A BAY OF BLOOD (1971) - Poster Art and Video Covers

A VHS viewing of this Mario Bava film coupled with an earlier watch party experience with Fulci's THE BEYOND may have been the beginning of my obsession with Italian horror. I still find both films brilliant every time I return to them.

 

The Bloody Pit #56 - HERCULES, PRISONER OF EVIL (1964)

When is an Antonio Margheriti movie NOT an Antonio Margheriti movie? When it's HERCULES, PRISONER OF EVIL (1964).

As followers of this podcast will have noticed I am a fan of the films of Mr. Margheriti and have an ongoing thread of shows covering his work with co-host John Hudson. Our plan is to slowly (oh, so slowly) review each of his movies in no particular order. So imagine my surprise when Mr. Adrian Smith, my co-host from last year's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST episode, said he wanted to cover something directed by the man! Was Adrian trying to muscle into Hudson's job? Nope! It turns out that although Antonio's Anthony Dawson pseudonym is in the credits of this peplum adventure it seems he didn't actual direct it. Margheriti was far too busy completing a different movie and handed the reins of this one over to his assistant director Ruggero Deodato! And that's not the only interesting info Mr. Smith has found about this film.

So join Adrian for his second dip into The Bloody Pit as we explore this prime example of an Italian sword and sandal epic. We discuss the various pseudo Hercules characters (Ursus, Samson, Machiste, Flintstone, etc.) that were all transformed into Hercules in the English dubs. We run through this film's story pointing out where the movie adheres to the peplum template and the few places it deviates. This movie sports a monster, some unexplained magic and a few sexy ladies so if you are already a fan of the genre you know what you're in for. We had a few technical issues while recording but I think you'll find the show to be perfectly listenable and pretty informative. The majority credit for this one goes to Adrian who, besides working on his doctoral thesis, has started a blog focused on Margheriti movies called - Blogeriti.  Or The Antonio Margheriti Blog. Whichever title seems less silly. I can't wait to see what he has to say about more of my favorites as he covers the man's career.

Thank you for downloading and listening to the show. If you have any comments or suggestions the email address for the show is thebloodypit@gmail.com. Let us know what you think and what your favorite peplum adventures are. We'll talk to you next time. 

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THE DOLL SQUAD (1973)

Even though I am very much a cult movie fan there are large areas of the cult film world that over the years I have avoided for various reasons. The films of Ted V. Mikel's definitely fall into the avoided 'on purpose' area. I've had plenty of opportunities to see a number of his more notorious movies but I've almost always dodged them. I caught one of them as a Mystery Science Theater episode so I don't really consider that as a viewing. I know I caught THE CORPSE GRINDERS (1971) at some point in the past but it was from VHS on a very drunken night and my memories of it are almost nonexistent. I'd love to eventually see THE BLACK KLANSMAN (1966) because the plot just sounds amazing. So when I sat down the other night and popped in the Blu-ray of this film from 1973 I wasn't really sure what I was in for.

It turns out that THE DOLL SQUAD (1973) is a mildly competent, low budget action adventure film about a freelance team of female spies that are hired on occasion  by the American government for black ops. In this case the 'computer' (remember when just the mention of a computer somehow communicated accuracy if not perfection?) says that Sabrina Kincaid and her group are the right choice for this mission, so they are sent in to take care of a Bond villain style plot against the USA and the world. The villain is played by Michael Ansara and he seems to be having a pretty good time even though he never leaves the confines of a small house that serves as his base of evil operations. I suspect that his scenes were shot over the space of about 2 days at most. He plays the character straight but the script asks him to be the typical movie villain who over-explains his plot and then can't quite kill the hot lady in time.

Female lead Francine York as Sabrina is quite good and quite shapely. There was something familiar about her face so I was not too surprised when I looked up her list of credits to learn just how busy her career has been. She just passed away at the beginning of 2017 at the age of 80 and still has a film that hasn't come out yet!

