collaborations. The filmmaking process is a team effort. A screenwriter cannot possibly do exactly what he wants, as if he was writing a novel. When I write a novel I am God at my own typewriter and there is nobody in between. But when I write a screenplay it must be a compromise because there are so many elements which are outside the writer's province."

That sums up so much of the mercurial nature of film-making and expresses the futility of being too precious about the work. James Cameron once used the analogy of 'Everyone pissing into the same bucket' to describe the collaborative process of screenwriting. Sounds like they were on the same page.

The Witching Hour Cover Gallery

I've read very few issues of this DC horror comic but I'm intrigued, to say the least. 

SUSPIRIA (1977) Poster Art

Can't imagine why this film is currently on my mind! 

Wrestling with TALOS, THE MUMMY (1998)

TALOS, THE MUMMY (1998) a.k.a. TALE OF THE MUMMY might be one of the least discussed horror films of the 1990's. Most of the few people who have seen it might think there's a good reason for that - they probably think it sucks! And that would be a completely valid view except that, unfortunately, the version of the film they have seen is missing about thirty minutes! That is a whole lot of story to be chopped out of any narrative but especially one this over plotted. Plus it is pretty confusing with Egyptian mythology and psychic mumbo-jumbo being crossed with a police procedural and apocalyptic babblings. But, in the first ten minutes Christopher Lee gets chopped in half! That's worth seeing.

I can remember watching this on VHS around 2000 and wondering just what the Hell was going on. There were a dozen actors of note running around trying to deal with an ancient Egyptian Mummy curse, which I found intriguing. But it was impossible to follow the plot or understand the relationships between the characters. One of the many improvements the longer cut of the film makes is in clarifying who these people are and what they are doing. You know - like a proper story should!

Possibly the biggest problem the film has (at least in the two hour cut) is that in certain scenes the CGI seems unfinished. This is true most especially in the opening in which Christopher Lee is reduced to half his normal height - or length, really. This is unfortunate because the practical effects work by KNB is spectacular. They're called on to visualize some very interesting mummy effects although their actual mummy doesn't appear until the last third of the story. For most of the running time they bring the mummy's supernaturally mobile wrappings to life and their work is excellent. But the matching CGI work is often pretty dodgy making some shots a bit jarring and less impressive overall. This is a shame as the film is very well shot with some beautiful, moody cinematography and very nice sets in which all the creepy things happen.

Earlier I mentioned the cast and this group is well worth talking about. The film is populated with a combination of (at the time) established character actors and younger folks who would soon be big stars. Besides Sir Christopher Lee we have Honor Blackman as a police official; Shelley Duval as a psychic; Michael Learner as one of the doomed archaeologists and the great Jon Polito as a British (!) scientist. Among the up and coming actors who would soon make their marks in Hollywood we have Jack (Pirates of the Carribean) Devenport; Sean (Gotham) Pertwee; Louise (CSI) Lombard and Gerard (every bad action movie for the past decade) Butler as a jerk boyfriend that doesn't make it past the thirty minute mark.

The oddest casting choice, though, was Jason Scott Lee playing police detective Riley. Mr. Lee is very American but there he is anyway playing a Scotland Yard cop leading the investigation into the various deaths surrounding the mummy shenanigans. The script makes a half-hearted attempt to justify this bizarre choice with a quick line about Riley being a former LAPD police officer now working in London. WTF? Was the star of DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY (1993) and THE JUNGLE BOOK (1994) really seen as someone with so much drawing power that he should lead this film? No disrespect to Mr. Lee, because he is quite good in the role, but wouldn't an English actor have fit the part just a little bit better? Or, given his name, an Irish one? Why further complicate this very busy tale with an obvious American in a very British role?

I know I'm probably alone in my interest in this mostly forgotten film. When I call for a Blu-Ray special edition with all versions of the movie and a pyramid full of extra features I'm sure I'm shouting into the abyss. But I'm also sure that - at it's longer length - this film could become a favorite with horror fans. It's far from perfect but there is a lot that is very good in this overlooked effort. Should I start a writing campaign to get Scream Factory interested? Or am I wasting my time? Does anyone else out there share my fascination with this one?