Happy New Year!

Have a safe New Year's Eve and a prosperous 2014! 

Spaghetti Western Poster Art

I was looking at this fantastic alternative poster art for DJANGO UNCHAINED when I got the hankering to see more poster art from the classic period of European Westerns. Check these out! 

Now I want to watch about ten of them in a row. 

Thoughts on The Doctor

With all the hubbub around Doctor Who recently I feel a bit left out. I like the new Who stuff well enough, but not well enough to have kept up to date. I have not yet watched the first full Matt Smith episode which puts me about three years behind! So what did I do yesterday when given the opportunity to watch some of the show? I pulled out The Trial of a Time Lord DVDs and am now watching my second favorite Doctor run through his final season! I bet I'm the only Colin Baker fan willing to pipe up at this late date but I really loved his take on the character and, even with one harsh bump in the road, I consider Trial of a Time Lord to be brilliant.

I don't want to sound like an old man telling kids to get off my lawn but......the new Who show is a little too repetitive for me. The reason I have had trouble getting through each season so far is that I get tired of every damn thing happening in freakin' contemporary London! Only occasionally do the stories take place on an alien world, a spacecraft or even in a dank underground hole from which the Doctor and his companions must escape. I much prefer the cheap sets and high imagination of the older stories because they required a larger buy-in from me as an audience member. If you were willing to meet the show halfway you were rewarded with thrills and excitement unavailable anyplace else.

And maybe that's the problem. Maybe the world of television science fiction entertainment has moved beyond the kind of "we're all in this together" kind of group involvement through the basic love of the genre. Maybe the show has to spend more time concerned with its flashy visuals or the modern audience will laugh and turn away, but I fear I will always find the older tales more fun, more filled with the sense of wonder that I want and expect out of science fiction TV. The new Who stuff is much more interested in dazzling you with its beauty rather than engaging you intellectually. It's more interested in pushing emotional buttons than making you think. That is a shame because the best science fiction- Hell - the best storytelling - can do both things. The new show is just not very appealing to me because I want the story be more important than the visuals and the characters to be more interesting than the question of 'Who will fall in love with who'.

I can enjoy the new Doctor Who series but it will never be one of my favorite shows until its focus becomes something it will never be again. So, I'll eventually catch up with Matt Smith and the latest Doctor but for now Colin Baker's run will continue to make me smile.

Merry Christmas from the Bloody Pit and the NaschyCast!

Have a wonderful Holiday Season! 

Six Million Dollar Man Christmas audio shows!

I've never made any secret of my love for the 1970's TV series The Six Million Dollar Man. I am thrilled that the show has finally been released on DVD and I'm slowly working my way through the second season as I can. To add to this geeky joy is the fact that there are several record albums produced during the show's heyday with further adventures for those of us that couldn't get enough of a fix from the boob tube. I clearly remember having at least one of those albums but I know I never had the four Christmas tales presented below. They are all a bit insane- just check them out if you doubt me- but they kick the nostalgia button for me this Holiday Season. Sometimes you just have to love the internet!

And a big thank you to Rich Chamberlain for finding these links!

Merry Christmas From Spider-Man!

Having a Merry Marvel Christmas! 

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2014)- trailer!

Oh, yeah! I was very surprised by the quality level of RISE OF THE POTA and I am thrilled that they plan to continue the series in the same vein. I've been a fan of the original five films since childhood and the fact that the series has returned in such a strong way is astonishing. Plus- this trailer looks fantastic! I can't wait!

DC Comics Holiday Images

I'm having a very DC Comics kind of Christmas Season! 

The Bloody Pit #12 - Christmas Movies

Its December, so it is time once again for The Bloody Pit Christmas Movie episode! Just like last year, this two and a half hour podcast showcases my buddy John Davis and I talking about some of our most beloved Holiday themed films, TV shows and other bits of media. The surprise for 2013 is that this time we are joined by my NaschyCast co-host Troy Guinn! He wanted to include his thoughts on this subject and as his favorite film of all time turns out to be SCROOGE (1970) it only seems right that he should. Troy has a long history with the film and its pretty funny.