The movie is colorful, swiftly paced and never really boring even if I feel it should be a little shorter. The meager budget often shows and Mikel's direction sometimes undercuts his darker intentions and leaves his actors hanging. The film isn't afraid to kill off it's female cast but we don't know them well enough for it to be effective. Also, the deadly serious tone just cannot be maintained for the full running time so the movie occasionally lapses into unintentional humor. These moments when Mikel's reach exceeds his grasp cause a few chuckles but they are also kind of endearing. It's heartening to see a film like this being made with little money but a lot of energy. THE DOLL SQUAD isn't very good but it is entertaining if you take it in the spirit intended. The same cannot always be said even today.  

The Bloody Pit #53 - THE BEYOND (1981)

This episode we take a trip to the dank, mist enshrouded, sweat covered land of Louisiana for a blast of gore drenched Italian horror from maestro Lucio Fulci! The Three Stooges of Euro-Trash descend into the cellar of the Seven Doors Hotel to see if they can find the Book of Eibon while dodging the outstretched arms of eye-gouging zombies. Sense and nonsense merge into a rich tapestry of mad events loosely connected to the hotel and it's new owner Liza (Catriona MacColl). Can handsome doctor McCabe (David Warbeck) unravel the mystery at the heart of the horror or will he, too, succumb to the dark forces from The Beyond?

The recent GrindHouse Releasing Blu-Ray of this seminal horror film was the catalyst for Jeff, Troy and Rod to rewatch this violent creep show and high definition does nothing to dampen their love. Easily the best the film has ever looked on home video it gains so much in detail and visual depth that it becomes an even better experience. The movie's many narrative lapses and structural oddities are discussed as well as it's dread filled atmosphere and superlative Fabio Frizzi score. Clearly Fulci was more interested in realizing a long series of surrealistic, nightmare-like sequences concocted to unnerve and disturb, but among his dream imagery assault are moments of pure Gothic beauty as well. One of a kind filmmaking and a classic regardless of it's faults.

If you listen to the show on iTunes please rate & review the podcast there. It helps others find us and generally makes us feel good! You can join us on the Bloody Pit Facebook page as well where show links are posted along with odd images from the movies we cover. Thank you for listening and we'll be back soon! Oh! And I do refer to the podcast as The Bloody Podcast at the beginning of the show. This is not a rebranding attempt! It's just me verbally stumbling as we get back into the groove of recording. 

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The Bloody Pit #48 - SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984)

For our second annual Holiday Horrors episode we take a look at the highly controversial 1984 killer Santa slasher SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. Deemed, at the time, to be an affront to all that is good and sacred about the idea of a fat stranger breaking into your home in the dead of night to eat cookies and leave crap under a tree. It has since become a much beloved December viewing ritual for millions of fans. OK! So, maybe it was tempting fate to have the advertising for the film play off the fact that a man in a Santa suit runs around axing people on Christmas Eve, but the effort put into stomping this film into the mud was a bit excessive. Luckily, all three co-hosts were alive in 1984 (we are OLD) and have memories of those strange days. We never had a chance. Shame on us all, indeed!

Settle in with the beverage of your choice to listen to Troy, John Hudson and Rod go through this twisted Christmas classic pointing out favorite moments and puzzling over dangling story threads. We discuss jerk co-workers, well stocked toy stores, dangerous gifts of our youth, odd places for copulation, traumatic Christmas images, good and bad child actors as well as the dark ideas behind putting angry nuns in charge of defenseless orphans. We also touch on the protests that got this film yanked from theaters after two weeks and the reasons behind that move by Trimark. For more detailed information about that please read the excellent article over at The Hysteria Lives by the always reliable Jason Kerswell. It's well worth your time, as is the entire site.

If you have any comments or suggestions please write us at thebloodypit@gmail.com or drop by the Bloody Pit Facebook page and give us a 'like'. We still have no idea which Holiday Horror we'll do next year so, if you have one you'd like us to consider, let us know. Thank you for downloading and listening!




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The Bloody Pit #47 - CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980)

Here's a film to darken the days and blight the soul.

