The Bloody Pit #165 - Email-O-Rama!

Troy and I decided to record the Bloody Pit Mail Bag portion of things separately this time to keep the latest show from stretching near the three-hour mark. So, instead of an extended regular episode we present a quick forty minutes of questions, thoughts and our responses to some pretty good questions from listeners to the podcast. We learn about the German fascination with Frankenstein and discuss the joys of the Poverty Row Horror films before talking about Jess Franco commentary tracks and upcoming Naschycast appearances on Blu-Ray. If you want to add your comments to the show thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. Thanks for listening.

 

Hercules Movies Poster Art

Spectacles of massive might beyond any ever known before!

 

Motion Comic - Agent 21 Episode 1: S.O.F.R.A.M Strikes!

Secret Agent 21 was the longest running comic strip to appear in the pages of TV Century 21. The star of the strip was a Universal Secret Service agent code-named 21 - the James Bond of the future.

Now Agent 21 is brought to life in a new motion comic digital series - in this episode, Agent 21 goes up against the Solar Organization for Murder and Revenge!

THE SHINING (1980) - Alternate Poster Art

It might be time for another visit to the Overlook.

 

Wild, Wild Podcast: Luigi Cozzi Season: Episode 4 - The Black Cat (1989) & Blood on Méliès' Moon (2016)

As our Luigi Cozzi season comes to an end, Adrian and I revisit The Black Cat (1989) and struggle to give a coherent plot summary. The film has been difficult to see for decades and we’re both happy that the recent Severin Blu-Ray makes it possible to evaluate the film on its very strange merits. We also take a quick look at Blood on Méliès' Moon (2016), Cozzi's long-awaited return to directing, and enjoy discussing his bowtie and his pyjamas.

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

The Bloody Pit #164 - FLESH AND FANTASY (1943)

FLESH AND FANTASY (1943) is a film that should be much better known both in Horror fan circles and among fans of classic cinema in general. Directed by one of the giants of French cinema transplanted to America Julien Duvivier, this film shows the care and craftsmanship of a fine storyteller working with the full resources of a major studio. Following the template he had used in his earlier film TALES OF MANHATTAN (1942), this is an anthology with three vignettes linked by a framing device with humorist Robert Benchley. But that wasn’t exactly the original vision of this movie, as we will discuss.

Troy and I return to the Universal horror films with a true outlier this time. FLESH AND FANTASY is easily the most expensive production on our list of these 1940’s films with its large budget and cast of major movie stars being just the most obvious differences from the monster sequels surrounding it. The movie uses all its resources wonderfully to present a dazzling series of visuals and at least one of the best (possibly) supernatural stories the studio would ever make. The cast is fantastic and filmmaking a delight! It is a shock how underseen and underappreciated this excellent movie has been but with a Blu-Ray release just around the corner we hope that is about to change. Join us a for an interesting conversation about the production, structure and underlying themes of this hidden gem.

The show’s email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com and we’d love to hear your thoughts on FLESH AND FANTASY or any of the movies we’ve covered. Thank you for listening and we’ll be back with an email episode very soon.

What I Watched in December 2022

In December I was alerted by my friend Jeff about the hidden gem ADULT SWIM YULE LOG (a.k.a. THE FIREPLACE) being streamable on HBOMax. I gave it a try and discovered one of the funniest and most wildly inventive slices of cinema joy I have seen in a long time. Starting out as if it is one of those simple videos of a pleasant fireplace crackling away in a cabin (in the woods) it slowly expands outward to tell a darkly comedic tale that zigs and zags in ways that are wholly unpredictable. I’m not exaggerating. This movie changes things up in bizarre ways every few minutes with each twist adding to the entire affair. In its structure it reminds me of Monty Python at their maddest with a few moments from LIFE OF BRIAN (1979) that might have been directly inspirational. I refuse to ruin the experience of this delight and will just recommend it to the curious. It is amazing!

The List 

THE YOUNG RACERS (1963) – 6 (Corman drama)

THE GODFATHER CODA (1990) – 8 (Coppola’s changes improve this finale)

THE MONSTER MAKER (1944) – 6 (rewatch)

THE SPREE (1998) – 7 (sharp cat burglar crime film)

BULLET TRAIN (2022) – 8

TROLL (2022) 9 (Norwegian kaiju film)

THE CHILDREN (2008) – 8 (rewatch)

CHARLIE CHAN IN LONDON (1934) – 7 (rewatch)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982) – 8 (rewatch on the big screen)

CHARLIE CHAN IN SHANGHAI (1935) – 7 (rewatch)

A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS (2022) – 7

GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM (1988) – 6 (Australian thriller)

DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS (1984) – 5 (an enjoyable, sleazy mess)

SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD (1961) – 6

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (2021) – 6 (better than the first one at least)

DEAD END (2003) – 6 (travelling family lost on Christmas Eve – the mystery is an easy one)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN (1950) – 7 (rewatch)

STAR TREK: NEMESIS (2002) – 5 (rewatch) (not as awful as I remembered but a mess of things that never gel)

DOUBLE TARGET (1987) – 4 (Miles O’Keefe as Rambo - awesomely bad and fun because of it!)

