Friday, March 03, 2023

Wild Wild Podcast Season 5:Episode 2 - 1990:THE BRONX WARRIORS (1982)


Join us as we get our skates and shoulder pads on to head into the Bronx for one of Italy's most enjoyable New York-set dystopian future movies – 1990: The Bronx Warriors! In this episode we ponder why no one seems to have a gun, why there were so few light-up skulls for the bikers, and why we can't all have drummers playing in the background during difficult moments in life. We discuss the fascinating cast, the smart editing and how much violent fun can be had in a pretty dismal place.  

Thursday, March 02, 2023

Poster Art for Disney's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954)

It is a true shame that this classic adventure film is only available on Blu-Ray directly from Disney through their club. I'm sure that they could sell hundreds of thousands of copies if it could be more easily purchased. But I'm not a Disney employee so what do I know? 


Monday, February 27, 2023

The Bloody Pit #167 - PUFNSTUF (1970)

 


For this very special episode five people have gathered to discuss an influential part of their childhood – H. R. Pufnstuf!  In particular we examine the movie that grew out of the children television show’s immense popularity – PUFNSTUF (1970). So, grab your magic flute and come to Living Island for an adventure you’ll never forget – no matter how hard you try. Wild, man!

I am joined by Beth, Troy Guinn, John Hudson and Steph to talk about the biggest hit of Sid & Marty Krofft’s many Saturday morning TV programs. Each of us relate our history with the various shows and what we thought of them as kids before diving into the specifics of the big screen version. We dig into the Krofft brothers’ background as puppet performers, their early successes on the stage and the genesis of Pufnstuf as a character. We take note of a fun Universal Horror related song from their early 1960’s adult puppet show and then turn things toward the amazing songs created for the film. We talk about the cast with Jack Wild’s place in the hearts of young girls becoming a subject of some amusement while Billie Hayes’ immortal Witchiepoo is lauded as the best reason to watch either the film or the television show. Favorite lines of dialog are quoted and we wonder aloud if some of the best bits were adlibbed by Miss Hayes or not. We also talk about Mama Cass Elliot’s excellent performance as Witch Hazel and single out her song as a highlight. This really is a delightful movie!

If you want to share your own memories of the old Sid & Marty Krofft shows thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. We hope you enjoy this slightly chaotic trip into Saturday mornings past. Thank you for listening! 


Friday, February 24, 2023

Severin Announces DANZA MACABRA VOL. ONE: THE ITALIAN GOTHIC COLLECTION - BLU-RAY BOX SET

Severin has announced this amazing four film set and I'm proud to have been a small part of the extras! Robert Monell and I have contributed a commentary track for the excellent SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER (1970) but that is only one of the many extras included on this amazing set. And any box set with a restored and complete version of LADY FRANKENSTEIN (1971) is well worth paying attention to just for that film alone. Click over using this LINK and pre-order you copy today! Here are the details - 

DISC 1: THE MONSTER OF THE OPERA (1964)
Conceived as a sequel to their landmark THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA, director Renato Polselli (THE REINCARNATION OF ISABEL, DELIRIUM) and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK, LIBIDO) resurrected their gothic-fiend-stalks-a-theatrical-troupe framework for an over-the-top aria of reincarnated lovers, sheer nightgowns, sapphic hunger, interdimensional damnation and frenzied ‘opera’ that “looks like the fever dream of an oversexed choreographer” (Fantastic Movie Musings). Marco Mariani (TOMB OF TORTURE), Giuseppe Addobbati (NIGHTMARE CASTLE) and Milena Vukotic (BLOOD FOR DRACULA) star in this surreal and still potently erotic shocker now scanned in 2K from the original negative, featuring an all-new interview with Gastaldi and more. 

Special Features:

*Audio Commentary With Kat Ellinger, Author of Daughters Of Darkness
*Terror At The Opera – Interview With Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
*Capodimonte Gothic – Interview With Italian Film Devotee Mark Thompson-Ashworth 
*Radio Polselli – Archival Audio Interview With Director Renato Polselli 
*French Trailer

Disc Specs:
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: Italian Mono
English Subtitles
Region A
Run time: 84 mins

DISC 2: THE SEVENTH GRAVE (1965)
For more than 50 years, it has existed only via rumor, reputation and barely watchable bootlegs. It remains perhaps the strangest Italian Gothic ever made: The sole feature by enigmatic director Garibaldi Serra Caracciolo – here using the anglicized pseudonym ‘Finney Cliff’ – combines familiar murder mystery elements of THE CAT AND THE CANARY with odd dollops of mad doctors, escaped lepers, giallo-style killings and one of the most strikingly original séance sequences in the entire genre. Antonio Casale (‘Bill Carson’ in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY), Ferruccio Viotti (SEX OF THE WITCH) and Gianni Dei (PATRICK STILL LIVES) star in this fascinating rarity now scanned in 2K from the recently discovered negative, with all-new Special Features that explore the bizarre circumstances behind the film’s production, release and half-century disappearance. 