The cannibal sub-genre of exploitation films grew out of the Mondo movie genre. The Italian Mondo films were documentary in nature with a focus on taboo subjects that had often been considered too controversial for traditional narrative tales. By using the documentary format, exploitation filmmakers could show sexual acts, nudity, violence and even sprinkle in some racist content all while pretending to be educating it's audience. These movies were usually tasteless exercises in cruelty and caricatures of foreign cultures coupled with occasional sequences that were faked or staged for the camera. Of course, they were highly profitable but the genre waned quickly and by the mid-1970's Italian producers were on to other things.

Enter Ruggero Deodato. Having worked his way up through the Italian filmmaking system he had finally gotten into the director's chair and was hunting for a new project. In 1977 he had made one of the better jungle adventure films that had grown out of the success of Umberto Lenzi's MAN FROM DEEP RIVER (1972). Deodato's JUNGLE HOLOCAUST had upped the intensity of the earlier film and he decided to ratchet things up again for his new movie. He hit upon the idea of taking the cannibal tribe idea further than before and, inspired by terrorist activity in his home country, proceeded to make an unforgettably nasty piece of work that would, in turn, go on to inspire the found footage genre in the late 1990's. He's got a lot to answer for, huh?

When Adrian Smith asked me if I'd be interested in covering CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST for the podcast I immediately said yes. And then I started to have doubts! I was familiar with the film from having seen it almost twenty years before but I knew it as a difficult watch. Even though I owned a copy I had only ever rewatched the movie one time since my original viewing in the 1990's and had been disturbed enough by it on my second watch to consider getting rid of the disc. Was I really eager to see this harsh, mean-spirited film again? Would it still be able to worm it's way under my skin and bother me on the deep level it had so long ago? I guess I was going to find out!

Listen in as Adrian and I fight technology, discuss Deodato, praise Riz Ortolani, process this film's animal cruelty and generally try to keep a good attitude as we follow several stupid Americans into the Amazonian jungle. If you have any comments or questions about CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST or anything else we touch on, please contact us at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we'll get right back to you. Thank you for downloading and listening to the show! 

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THE CANDIDATE (1964)

DVD production company Vinegar Syndrome seems to be trying to pick up the market that Something Weird Video cultivated over the past fifteen years or so. And that is a good thing! Their desire to restore and release as many independently produced exploitation films as possible is both laudable and impressive. I count myself as a cult film fan but a look at their list of titles leaves me scratching my head in wonderment as I have never heard of most of the movies they are dealing to the public. My few dips into the VS catalog have been interesting sleazy fun but I was caught off guard by this disc. 

The Candidate (1964) (also known as Party Girls For The Candidate) was pitched to me as a sexploitation film staring Ted Knight and my mind rejected that description sight unseen. There can be no such film, said logic and reason. Surely the planet would rip asunder if movie existed, said sanity. Ted Knight of The Mary Tyler Moore show engaged in sexual shenanigans? This cannot be true. And in the end this thought process was proven right enough for me to retain my intellect after screening the film.

Now, there are sexploitation elements in the film as you might expect with any film that top lines sex kitten Mamie Van Doren, but those are the least interesting parts. Of the film, I mean! She plays Samantha, a hard working modern woman who, because of a chance encounter with Senatorial candidate Frank Carlton (Ted Knight), is offered a job by conniving campaign runner Eric (Buddy Parker) aiming to work for the prospective senator. She agrees and we are then shown the complicated way various relationships shape the campaign and how it all falls apart. In a strange choice the story is related as a series of flashbacks as the main characters are grilled in front of a Congressional hearing which causes the film to feel like a mild and overly solemn courtroom drama.

 It can be pretty entertaining to watch Eric procure ladies for the Washington elite but the film bogs down once the shape of the downfall of Knight's character comes into focus. Parker plays the ruthless Eric as a cynical bastard and he isn't bad in the role but its Knight that is actually impressive. As his character meets and falls in love with Angela (June Wilkinson) we see this shy man come alive and have to face that the woman he cares for will destroy his hoped for career. Knight is exceptional in the role investing great care in showing very nuanced emotions as he struggles with his options. In the scenes with his character the film is solid and the courtroom sequences are very well scripted but the rest of the movie- the sexploitation parts- are dry as dust. This is the movie's problem- it has half of a good movie but it has been shackled to a silly lingerie show with Miss Van Doren. In the end The Candidate isn't a bad movie but it isn't very good either which is a shame. 

