The Bloody Pit #42 - THE ARK OF THE SUN GOD (1984)

Co-host John Hudson and I take great pleasure in returning to our occasional series of episodes on the films of Antonio Margheriti. This time out we tackle one of his 1980's action films, but this isn't a Rambo-esque bungle in the jungle. No, no! This is a film 'inspired' by (the huge world wide box office success of) RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. From 1982 to 1985 Margheriti made three different Indiana Jones rip-offs and what separates this film from the other two is that it is not a period piece even though it deals with Nazi history and Germany's pre-war hunt for religious relics. Of course, this Ark hunt was done for a fraction of the budget of it's better known Hollywood counterpart, but for the right audience that is part of the allure.

THE ARK OF THE SUN GOD stars frequent Margheriti collaborators David Warbeck and John Steiner along with several familiar faces from Italian and Spanish genre movies. Warbeck is best known to horror fans for his roles in Fulci's THE BEYOND and THE BLACK CAT. Steiner starred in Mario Bava's final film, worked with Fulci in his WHITE FANG movies and appeared in Argento's fine giallo TENEBRA. The great character actor Luciano Pigozzi plays a guy named Beetle who is instrumental in finding the hiding place of the titular Ark. Even though his face is covered in this movie with a big bushy beard it's still easy to see why he was called Italy's Peter Lorre as the resemblance is remarkable. Sadly, this seems to be the one and only film for female costar Susie Sudlow and this fact upsets both John and I. Wherefore art thou, Miss Sudlow? 

Thank you for downloading and listening to us tromp into the Turkish desert in search of the tomb of Gilgamesh. If you have any comments or questions please write to us at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we'll be glad to hear from you. And before anyone asks the song at the end of the show is by Tame Impala with an additional tag from Warbeck and Steiner. Enjoy! 

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Another Anniversary - INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM is 30 years old! Holy suspension bridge! The first film will always be the best of the lot but I find this much derided second movie in the (ongoing?) series to be the most fun. I love the setting, the style and the fact that the female sidekick is such a pain in the ass! I also like Short Round and I usually hate pointless kid sidekicks. 

The film got a lot of grief at the time because of its violence but I have always loved that the film was willing to push things so far and still keep it relatively bloodless. I mean, that has to be the most impressive heart removal scene of all time and there is NO squirting blood! You gotta love that! The general consensus seems to be that the third film was better but I've always been irritated that in that movie they returned to Nazis as the villain. All the bitching about Temple Of Doom seems to have made them want to stay with a villain that did not have to be established onscreen so as to avoid having to create one - just point at the SS officer and say 'I hate these guys'. Sloppy and sad.  Sign me up for a round of Anything Goes anytime!