Neal Adams Artwork

Rest In Peace

 

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 3: Episode 4 - WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? (1974)

One of the most entertaining and nauseating films we've covered so far, What Have they Done to your Daughters? is a classic of the genre and one that every Poliziotteschi/ Giallo fan needs to check out. Join Rod and Adrian for their first anniversary episode as they delve in to the sleazy, blood-splattered world of meat cleaver-wielding bikers, peeping toms and teenage prostitutes. Yes, it's an episode the whole family can enjoy!

Adrian also wisely offers a form of apology for his dissing of Stelvio Cipriani in the last episode. He knows good music when he hears it!

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite Poliziotteschi films. You can contact us on Twitter, Instagram, or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. Please remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice!

Fantastic Voyage Comic Book Covers

The 1968 cartoon television series of Fantastic Voyage spawned a comic book series from Gold Key that - sadly - only lasted two issues. It's possible to get one of the two pretty cheaply online so I might eventually have to check them out.

Video - Fantastic Voyage 1968 Animated TV Show!

Until yesterday I had no idea that this existed! The show was apparently rerun in the 90's on the Sci-Fi Channel but I never caught it. I'm not sure what I might have thought of it then but now I'm just glad to have had it brought to my attention. Not that its great, but I love finding bits of odd pop culture that have been hidden from me. I wonder how many of the 17 episodes I'll be able to find on YouTube? 

The Bloody Pit #149 - MURDER ROCK (1984)

Lucio Fulci’s MURDER ROCK (1984) is not considered the director’s finest work but in this episode Troy Guinn, Jeff Nelson and I mount a defense of the film.

 

We take a look at several aspects of the film that are rarely discussed including the excellent cinematography and the script’s clever red herrings. It’s standard for a murder mystery to throw suspicion on most of the cast but several of the suspects in this case are real nasty pieces of work! How often do you have one character falsely confess to the killing and another try to use the murder method to cover their own desire to be rid of a rival? It certainly keeps things lively even if it makes for a difficult knot to untangle.

 We discuss the cast while marveling at the number of actors/dancers that don’t get screen credit. The central dream sequence comes under scrutiny as part of the mid-80’s intrusion of music video style into cinema. We mull over the nearly bloodless nature of the murders as a possible concession to the angry response Fulci received for his previous New York set thriller. We also give our opinions on the often-derided score from the legendary Keith Emerson who seems destined to be insulted for his contributions to this film for eternity. In all, it is a fun ramble through an often-overlooked giallo.

 

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to write or drop a recording of your thoughts. We love hearing from you so jump in! Thank you for listening. 

Apple Podcast LINK 

Direct Download LINK

King Kong Art!

 

What I Watched in March 2022

I will always be interested in new screen versions of the Batman and THE BATMAN (2022) is an excellent example of doing something different with the classic ingredients. In this case we have a brooding, thoughtful look at the early period of the costumed vigilante. Detective Gordon thinks he could be an asset as the stymied investigation into The Riddler’s murders starts touching political figures. Gordon is able to convince some of his fellow cops because the criminal is addressing riddle clues directly to The Batman meaning that he might have some unique insight. The Gotham of this film is a vital, dark and alive place weighed down by historic crimes at every level. It reeks of bad people doing good things to hide their real intentions and good people doing bad things to try to stop them. It's as impressive a film Batman tale as I have ever seen and it creates a world I’d love to revisit for future stories. Let’s hope we get the chance. 

 The List

THE MAN FROM SONORA (1951) – 6 (solid B-western with Johnny Mack Brown) 

BURN (2019) – 7 (interesting character study/crime film)

SPACEWAYS (1953) – 5 (early Hammer SF about rocket research) 

LITTLE GIANT (1946) – 6 (interesting new direction for Abbot & Costello) 

HERE COMES CARTER (1936) - 6 (Glenda Farrell in a supporting role)

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (2017) – 7 (children face cartel violence and supernatural horror) 

CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY (1982) – 6 (the two-hour version is too long) 

CREATURE (1985) – 6 (rewatch on Blu) 

CAMP COLD BROOK (2018) – 6 (ghost hunter horror film) 

MASTER OF THE WORLD (1983) – 4 (cavemen vs bear for far too long)

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943) – 6 (rewatch) 

LA LLORONA (1933) – 6 (creaky early sound version of the Mexican ghost tale) 

THE BATMAN (2022) – 8 

POWDERSMOKE RANGE (1935) – 5 (standard B-western with mostly terrible acting) 

