Caroline Munro - More images!

Because I got to thinking about STARCRASH for no good reason yesterday here are a few photos of the classically beautiful Miss Munro. 

The Bloody Pit #4 - ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL (1979)

The Bloody Pit returns with a show focused on a comedy! I would never have thought I'd be covering a comedy on the podcast but my buddy John Hudson convinced me and I'm glad he did. This is my first show with Mr. Hudson and with any luck it won't be the last. He is a damned good podcaster so far and his perspective is a unique one. He certainly keeps me on my toes!

ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL is a Roger Corman production from 1979 that manages to be both a wonderful time capsule and rather timeless. As a teen comedy it is great but as a slice of rock & roll history its a classic. Where else are you going to get to see The Ramones try to act? Or Paul Bartel attending a rock concert? Or Mary Warnov blowing up (fake) mice in a lab experiment? This has been a cult film since its release and its cable TV screenings in the 1980s probably cemented its reputation in the eyes of many people long ago. Its a low-budget, scattershot and often silly movie that has great characters and a lot of heart which is another way of saying it is truly endearing and fun. Of course, the amazing people behind the camera deserve a lot of praise and we take the opportunity to discuss a number of them as we go along. We even have the great good luck to have a brief interview with Riff Randell herself about ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL! That's right- Mr. Hudson got to sit down recently with the legendary P. J. Soles and discuss the film and her memories of the shoot. Very cool! We can't thank her enough for being so nice and so generous with her time. What a sweet lady! So settle in and enjoy!

Please feel free to write in with your thoughts on the show to thebloodypit@gmail.com and let us know what your first Ramones album was. Let us know what band you think might have made for an equally entertaining film made in 1979 with this crew of filmmakers. Thank you for listening and we'll see you again soon. You can grab the show from the DropBox link below or from iTunes.

Download LINK  

iTunes LINK 

The Skeleton Dance

For a little creepy fun look no further than this classic Disney cartoon from 1929.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Movie Poster Art

There have been dozens of film adaptations of Burroughs' various fantasy creations with JOHN CARTER being the most recent. I have a great fondness for the three cheesy movies made from his adventures about the hidden land named Pellucidar. I love Hollow Earth fiction of all sorts and would love to see a return to the big screen of these kinds of tales. And because as a kid I lumped it in with these movies I'm including the kind of ERB inspired WARLORD OF ATLANTIS. All of them are perfect Sunday afternoon viewing.

NaschyCast #33 - THE CRIMES OF PETIOT (1973)

For episode 33 we venture once again into the realms of Euro-Crime to see how the criminal side of life lives. In this case we have a mad killer haunted by Germany's Nazi past running around Berlin shooting people. His modus operandi is a strange one as it involves always attacking couples and centers on a particular hatred of the female each time. Bizarre!

THE CRIMES OF PETIOT was Paul Naschy's second collaboration with director Jose Luis Madrid. Their two films together were both of the crime story type and centered on deranged killers making eager over thinkers like your humble podcasters wonder about the shared themes that drive some men's art. Could the sublimated desire to act upon dark urges to both reflect the harsh actions of the recent past and repudiate the hideous history of the Second World War simultaneously have caused the growing trend of overly violent movies? Could the creeping misogyny of films that focus on duplicitous women have something to do with the emergent women's rights movement of the 1970s? Or could it just be that killing pretty girls and splashing blood around the screen was a surefire way to get an exploitation film into theaters? I think we all know the answer, huh?

Join us as we march our way scene by scene through this very hard to find film. Have we discovered another little known masterpiece or something further down the scale? For those that want to avoid spoilers we start ruining the reveal at about the 1:33 (one hour and thirty-three minute) mark and finish that kind of talk by the 1:50 (one hour and fifty minute) mark. Make your listening choices accordingly. And please drop us a line at naschycast@gmail.com to let us know your thoughts on the show, Naschy, Spanish Cinema or any other subject that comes to mind. And I'm trying out a new download service for those of you that grab the MP3 directly instead of from iTunes or streaming through Stitcher. The link below will (hopefully) take you to DropBox but if it doesn't work please let me know. 

Download LINK 

iTunes LINK 

Riff Trax live!

Last month I had the good fortune to be able to attend a live show put on by the Riff Trax fellows as they savaged the modern classic BIRDEMIC: SHOCK AND TERROR. This allowed me to mark two things off my Bucket List- 1) see a live show of the Riff Trax guys and 2) finally see BIRDEMIC: SHOCK AND TERROR. I had heard how brilliantly terrible the film is and had been putting off the experience until just the right event could be arranged. Clearly this was it.

The Riff Trax team of Bill Corbett, Michael Nelson and Kevin Murphy are veterans of the great television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 and their occasional live performances are very much in the same vein – find a bad movie and make merciless fun of it from beginning to end. These shows are broadcast through Fathom Events to theaters around the country on the night they are performed. I suspect that getting to one of those screenings might be a good time but since I live in Nashville I got to actually be in the live audience as they beamed the show out to all the other theaters! Take THAT Hollywood! It seems that the production company that handles all the technical stuff for these live events is based here and it’s just easier to produce the show at the historic Belcourt Theater in Nashville and send it out to everyplace else. So that means I got the chance to not only see the show but to be in the front row and on camera for everyone watching it to see! Awesome! And I wore my Paul Naschy Werewolf T-shirt from Fright Rags just to stand out from the (admittedly already strange) crowd. Any additional Naschy out there in pop culture is good as far as I’m concerned!

Of course, these shows are just an addition to the regular Riff-ing these guys do over on their website. They record and sell comedy commentary tracks for any movie they wish for fans to download, sync-up with the film at home and turn a beloved or not so beloved movie into a guaranteed chucklefest. Truly these men are doing necessary and positive work that benefits all of humanity and should be rewarded with your hard earned dollars.

Before I end this post I have to take the opportunity to thank two wonderful people in my life who made it possible for me to attend this show. My dear girlfriend Yvette encouraged me to join my buddy John to finally see a live Riff Trax show even though I was reluctant to take a weeknight away from the family. John has gone to most, if not all, of these live performances and I was thrilled to be asked to accompany him to this one. I loved every hysterical second and I can't thank both of them enough for pushing me to go. I certainly want to see more the next time the guys come to town!  

Werewolf Movie Poster Art

A few of my favorites from across the decades.