Special Features:

*Audio Commentary With Rachael Nisbet, Film Critic And Co-Host Of Fragments Of Fear
*Seven Graves And A Mystery – Interview With Film Historian Fabio Melelli
*English Aesthetic With Giallo Blood – Video Essay By Gothic Scholar And Author Rachel Knightley

Disc Specs:
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: Italian Mono
English Subtitles
Region Free
Run time: 77 mins

DISC 3: SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER (1970)
Though he made only two horror films, veteran writer/director José Luis Merino (THE HANGING WOMAN) here embraces the genre’s classic elements and ravishes them to vivid extremes: When a beautiful biochemist (Erna Schurer of STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER) arrives at a foreboding castle to work for a sinister baron, she’ll unlock a nightmare of dark romance, sexual violence, grisly family secrets and some of the most perverse moments in ‘70s Gothic. Carlos Quiney (ZORRO THE INVINCIBLE), Agostina Belli (BLUEBEARD) and Enzo Fisichella (MALABIMBA) co-star in this Italian/Spanish co-production – also known as KILLERS OF THE CASTLE OF BLOOD and released in the U.S. by New World Pictures cut by nearly 20 minutes – now scanned in 4K from the negative for the first time ever. 

Special Features:

*Audio Commentary With Rod Barnett, Film Historian And Co-Host Of NaschyCast, And Robert Monell, Writer And Editor Of I'm In A Jess Franco State Of Mind
*Scream Erna Scream! – Interview With Actress Erna Schurer
*In The Castle Of Blood – Video Essay By Stephen Thrower, Author Of Books On Jess Franco And Lucio Fulci
*Trailer

Disc Specs:
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English Mono / Italian Mono
English Subtitles
Region A
Run time: 98 mins

DISC 4: LADY FRANKENSTEIN (1971)
Co-produced by Roger Corman, “one of the most underrated horror movies of all time” (Classic Horror) features ultra-lurid direction by American-International star Mel Welles (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS) from a story by by Dick Randall (PIECES), distinctive cinematography by Riccardo Pallottini (CASTLE OF BLOOD) and score by Alessando Alessandroni (THE DEVIL’S NIGHTMARE), a cast that includes Hollywood legend Joseph Cotten (CITIZEN KANE) alongside EuroCult icons Paul Müller (NIGHTMARE CASTLE), Herbert Fux (MARK OF THE DEVIL), Marino Masé (TENEBRAE) and Mickey Hargitay (BLOODY PIT OF HORROR), and a titular performance by the remarkable Rosalba Neri (THE DEVIL’S LOVER) for whom “only the monster she made could satisfy her strange desires!” LADY FRANKENSTEIN is now scanned in 2K from the original negative, with alternate scenes, all-new Special Features and much more. 

 Special Features:

*Audio Commentary With Kat Ellinger, Author of Daughters Of Darkness, And Annie Rose Malamet, Film Scholar And Host Of Girls, Guts, Giallo
*Audio Commentary With Alan Jones, Author Of Dario Argento: The Man, The Myths & The Magic, And Kim Newman, Author Of Nightmare Movies
*Meet The Baroness – Featurette With Actress Rosalba Neri And Film Historian Fabio Melelli
*Piecing Together LADY FRANKENSTEIN
*The Lady And The Orgy – Documentary Short On Director Mel Welles
*The Truth About LADY FRANKENSTEIN (2007) – German TV Documentary
*Clothed Insert Shots
*Video Short Illustrating BBFC Censorship Cuts
*Italian Opening Credits
*Bigfilm Magazine (1971) – Italian LADY FRANKENSTEIN Photo Novel
*Extensive Image Gallery
*Home Video Gallery
*Radio Spots
*TV Spot
*Trailers

Disc Specs:
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English Stereo / Italian Stereo
Closed Captions / English Subtitles
Region Free
Run time: 98 mins

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Beyond Naschy #36 - ORLOFF AND THE INVISIBLE MAN (1970)


We return to the Beyond Naschy series with guest Bob Sargent making the choice of film this time out.

ORLOFF AND THE INVISIBLE MAN (1970) is not a movie that is often called out as a favorite of even the most hardened Euro-Cult horror fanatics. In the past it has been mistaken as a Jess Franco effort with the director’s name, Pierre Chevalier, suspected of being another of the prolific filmmaker’s many pseudonyms. This appears to not be factual but anyone stumbling across this movie unaware couldn’t be blamed for making that assumption. It shares many of the standard tropes and oddities of one of Franco’s color gothics from the period which makes it a good companion piece of Franco’s EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN (1973) and DRACULA, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN (1972). It even sports Franco’s original Orloff actor Howard Vernon as ‘Professor’ Orloff who has somehow created an invisible man for the usual mad scientist reasons. The film’s story is a mish-mash of prematurely buried daughters, accidental murders and greedy servants who are not above a bit of graverobbing. Add to that one of the strangest rape sequences in cinema history and some obviously missing story pieces and you have an entertaining if often confusing 76 minutes.

We talk about the cast and crew, including their various Naschy connections. We discuss the missing scenes that can be glimpsed in the French trailer for the film and in the extras included on the old Image DVD. We find some moments of real beauty in the cinematography and some unintentionally funny scenes that just don’t work. The English dialog causes quite a few laughs as we quote some standout circular conversations. Part of our discussion centers on the term ‘guilty pleasure’ and how each of the three of us feel about applying that overused phrase to our love of Euro-Cult cinema. As you might expect, there are more than a few verbal trips down barely connected cinema paths with the final forty-five minute mailbag section becoming a memory lane remembrance of our late friend Craig Ledbetter.

If you’d like to add you voice to the show naschycast@gmail.com is the place to send your thoughts and questions. Troy and I are very happy that Bob has joined us again and with a little luck we will have around for the rest of this year’s shows! Thanks for listening. 

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Video - ORLOFF AND THE INVISIBLE MAN (1970)


I'm currently editing an epic length Beyond Naschy episode focused on this strange and mostly unloved Euro-Cult mad scientist film. Check it out and you'll be prepared for our rambling discussion!