What I Watched in June

Last month events conspired to keep me out of the theaters - movies I don't care to see, bladder infections, etc. - so I only got out to see one offering. 

Having enjoyed the two previous films I have seen directed by director Nicholas Winding-Refn I was excited to see his latest 'controversial' movies. Surely the most controversial thing was that it was playing in a multiplex in Nashville in the summer. Surely that valuable screen space could have been the fourth or fifth screen for the nobody-asked-for-it INDEPENDENCE DAY sequel! But I got lucky and co-financier Amazon pushed it out into American chains were it could earn about a million and change and then get dumped ASAP. But, how was it?

I liked THE NEON DEMON quite a lot, actually. That's not to say I think most people will also enjoy it as I have odd tastes and bizarre, slow films interest me more than the average filmgoer. Make no mistake - this is a very carefully crafted slow burn so if you aren't good with delayed gratification this one is not for you. It IS a horror film but one in which the horror slowly builds over the course of events first affecting a sense of unease and fear for the teenaged protagonist alone in a city of users and sleaze. Then, as sinister intentions become less veiled, the darker aspects of the various characters are revealed and things ramp up to a bloody and startling series of final acts.

I've read some takes on this film saying it is a thumb in the eye of the fashion industry and its never ending churn of fresh new faces for the camera. Of course, that means it's also painting the film industry in the same shameful and condemning colors - mostly red. Cinema has always been aware of the fact that it is creating images often worshipped by those with no hope of being on that big screen. THE NEON DEMON plays with the darkest end of the emotions that worship causes in the pretty young things that ache to be the object of that attention. It's a beautiful, deliberate film full of Argento and Bava inspired images but Winding-Refn refuses to rush to get to what horror fans will call 'the good parts'. For that they will hate him and I laud him. Bring on the next art horror film, sir. You are at least amusing me! 

THE LIST 

THE OBSCENE MIRROR (1973) - 8 (Franco and Emma Cohen)

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) - 4 (rewatch)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982) - 8 (rewatch of the longer cut)

THE DISORDERLY ORDERLY (1964)- 5 (most of the humor is sad but there is some entertainment value in spots)

GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE (1972) - 6 (a rapist vampire!)

JAWS OF SATAN (1981) - 6 (fun low budget Alabama lensed JAWS rip-off with snakes) 

THE FALCON STRIKES BACK  (1943)- 5 (average for the series with bad sidekick comedy)

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (1976)- 8 (rewatch)

HUSH (2016) - 7 (well done woman-in-peril siege film)

GLADIATOR (2000) -10 (rewatch - Extend Edition)

SOYLENT GREEN (1973) - 9 (rewatch)

THE SIN SHIP (1931) - 5 (creaky melodrama with Mary Astor)

BRIDGE OF DRAGONS (1999) -  5 (not bad, low budget post-apocalyptic fantasy)

CHALLENGE OF THE GLADIATOR (1965)- 6 (decent sword & sandal epic)

NINJA III: THE DOMINATION (1984)- 4 (terrible but fun)

KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962) - 5

THE NEON DEMON (2016)- 7 (LA fashion bloodsuckers)

CHATO'S LAND (1972) - 7 (solid revenge western)

CHERRY FALLS (1999) - 7 (rewatch)

PRINCE OF THIEVES (1948) - 5 (OK Robin Hood tale) 

THE TRUE STORY OF THE NUN OF MONZA (1980)

Set in northern Italy in the early 1600s, The True Story of the Nun of Monza relates the sad but sexy convent life of the daughter of that city's feudal lord. She is dowered into the care of the nuns by her father to remove her from the temptations of the world. This seems to have been a good idea, as the newly christened Sister Virginia de Leyve (Zora Kerova) has very vivid dreams of humiliation by the nuns and of herself in a nude embrace with men. When these dreams culminate in Jesus stepping down from the crucifix to allow the kneeling girl to kiss his stomach, you know she has some problems with fornication. Not that she's alone in this in the convent... 

