Christmas Comic Book Covers!

Let's get this Holiday season started! 

ASSIGNMENT TERROR (1968) on Blu-Ray!

Ladies and gentlemen - boys and girls - I have great news! 

The 1969 Paul Naschy monster mash film ASSIGNMENT TERROR has just been released on Blu-Ray! Follow this LINK to the RoninFlix page where it can be purchased with shipping as low as FREE! Yep - free shipping! Unless you want it tomorrow or something and then it is a bit more expensive. 

But this is so cool! Another Naschy werewolf film on Blu-Ray and with a commentary track by Troy Howarth to boot. Go grab yours ASAP. And I'm sure you could throw in a copy of THE MUMMY'S REVENGE at the same time and have a Merry Naschy Christmas for one and all. Who could ask for anything better? 

Video - Magnus Robot Fighter - Origin Pt 1- Welcome to North Am Man-Child

This is an amazing motion-comic version of the first Magnus: Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. issue from 1963! The animation is limited and I'd prefer less stilted voices for the human characters but, overall, this is pretty darned fun. Extra points for retaining the excellent art from Russ Manning.

Sword & Sorcery Poster Art from the 1980's

This collection is heavy on THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER but they are all so good!  

Charlie Chan in DARK ALIBI (1944)

It took me a very long time to warm up to Sydney Toler's portrayal of Charlie Chan. The first actor I saw play the role was the amazing Warner Oland and seeing Toler in his first few Chan films just seemed wrong. The actor’s affectations were wrong; his manner of speech seemed incorrect and nothing about his face said Charlie Chan to me. I think now that my reaction to him may have been the relative weakness of the first few of his films that I watched. When your first example of someone's performance is a film as padded and weak as CHARLIE CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE (1944) you’re probably not going to think very highly of the performer at the center of the story. Luckily, I did persevere and work my way through more of his movies and found myself discovering that I actually could enjoy him in the role. It's possible that he grew more comfortable as Chan and I somehow perceive that on-screen in the later movies. Or it may just be that I got used to him as I saw more of his work since he played the part in more than twenty films! And also, it could be that later on he had better scripts that didn't make me focus on just how irritated I was at what I was seeing.

But I have to think that one of the major reasons that I enjoy a number of Sydney Toler's Charlie Chan films is the inclusion of the great Mantan Moreland. He truly is a very funny performer and a welcome sight in any movie across his entire career. Having just rewatched the fun DARK ALIBI (1946) I must say that as much enjoyment as I get from the mystery plot it is the scenes of Moreland and his old comedy partner Ben Carter doing their unique back-and-forth patter that stand out. Those guys were an amazing team. Sadly, Mr. Carter passed away just a few months after this movie - his last - came out.

THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964) Poster Art

Often derided but actually great! 

The Bloody Pit #93 - NIGHTMARE BEACH (1989)

This episode presents a first in that my co-host goes by a pseudonym! (Even Cort Psyops uses his real first name!) On podcasts he calls himself Bobby Hazzard which is quite different from his actual name. The fact that I managed to not call him by his real name for the entire show may be evidence of divine intervention! He is the host of several fun shows of his own including Spring Break Forever which might explain his fascination with the film we cover on this episode of The Bloody Pit. He and I cover a slasher film from the late 1980’s which is a bit of a surprise for me. I spent a good deal of my youth disliking the genre until I was finally exposed to enough good examples to develop a change in my sensibilities. There are good and bad films in every genre and the slasher is no different.

Also released as WELCOME TO SPRING BREAK this Italian production is now primarily known as NIGHTMARE BEACH (1989). Like a number of these genre films this was shot in the United States to take advantage of the financial deals being offered by certain cities at the time. This explains why the majority of the cast is American or Canadian making this look as much as possible like a movie made with Hollywood money. This was standard at the time to make sales of the film around the world more lucrative and, along with the use of pseudonyms in the credits, makes the product seem fully North American. But the oddity of retaining many elements of the giallo genre over the standards of the slasher makes this film feel very much a continuation of that very Italian genre. And, once the script throws in tropes from popular Spring Break comedies and enough distracting characters to keep your mind off the central mystery, this becomes a pretty entertaining ride.

Join us for a fun trip featuring sunny beaches, wet t-shirt contests, angry biker gangs and bizarre electrocutions on this episode. If you have any comments the email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com and the show’s FaceBook page is still active. Thank you for listening to the show!

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