It’s become cliché to the point of silliness to state that 2020 has been a bad year. We all know the reasons why so I’ll not dwell on the sad state of affairs that has made it so difficult to do the things we all love to do or the political madness that has elevated idiocy to a deadly art form. Instead, I’m going to tell you about some of the good things I experienced this past year.
Since I started podcasting eleven years ago I have dreamed of being able to discuss movies and television with a great number of people and I decided that the hellishness of 2020 was not going to stop that. In fact, I looked at the enforced stasis as a reason to finally ask some new people to join me on the shows. I’ve long admired Kat Ellinger’s writing and commentary on film but had worried that someone so busy might not have the time to indulge my desire to gab with her. Luckily she was an enthusiastic participant in a long conversation about Paul Naschy that was insightful and fun. I only wish I had recorded the hour we talked before we got to the subject at hand and the hour we continued to talk after we were done! “Meeting’ Kat over Skype was like finding an old friend that I immediately missed the next day. I hope we get to babble about movies with each other many more times.
I was also happy to get Kat’s frequent collaborator Samm Deighan to join us on the Naschycast to talk about the brilliant A BELL FROM HELL (1973). Her takes on not just that film but on several of Naschy’s movies opened up new avenues of discussion that brought a new sense of intelligence to the show – which is often needed! She put up with our silly questions and took our conversation into areas I had never thought possible. I mean, who plans for a discussion of Yeti nipples? Samm was lively and intelligent bringing something unexpected to the table and I am very grateful to her for being part of the show. I hope I can entice her back to talk more about Yeti, abominable snowmen and other strange creatures.
Another film writer and podcaster joined me on The Bloody Pit to step outside the TV movie structure of her normal discussions. Amanda Reyes hosts the Made For TV Mayhem podcast where she digs into television films of all genres but she guested on my show to talk about a little known Euro-Cult thriller from 1985 called NOTHING UNDERNEATH. It was a fantastic time in which we pulled nearly the entire story apart to see what made it tick. Amanda’s affection for these sleazy crime tales is infectious (in a good way!) and her take on the ideas in the film opened my eyes to things I’d not considered before. In the new year we plan to talk about some of Lamberto Bava’s movies so stay tuned!
With Covid destroying my twice annual chance to hang out with filmmaker Sam Irvin we decided to record a two-hour conversation and use it as a podcast. Luckily, Sam has hundreds of tales from his monster obsessed past as a Fanzine writer, interviewer and his wild early days in the movie industry as a assistant for Brian De Palma. Rarely am I so happy to just sit back and let my guests tell tales with my most difficult job being not laughing too hard. I miss getting to see Sam in person and I hope that soon enough we can be gabbing in a crowed room of other monster movie nuts again. Until then, I am just grateful he came on the show to dish!
These weren’t the only new voices on the podcasts this year. My old work buddy Brian Smith sat down to discuss his (ongoing) childhood obsession with 1980’s ninja movies and the influence it had on his music. Brian is an incredibly funny and creative guy so I was happy to be able to introduce him and his sense of humor to the podcasting audience. Matthew Kowalski jumped it to talk about Naschy adding his Polish heritage perspective to the Waldmar Daninksy discussion! And I even finally got Adrian Smith to watch a film by the great Spanish horror icon!
So, it is easy for me to be grateful for the opportunities this strange year provided. It was a rough patch but brighter days lie ahead. With any luck 2021 will see these voices return and even more new people will join us on both feeds. It should be a Happy New Year after all!
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