We quickly learn that several of the nuns sleep with each other on a regular basis as well as slipping away in the night to visit men. This hidden sexual life extends to the local priest (Giovanni Attanasio) as well, who is carrying on a long-term relationship with one of the more beautiful nuns. Not content to sleep with his beloved, the priest lusts after Virginia. After a drunken night of debauchery with some wealthy friends, he tries to rape the poor girl in the confessional booth. That he's costumed in a red devil outfit at the time only adds to the bizarre nature of the sequence, driving the symbolism home with a hammer.

It briefly looks like Virginia is also going to be pursued by one of the priest's rich wastrel friends, Giampaolo Osio (Mario Cutini), an aristocrat with a quick temper and the blood of a few dueling opponents on his hands. But this budding scheme comes to a halt when news arrives of her father's death. This makes Virginia the new noble Lady of Monza, with the power to have herself elected to replace the elderly, ailing Mother Superior. To this end she enlists fellow nun Benedetta (Paolo Montenero) as her second in command, which turns out to be a mistake. The priest and his lover fear the new leader will discover their secret and so blackmail secret lesbian Benedetta to help them set her up. They lure the new Mother Superior to a quiet location in the convent and watch while Osio rapes her. Sadly reinforcing every misogynistic thought about women, Virginia becomes Osio's willing lover and eventually realizes she's pregnant.

Her condition is kept quiet and when the child is stillborn she prays for forgiveness. Proclaiming not to love Osio any longer, she vows to mend her ways. But young novitiate Margherita (Leda Simoneti), who midwifed the baby, threatens to reveal everyone's dirty secrets unless she is given whatever she wants. Mere moments after Osio silences the girl the Inquisitor shows up to strip away all deceit and wield the mighty sword of Church justice.

The Nunsploitation genre is one I've never really understood. Not being Catholic, I don't have any childhood fears, erotic or otherwise, linked to the sight of women covered from head to toe in black drapery. Nor do I attribute these "Brides of Christ" any special reverence that would cause the sight of them acting with sexual abandon to be more alluring than any other attractive woman. Sadly this lack of any Catholic background or even direct knowledge of the religion seems to blunt the titillation factor of these films. This means that, for me, they succeed or fail solely on their merits as well told stories. Unfortunately this film lacks a strong narrative line which blunts any sense of forward momentum. Until the final 20 minutes the movie has almost no drive making it feel more like a series of anecdotes rather than a story with a purpose. As a matter of fact I'm sure that you could scramble the order of about 10 scenes in the middle of the film without changing the structure of the tale or the tragic arc Virginia follows. The overwhelming feeling for most of the film was of drifting from scene to scene with little forward impetus. It was as if we were simply seeing incidents along a timeline with only a few connecting threads until the pregnancy occurs and the heavy duty guilt kicks in. I guess this might be a case of adhering to the facts of the historical events they are supposed to be dramatizing but it makes for a rambling, occasionally dull movie.

I guess I was expecting something sleazier as this was directed under a pseudonym by Bruno Mattei (as "Stefan Oblowsky"). His other films from the same period are trashy glories brimming with nastiness that he seems to relish wallowing in for the sake of cheap thrills. Maybe that’s the reason for the false name on the credits- to distance The True Story of the Nun of Monza from his other work. But it's strange that this well-mounted but mostly flat film would be attributed to a fictitious person while his junk film epics like Rats and SS Girls sport his given name. I wonder which he's more proud of when he looks back.

Beyond Naschy Special - Video Watchdog and Jess Franco!