FORTY NAUGHTY GIRLS (1937) – 5 (final Hildegarde Withers mystery) 

BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE (1958) – 7 (rewatch on Blu) 

THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (1982) – 7 (rewatch on Blu)

RABID DOGS (1974) – 9 (rewatch) 

THE OUTING (a.k.a. THE LAMP) (1987) – 4 (not great evil Jinn tale) 

SHADOWS OVER CHINATOWN (1946) – 5 (rewatch) (OK Chan mystery)

PHANTOM RAIDERS (1940) – 7 (solid Nick Carter adventure)

Music Video - Red and Black by Landon Cube

This video is a slice of Lovecraft inspired awesome! As directed by Robert Tinnell it uses an excellent rock song to craft a two minute and forty second mini-movie that puts to shame a lot of work that mines the same creepy material. Check this out. 

Pulp Covers - Super Science Stories

I'm not too sure about the scientific veracity of these tales but the excitement levels seem high.

 

Mini-Naschycast - Email Episode!

This short show is comprised of two segments of Troy and I reading several emails and answering questions sent to the podcast. Many topics are hashed over.

 

Originally this was to be an even briefer episode but I waited long enough that more emails came in allowing us to add extra responses. Never say that procrastination doesn’t sometimes have an upside!

 

If you have any comments, questions or ideas about the show naschycast@gmail.com is the place to let us know. I think we’ll continue to handle new emails in this way as we go forward. Unless the listeners don’t like the shorter shows. We’ll see. Thanks for listening! 

Apple Podcast LINK

Pulp Covers - Amazing Stories

Sometimes I imagine captioning these images humorously. 

 

Video - THE GREEN ARCHER (1940) Chapter 1

For the curious here is the first chapter of the bizarre and fun The Green Archer. Take note of the opening information scroll - it really does feel like we are joining this story at Chapter 4 or 5 rather than the beginning! 

 

THE GREEN ARCHER (1940) - Serial Madness!

One of my favorite strange avenues of cinema is the longform cul-de-sac of the classic movie serials. I love the old chapter plays and get a kick out of digging into even the most obscure examples. Often, they can be bizarre in ways that even the most unhinged low budget Hollywood offering can only imagine.

 

Recently I got my hands on a decent copy of Columbia’s The Green Archer (1940) so Beth and I started watching it about a week ago. I was impressed that it is based on an Edgar Wallace novel because I’m a fan of his work and the later krimi films made from his novels in Germany. We were anticipating a twisty murder mystery with all the usual serial action grafted onto 15 chapters of fast paced crazy. What we got was a level of madness that is stunning! We knew we were in for oddness when the opening information scroll of the first chapter reads like we are watching either a sequel to another story or we were somehow joining this adventure in the middle. We had to compare notes at points to be sure we understood where some characters were and why they were doing things. We were not always successful.

We limited ourselves to one chapter a night at most and found ourselves incredibly amused but certainly not for the reasons that we expected. It turns out that The Green Archer is one of the most completely crazy examples of the serial form that I have yet seen. There's the usual bad guy when a couple of dozen henchman carrying out a dastardly plan that seems a little silly at times. In fact, we have repeatedly lost track of what his plan evil plan might actually be. At one point in a particular episode this bad guy decides to fake having his castle’s antiques stolen to collect on the insurance. This random attempt to fool the insurance company that the serial’s hero works for comes out of nowhere, leads in a big flat circle and winds up nowhere at the end of two chapters. That is a good example of what makes this serial fascinating and something Beth and I look forward to every time we sit down for an episode. What unexpected action will be the engine of this portion of the story?

 

Another strange element is that the head bad guy is so comical in his reactions to his henchman's constant failures that, at times, The Green Archer plays like a comedy. Because it's a Columbia product there's a part of me that keeps waiting for the Three Stooges to wander on set to start slapping each other or attempting to fix the plumbing. An early episode actually spent the entire 15 plus minutes with the bad guys battling themselves after having stupidly divided into two separate groups over anger with yet another failure. This is incredibly entertaining but I suspect has little to nothing to do with the Edgar Wallace novel it is supposedly based upon. Often, I see the lead actor playing the hero Victor Jory with a look on his face that seems to indicate that he knows that this entire scenario is insane and is just enjoying the ride.

I don’t know if I can fully recommend this serial and it is definitely not the best pace for a new viewer to try out the form. But if you have seen a few of the more sane examples of the classic serials The Green Archer can be an amusing sideroad that might give you some wide-eyed chuckles.