The discussion jumps around quite a lot with a number of movies under the microscope but we also take the time to touch on a few short stories and comic book Christmas tales for which we have fond memories. Of course, this being a show hosted by three horror movie buffs you can expect a few of these items to veer into the dark, scary places we love so much - you have been warned! A brief listing of the major programs we talk about -

1. SCROOGE (1970)

2. ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE (1947)

3. A CAROL FOR ANOTHER CHRISTMAS (1964)

4. Twilight Zone - "Night of the Meek"

5. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

6. Peace On Earth (1939)

7. EBBIE (1995)

8. All Through the House

9. CHRISTMAS EVIL (1980)

10. COMFORT AND JOY (1984)

So join us for a conversation among three old friends as we relate why we love these pieces of Holiday entertainment and what they mean to us. If you want to let us know what your favorite Christmas movies are please drop us a note at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we'll see if we talk about them next year - or maybe sooner! Thank you for downloading and listening. 

iTunes LINK 

MP3 download LINK 

Peace on Earth (1939) LINK 

Toys of my Youth!

Some of these I had but most of these I really just WISH that I had! 

GODZILLA trailer!

Wow! This looks incredible! After the complete debacle of Roland Emmerich's 1998 sad attempt to bring Godzilla to these shores I had my expectations set very low for this new bite at the big green nuclear irradiated apple - but this looks like the filmmakers involved have their heads in the right place. I am officially excited.



Please don't let this suck!

Evil Snowmen!

I'm not sure, but I think this comic book cover....

is the reason I've been having nightmares filled with creatures that look like this! 

Kind of creepy in a Winter Wonderland sort of way. 

What I Watched in November

Brief thoughts on last month's trips out to the theater.

Caught the CARRIE remake last month and it was a pretty good version of the tale. In some ways this film is a great example of the reason some people dislike remakes in general because it had nothing at all to add to the superior 1976 film. I have never been a part of that camp of film buffs - I like seeing if a new group of creators can bring new insight to older material. You often end up with crap (THE FOG remake springs to mind) but sometimes you get a classic like Carpenter's THE THING or the very smart update of DAWN OF THE DEAD. I'm open minded about these attempts and I always hope for the best. CARRIE (2013) is a solid adaptation of the King novel with a strong cast. I might have hoped for more stylish direction but after Brian de Palma's split-screens and slow motion suspense exercises, maybe the idea was not to go camera crazy. This version is good but not great and so it may well become a forgotten bit of horror cinema for a few decades. We will have to see.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013) was a fantastic follow up to the first film and a good sequel to THE AVENGERS. I am very impressed that the creators at Marvel have been able to craft such a strong film that hits pretty much every target at which it decides to aim. Smart, well paced, funny, exciting and even emotional this is exactly what I want from my modern superhero films. This is the kind of movie I pictured in my mind's eye when I was a young boy reading Thor comics. I can hardly believe that I was rooting for Loki at the same time I was angry with him- that's good storytelling. I could not be happier with this series of movies and look forward to whatever Marvel serves up next. It's a great time to be a superhero fan!  

BLADE (1998)- 8 (rewatch)

GNAW: FOOD OF THE GODS 2 (1989)- 3

GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (1933)- 7

WHAT WAITS BELOW (1985)- 4 (not completely awful, but....)

LAS ALIMANAS (1976)- 5 (Amando de Ossorio crime tale)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2011)- 6 (rewatch)

CARRIE (2013)- 6 (well done but unnecessary)

HARD CONTRACT (1969)- 7

THE CURSE OF THE VAMPIRE (1972)- 5 (OK if overwrought Spanish horror)

THE LAST KAMIKAZE (1984)- 7 (well done)

THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN (1977)- 3 (terrible but I kinda like it)

ANCHORMAN (2004)- 6 (funny but too scattershot and broad to be great)

MANIAC (2012)- 7 (good remake)

SAVAGE WATER (1979)- 2 (terrible on every level -amateur hour)

THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013)- 9

SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE (1929)- 7 (excellent mystery adaptation)

UN FLIC (1972)- 7 (Melville's last is solid)

SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE (1935)- 6 (second version not as good)

CAPTAIN NEMO AND THE UNDERWATER CITY (1969)- 7 (rewatch)

SKYSCRAPER (1996)- 2 (Anna Nicole Smith 'acts')

TROLL 2 (1990)- 2 (rewatch)

Twelve Inch Snake!

Plissken, that is! Yes, the wishes of toy collecting ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK fans have finally been answered with Sideshow Toys announcement this past October that they will be producing a fantastic foot tall action figure of Snake! It features all of the anti-heroe's trademark features including full abdomen cobra tattoo, eye patch and all the correct clothing - muscle shirt and distressed leather jacket, urban camo pants, shin guards and combat boots. It even comes with all the weapons, the wrist clock AND the all important cassette tape that can save the world! This looks amazing!

Of course, with a $160 price tag I won't be rushing off to grab one, but I am willing to be gifted with this at any time of the year. 

That may be the biggest bit of begging I've ever done on this blog.