This month we bring you a special episode of the show. If you've listened to many of our shows you will have heard us mention the magazine Video Watchdog in reference to something or some movie. Both Troy and I have been readers of the 'Perfectionist's Guide to Fantastic Video' for decades now and each issue brings new delights. The depth and breadth of the coverage in the pages of this digest sized joy is incredible. Several years ago we met duo behind the magazine and became great friends  resulting in many fun evenings of movie (and music) discussion that often saw the sun rise before we called things to a halt. Call them publishers, editors, writers, film historians or just great folks Tim and Donna Lucas are two of the nicest people in the world and we're proud to bring you a chance to sit in on a conversation with each of them. First up, Donna takes the opportunity to explain the details of Video Watchdog's move to the digital world. Luckily this does not mean the end of the print version of VW (Thank the stars!) but the bells and whistles added to the online versions of each issue are astonishing. And proving just how nice a lady she is, Donna let's you in on an amazing deal - By using coupon code PODCAST at the Video Watchdog online store checkout you receive 50% off the Digital Archive (176 issues) until December 31, 2016. That's right! For the rest of this year you can grab the VW Digital Archive for half off the (already low) digital price! And did I mention that each new issue is online to read free for the first two months after it's published for FREE! Amazing. So go check out the latest issue online and see what's going on! The current issue has tons of reviews and a huge article on Carmilla and the various screen adaptations of that classic female vampire tale.

Longtime listeners will know that back in 2011 I got Tim Lucas to sit down for a couple of chats about Naschy's films resulting in some great discussion. I still think his defense of several aspects of BEAST AND THE MAGIC SWORD are eye opening and it is just such differing, knowledgeable opinions that I want when talking about genre film. Of course, Tim is one of the top genre film writers working today and his recent awards for his Mario Bava commentary tracks show that his skills translate from page to audio very well. Here we spend some time discussing several Jess Franco films and a few of their variations. Movies we touch on include THE OBSCENE MIRROR and it's non-porn Spanish language version THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR, FURY IN THE TROPICS, THE DIABOLICAL DOCTOR Z, THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN and Franco's two Fu Manchu films. I think that in my excitement I may have babbled too much but just listen in for the pearls of insight and wisdom Tim brings to the table and it will all even out! I hope!

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Here are the links to take advantage of the Video Watchdog Digital Archive Sale and look over the newest issue for free!

Use coupon code PODCAST at checkout to receive 50% off the Digital Archive (176 issues) until December 31, 2016.

Digital Editions: http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/digital/library.html

Free Issue:  http://videowatchdog.com/vw

Free Keeper Issue: http://videowatchdog.com/home/digital/keeper

Digital 'Dog Blog:  http://vwdigitaldog.blogspot.com/

Link to the Naschy Cast page in VW 175: http://content.yudu.com/A2idht/current/resources/94.htm

Video Watchdog Website: www.videowatchdog.com

BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL (1974)

I got my start writing movie reviews years ago for the now defunct website Eccentric Cinema. I lament every day that EC is no longer around because it was a good place to find long form critiques of genre films that, regardless of the writer, always seemed to have more thought involved than the average site. Rarely was an Eccentric Cinema review simply just a review of the movie and its video presentation. There were usually some deeper ideas that got brought to the surface and often times explored in some depth. I miss having EC as an outlet and a place to gain an alternative perspective. Since it's demise I have been cleaning up and posting some of my old reviews for the site here on the blog and that is how we come to this. I wrote this review just after the BCI release of BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL on DVD. I had previously seen the film under its American title HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN but this disc was a revelation. I've toyed with updating this piece but I realized that instead it might be a better idea to post it as it was originally written. You see - this was done years before I developed the NaschyCast podcast to explore the cinema of Paul Naschy and this represents my thoughts on him and his work before I made an attempt to really study the subject. Maybe fans of the show can get a kick out of how far I've come - or not! So, here is my decade old review. Enjoy!

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Gilles (Paul Naschy) is hitchhiking his way across northern France looking for a job. Each stop in a small town or village results in sullen stares from the out-of-work locals, a gentle indicator that he should move on. Trudging down a dark road one evening he's picked up by Claude (Diana Lorys). She's a pretty woman with a horribly scarred right arm on which she wears a prosthetic hand. Gilles apologizes for staring and his questions about how the wounds were inflicted are bluntly turned aside. But when Gilles asks about work, Claude offers him the position of gardener/caretaker of the ramshackle estate she shares with her two sisters. The last employee was let go under bad circumstances and the unemployed fellow gladly accepts.

