For this very special episode five people have gathered to discuss an influential part of their childhood – H. R. Pufnstuf!  In particular we examine the movie that grew out of the children television show’s immense popularity – PUFNSTUF (1970). So, grab your magic flute and come to Living Island for an adventure you’ll never forget – no matter how hard you try. Wild, man!

I am joined by Beth, Troy Guinn, John Hudson and Steph to talk about the biggest hit of Sid & Marty Krofft’s many Saturday morning TV programs. Each of us relate our history with the various shows and what we thought of them as kids before diving into the specifics of the big screen version. We dig into the Krofft brothers’ background as puppet performers, their early successes on the stage and the genesis of Pufnstuf as a character. We take note of a fun Universal Horror related song from their early 1960’s adult puppet show and then turn things toward the amazing songs created for the film. We talk about the cast with Jack Wild’s place in the hearts of young girls becoming a subject of some amusement while Billie Hayes’ immortal Witchiepoo is lauded as the best reason to watch either the film or the television show. Favorite lines of dialog are quoted and we wonder aloud if some of the best bits were adlibbed by Miss Hayes or not. We also talk about Mama Cass Elliot’s excellent performance as Witch Hazel and single out her song as a highlight. This really is a delightful movie!

If you want to share your own memories of the old Sid & Marty Krofft shows [email protected] is the place to send them. We hope you enjoy this slightly chaotic trip into Saturday mornings past. Thank you for listening!

Mark Maddox returns to the show to talk about a pair of Italian Muscle Man epics! Both movies tell tales of one of the oldest reoccurring characters of cinema – Maciste! And if you think you’ve never heard of him you might know him under one of several aliases – in this case, Samson.

We start with a look at the first of the 1960’s film series, MACISTE IN THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS which was released in English speaking territories as SON OF SAMSON (1960). It stars Mark Forrest as the legendary strong man and Cuban dancer Chelo Alonso as the villainous Queen making things very difficult for the people of Egypt. We talk about the gorgeous location shooting and the film’s bigger than average scale for a small budget effort. The film has several spectacular sequences of action and some surprising violence. It’s a big colorful comic book of a movie!

The second film is an even more impressive adventure. Former Tarzan actor Gordon Scott steps into the hero role for MACISTE AT THE COURT OF THE GREAT KHAN which was retitled SAMSON AND THE SEVEN MIRACLES OF THE WORLD (1961). This one has Maciste pop up in 13th Century China to rescue a Chinese prince and princess from the Tartars and then lead the population in a revolt. There are many stand out scenes with the amazing bar fight being my favorite. Watching Scott use part of the building to bash opponents as the place crumbles around him is what I call entertainment! But the showstopper must be the action set piece involving a horse-drawn chariot and our hero’s stunning way of applying the brakes. Incredible!

Of course, there is the occasional side road in the discussion but we amble back into the proper arena before we get attacked by lions. Thank you for listening and please review the show on your pod-catcher of choice. If you love the peplum genre too [email protected] is where you can send us a list of your favorites. See you next time!

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 [email protected] is the place to send them. Thanks for listening. 

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 [email protected] 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.

I’m joined by author David Annandale for a deep dive into the poverty Row horror film THE MONSTER MAKER (1944). Even among fans of these low budget efforts this one has a disreputable reputation as an example of the lines that these movies sometimes crossed. It is often singled out as one of the darker and more sadistic horrors of the 1940’s it does its best to creep out the viewer with the first onscreen appearance of a victim of acromegaly, the real disease that afflicted The Elephant Man, John Merrick. The film’s jumbled script throws in elements borrowed from MAD LOVE (1935), THE RAVEN (1935) and a few other classic horror movies as well. And since this is a mad scientist story, we must have a man in a gorilla suit or the authorities might have stopped production entirely!

Mr. Annandale and I discuss the film’s cast at length with my guest’s appreciation of Wanda McKay being most interesting. We make a defense of J. Carrol Naish’s slightly underplayed central performance as the villain of the piece although why we would need to defend an actor with two Oscars to his credit is beyond me. We praise the excellent makeup effects used to transform Ralph Morgan into a misshapen, monstrous looking victim. And we dig into the section of this very short film that seems unnecessary and possibly was included to pad out the running time. Not that either of us dislike seeing a man in a gorilla suit but to have Ace, the Wonder Dog’s action sequence absent from the movie seems a shame! Mr. Annandale was a good sport to be part of the show and I’m glad to showcase his love of this film.