BATMAN RETURNS (1992) – 9 (rewatch on Blu) (gets even better with age)

ADULT SWIM YULE LOG (a.k.a. THE FIREPLACE) (2022) – 8 (amazing horror/comedy)

BLOOD DELIRIUM (1988) – 6 (Euro-madness with John Philip Law)

THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN (1960) – 5 (rewatch on Blu)

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (2022) – 8 (wonderful, heartfelt SF adventure)

GLASS ONION (2022) – 8 (not as good as the first but a very worthy Knives Out sequel)

THE LAW IN HER HANDS (1936) – 6 (Glenda Farrell)

AFRICA SCREAMS (1949) – 6 (Abbot & Costello romp on Blu)

THE BANDIT TRAIL (1941) – 6 (Tim Holt B-western)

KICKBOXER: VENGEANCE (2016) – 5

REMAINS (2011) – 5 (standard low budget zombie tale set in Reno)

ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1938) – 8

 

Maciste Poster Art!

I've recently been watching a few of these on gorgeous new Blu-Rays!

 

Dollar Bin Distress - THE HOST (2013)

Another $1 purchase was THE HOST (2013). Yes – in a world where there is a perfectly well-regarded Korean monster movie with the same title from 2006 I choose to watch this misbegotten thing. 

An adaptation of a novel by the author of the Twilight series this tale fooled me by being directed by a writer/director in whom I used to have solid faith. New Zealand native Andrew Niccol started his big screen career in the 1990’s as a creator of intelligent, thoughtful science fiction that I admired. From GATTACA (1997) through his non-SF film LORD OF WAR (2005) he was on a streak and I had him pegged as an interesting filmmaker to watch. But the six year break until his next film made me miss his next couple of efforts and I’m only now catching up.

 

Sadly, the bad word of mouth about THE HOST (2013) turns out to be well deserved. But oddly the credit for the film’s failure is only to a certain degree the weak source material that grafts an alien invasion plot onto a standard teenage love triangle story. Not that such a story can’t be done in an interesting way but in this case it always feels like its being used to generate interest in the target audience demographic rather than as a natural outgrowth of the tale being told. Lifting a core element from the various film versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers makes everything feel borrowed from the start. I suspect the target teen audience wouldn’t notice (or care) about this since everyone in the cast is suitably beautiful/gorgeous/handsome enough to make the eventual love triangle silliness vaguely plausible. But the weaknesses of the standard tropes of a YA novel’s story are compounded by what is usually a strength of the director.

 

What has often made Andrew Niccol’s science fiction films feel unique was the carefully detailed sense of a calm surface covering the roiling fears and anxieties of his characters. Those hidden inner conflicts are what drive the stories of GATTACA and the less admired S1M0NE (2002) making dangerous choices inevitable and the plot difficulties at least partially the fault of the protagonist. It is easy to see how Niccol would see this basic structure in THE HOST and think that he could use it well. But as a director he has a very arch style and his wonderfully detached form of storytelling is poorly suited to the needs of a tale whose conflict resolution rests on the spiky emotions of teen sexual angst. While perfect for observing adults hiding dangerous secrets from even their closest friends, when used to communicate lovelorn torment being experienced for the first time this directorial choice crushes any chance at believability. Worse, it renders many scenes in the film unintentionally silly and leaves an adult viewer seeing clearly the artificial structure of what is being done and resenting it. With the underlying emotional manipulation made clear it all falls apart with only the pretty people and fine cinematography left to keep you interested. The entire film ends up feeling like a waste of good resources and well-intentioned skill.

 

I have a vague memory of seeing Niccol’s 2018 film ANON but the fact I can barely recall it is telling. I might catch up with GOOD KILL (2014) to see how his reteaming with Ethan Hawk may have sparked something solid but I wonder if he hasn’t run out his string in Hollywood. I hope he has more good movies in him but I’m not sure if we’ll ever get to see him try again. 

Trailers From Hell - SMOKEY IS THE BANDIT (1983)

Much like screenwriter Larry Karaszewski I have never seen this film but would like the opportunity to judge just how bad it really was. This might have been the first film I was aware of that was radically changed with reshoots before it was finally released. When I saw the resulting theatrical presentation SMOKEY & THE BANDIT 3, with Jerry Reed called in to replace half of Gleason’s work, I just thought it was a terrible movie and moved on. But, decades later, I would gladly pay to see the original version preview audiences ripped apart. I might even enjoy it as a cringe comedy classic. Who knows if I’ll ever get the chance? Are there even bootlegs of this out there?

Brief Thoughts - DEAD SOULS (2012)

I started off my 2023 viewing by cleaning up my ‘bought for a $1’ pile. These are Blu-Rays and DVDs that I couldn’t resist picking up because they were so damned cheap. Most of the time I get burned and end up sitting through crappy movies that are not worth the time investment so I’m not sure why I continue to do this to myself. One was a low budget horror film based on a Michael Laimo novel called DEAD SOULS (2012). Although the story begins in an interesting place with a good premise and some standard complications, the illogic of the setup  begins to weigh things down by the end of the first act. Questions start to creep in that the script leaves unanswered such as why would a house and barn abandoned for 17 years still have power and water? Why would all the furniture and possessions of the long dead owners still be where they were the night of their deaths? And why is there no dust over anything? Why would a kid the age of 18 be carrying a massive grudge about events he had no knowledge of or involvement with? If there had been a supernatural reason offered up at some point maybe I wouldn’t have been irritated but that is not what we get. I suspect that the book was a much more satisfying horror experience and one day I may find out.

Vampirella - Classic Cover gallery