On the way to the house the car strikes a bird, injuring it. When Claude mercifully kills the broken creature Gilles has a sudden flashback in which he seems to be strangling a woman. Upon arriving at the estate he meets Nicole (Eva Leon), the redheaded and very flirtatious sister. The third of the siblings is wheelchair bound Ivette (Maria Perschy). Claude introduces him and explains that Ivette was injured in an accident several years before, but declines to give any details. Gilles gets the impression that the two sisters' different injuries may be related.

The next morning Nicole follows the new hired hand around, watching him work and making her lustful intentions obvious. In the afternoon Ivette's new nurse arrives and, much to the surprise of her doctor, it's not the woman he recommended. Ivette is immediately suspicious of Nurse Michelle (Ines Morales), a gorgeous blonde, but the family doctor trusts her and does his best to set his patient's mind at ease. This becomes more difficult the next day, when it's discovered that the police have found the murdered body of the originally expected nurse beside the road on the way to the estate. Hmm. Could Michelle be hiding something sinister? She certainly acts odd, especially after a tense phone call from an unknown person. Hmm. And on the sinister side of things, Gilles is plagued by nightmares repeating the scenario of him strangling a laughing woman... And the nurse was strangled to death. Hmmmm. Happily for him, Nicole sneaks into his room on his second evening and administers her own brand of welcome. But is that a carefully controlled desire to grip her neck the man fights down as he makes love? Hmm... 

Doing yard work the following day, Gilles is attacked by a knife-wielding maniac. He's able to fight off and even stab the man as he escapes, but he receives a cut across his stomach. Michelle bandages him up and he rests the remainder of the day in bed. Claude visits him to explain that the man with the knife was Jean, the previous caretaker, who was fired for sleeping with nymphomaniac Nicole. It's clear Claude feels guilty about what happened and before the evening is over she's prescribed some sexual healing of her own. That's two of the sisters in the house... Will Gilles go for all three.

Later that night, in the nearby village, a young girl is attacked and killed while walking home through a cemetery. The victim's eyes (looking like soft boiled eggs) are gouged out and taken by the murderer. This second murder in a few days leads the police to fear they may have a serial killer on their hands. And after a third corpse appears the next morning — missing its eyes — the cops are in a frenzy to find the criminal. The single common denominator is that each girl killed had blonde hair and blue eyes. Hmm. Doesn't the woman in Gilles flashbacks/nightmares have blonde hair? Hmm.

The police suspect Jean, the missing knife-wielding ex-caretaker, but Claude does some snooping in Gilles' room and finds old newspaper clippings. These identify Gilles by another name and relate his past conviction for raping and killing his fiancée years before. Confronting Gilles with this information, he breaks down and tells her the details of his past, gaining her sympathy but leaving a real possibility in the viewer that he's our black-gloved killer. (Little hint for all ex-convicts trying to leave their past behind — don't carry around newspaper clippings that detail your criminal deeds.)

Throwing more confusion into the mix is the discovery of Jean in a field, dead from the stab wound inflicted by Gilles days earlier. Hmm. Who is murdering all these pretty young girls?

This is a great little thriller that easily fits into the giallo genre. Although some purist would argue that only the Italians made true gialli, I find that a silly and pointlessly limiting way of looking at European thrillers. This may be a Spanish-made film set in France but it's clearly a giallo and an inventive one at that. Indeed, I find Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll to be a strong example of its type with only one serious flaw — its often off-putting music. But even this flaw isn't a total disaster. The movie boasts two reoccurring tunes that underscore the story, one a bouncy piece that we first hear under the credits. While a very catchy song that I'd love to have on a soundtrack CD, its repeated use in some scenes that it REALLY doesn't fit works against the tension the film builds. More than once it plays under a dramatic sequence that it complete deflates with its cheerful sound. But the other song used is an amazing, sinister version of the old childhood sing-a-long "Frère Jacque" which is used during the stalking/attack scenes as the unseen killer picks off the blue-eyed victims. Sparse and haunting, the song becomes more off kilter and out of tune with each murder, giving a nice hint of the deteriorating mental state of the black-gloved strangler.