The email address for the show is [email protected] so send any comments or ideas to us there. If you have any favorite Poverty Row Horror that you’d like to hear discussed let us know as we are keen to return to the subject. Thank you for listening!

This year’s Holiday Horror episode arrives! 2022 was Troy’s pick and he has chosen a British creeper set in the week between Christmas and New Years Eve called THE CHILDREN (2008). It is an underseen horror tale that uses the season effectively even if we question whether the story needed the holiday setting to be accomplish its goal. Still, there are fewer locations that cry out ‘Christmas’ as well as a secluded, snow-bound country house so it earns its place here easily. We try not to spoil the movie so we stay clear of deep discussion of the third act. 

John Hudson and I join Troy for this trek down Evil Child Lane. We take note of the subtle ways the threat is communicated before the mayhem explodes. We heap much praise on the film’s smart dialog and understanding of family dynamics that make the entire scenario feel like a slice of increasingly tense reality. Truly, by being specific in its details this movie hits some terrifying universal notes about the ties that bind. We discuss the fact that film never spells out the reason for the children’s violence with understated hints as our only clues. I bring up a wonderful essay by Andrea Subissati about the film and it’s comments on the destructive nature of the lies we tell our kids and how they can infect other parts of our life. And I can’t stay away from talking about the story’s thread of financial concerns that surface at the film’s intense dinner scene. There’s a lot going on in this short, violent tale and we recommend it. Luckily it is currently streaming on Tubi for free! 

Questions, comments or Holiday messages can be directed to [email protected] where we’ll be jingle jangled to hear from you. All three of us hope you have a fantastic Holiday season and a Happy New Year. Santa knows we all need one. Thanks for listening and sorry for the Bonanza sidetrack. I can’t help myself. 

This episode I welcome writer Julian David Stone to discuss his new novel, It’s Alive! The book explores the struggle to produce FRANKENSTEIN (1931) at Universal Studio. Stone’s story uses the perspectives of Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and studio head Carl Laemmle, Jr. to relate the difficult path to getting that revered classic film off the ground. We get inside the heads of this trio of talented people giving us an insightful view of each and their motivations during this important period in film history. Fans of the Universal classic horror movies often think of these films in terms of one success leading inevitably to another but the resistance to bringing these macabre tales to the screen was strong. ‘It’s Alive’ presents an excellent look at the battle to create not just one movie but an entire cycle of them that changed how Hollywood thought about horror cinema.

Adrian Smith joins me as we return to our long-term discussion of the films of Antonio Margheriti. In the 1980’s he made several ‘military men on a mission’ films for various producers. These movies aped everything from THE DIRTY DOZEN to RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART 2 (1985) accomplishing much with meager budgets. Margheriti’s expertise in special effect work and miniatures were a major help in keeping costs under control. These sometimes great and sometimes insane effects are part of the fun, especially as we get higher definition prints that allow for certain crazy details to become evident.

CODE NAME: WILD GEESE (1984) was the first of trio of jungle action movies Margheriti made with British actor Lewis Collins in the lead and it is easy to see why Collins was briefly considered to play James Bond. He projects ‘tough guy’ hardness well and is a solid actor to boot. This film surrounds him with an international cast including an Oscar winner (Ernest Borgnine) and a couple of classic screen bad guys playing nice (Lee Van Cleef and Klaus Kinski) giving everything a sweaty sheen of near-respectability, even if Kinski is very oddly dubbed. Throw in a ridiculous car chase, a few dozen explosions, gratuitous Mimsy Farmer, a surprise villainous turn and it is easy to overlook the regularly disappearing plot, ill-defined motivations and bizarre effects choices. This one is fun in all the over-the-top ways that 1980’s action cinema aimed to be. So, hop into that small helicopter and let’s torch some opium fields for exciting but vague reasons! Woo hoo!

Cort Psyops returns to discuss THE HORRIBLE SEXY VAMPIRE (1970)! Just how many words in this title accurately describe the film’s contents? Woo boy. Your mileage may vary……

Troy, Beth and I convene to discuss the fourth of Universal’s Sherlock Holmes film series! Of course, the show is packed with spoilers but we just can’t resist.