One of the great joys of any Paul Naschy (real name: Jacinto Molina) horror film is the feeling of affection for the genre that always shines through. Even in his lesser efforts it's obvious that he loves making monster movies and is honestly trying to make the best one he possibly can. Of course, this sometimes causes them to be so over-earnest in their seriousness that even a diehard fan can wish that characters would stop whining and just do something. Pathos and a surfeit of sentimentality often crept into the screenplays penned by Naschy. But luckily this was before horror film lengths expanded past the two hour mark so that final act rampage was never too far away. Also, his desire to inject some romanticism into nearly every story could come off as forced and silly by turns. These dives into doe-eyed lovemaking, complete with swelling musical accompaniment, were not helped by the fact that in nearly every case it was Naschy himself who was rolling around in the sack with the beautiful actresses. Not that Paul wasn't a fine example of studly machismo. But when the scriptwriter/actor ends up bedding almost every gorgeous woman in the film EVERY TIME it becomes a growing source of amusement. "Hey, Jacinto... How many naked actresses do you get to paw in this movie?" I suspect that a compilation of just the lovemaking scenes form his movies strung together one after another would make a pretty amusing (and lengthy) party tape. The looks of barely restrained lust are only rivaled in their entertainment value by his intense contortions of pain and rage during one of his dozens of screen werewolf transformations. For sheer emotional overkill, Naschy was your man! 

Luckily, Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll manages to avoid the over sentimentality of most Naschy stories. I thought we were really in for it when Ivette shows up in the wheelchair, but she is never played for cheap emotion. The character is central to the underlying tensions between the sisters but is kept mostly in the background, with only her paranoia about her new nurse giving a view into her inner world.

Of course, the main reason the film is so engrossing is its central mystery —who is killing the young women around the village? It's a great puzzle, and even if the final reveal shows that there was no way at all for a viewer to figure things out it's still a fun tale. The film goes out of its way to provide clues pointing to several characters, setting up plenty of red herrings. And even if we know it simply can't be Gilles (because he's the most obvious choice), his barely suppressed desire to strangle women does cause a few doubts.

The Bloody Pit #36 - THE NEW BARBARIANS (1983)

Pasta-pocalypse time on The Bloody Pit! I am joined once again by Troy and Jeff to talk about a piece of Italian sleaze and this time we finally delve into the world of MAD MAX/THE ROAD WARRIOR rip offs. Director Enzo Castellari was a veteran of low budget genre cinema by the early 80's and he knew how to stretch a dollar to make things work. When he made this film he was in the middle of a string of such sci-fi adventures that owed as much to the dystopian worlds of Miller's Mad Max as they did to Carpenter's dark future from ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. All these influences swirl around mixed with a standard Western plot, silly hair styles, ridiculous cars, silly weapons and dangerous stunt work to create a fun, bizarre and occasionally sadistic ride. The fact that the amazing Fred Williamson is on hand to keep the grins flowing is only part of the entertainment on view. After all - we have to find a way to survive the end of civilization and start over again, right? Or are we just looking for victory? Don't ask Nadir.

After a brief discussion of the media that we've been checking out lately, your Three Stooges dive into a detailed breakdown of THE NEW BARBARIANS. We examine the odd design and talk about how the western story template makes for a good jumping off point for an action tale. We discuss the cast, the clever ways the production dealt with budgetary issues and the nepotism that shows up in every Castellari film. We spend some time on the mighty George Eastman (a.k.a. Luigi Montefiori) and his impressive career and marvel at the talents of Williamson as he brightens the movie in ways only he can manage. We get a kick out of analyzing the strange sexual politics of the story as Troy points out a way that this film is unique among it's post-apocalyptic brethren. And of course, we smile and laugh at the insane gunfights, slow motion car crashes and exploding dummies along the way. Man - I love exploding dummies! Truly, a good time was had by all.

We can be reached at thebloodypit@gmail.com if you have any comments or questions. Next month Troy and I will be back on the NaschyCast feed covering some Spanish Horror again while I'll be trying to get the long delayed LOGAN'S RUN episode off the ground. Let us know what you think and if there are any movies you think we should pay attention to as we venture down the road. Thanks for downloading and listening. 

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