The Bloody Pit #226 - 2025 Look Back!

We start 2026 with a new kind of episode – a look back at our favorite first views of 2025. Several requests for an annual wrap-up of this type came in, so I recruited John Hudson and Troy Guinn to provide a personal top five list for last year. The idea was to speak a bit about movies that we caught for the first time in the year regardless of when they were released. This allows us to talk about a number of mostly newer movies but some unexpected classics also show up as part of the discussion.

 

For the most part Troy and John stuck to the assignment as stated with only a couple of honorable mentions added to their list of five. But I came with a list that stretched toward twenty and I feel no shame! I saw a lot of movies last year and, although there were a number of clunkers, I was pretty pleased with 2025. Let the debating begin!

 

If you want to add your two cents or top five thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. We have a number of interesting movies up for episodes this year and we hope you enjoy the cinema paths we plan to tread. Thanks for listening!

 

Wild, Wild Podcast - STAGE FRIGHT (1987)

In this final episode of our Women in Italian Cinema mini-season, we focus on the unsung hero of Filmirage, Donatella Donati. She worked for many years with Joe D'Amato as a producer, production manager, screenwriter, script girl, and even set design on occasion. The most high-profile film she produced was StageFright, which also served as Michele Soavi's directorial debut after he had worked for Filmirage for several years.

So join Adrian and I as we discuss vital issues like why doesn't Donati have her own Wikipedia page? Is that really George Eastman under the owl head? And why did Quest for the Mighty Sword (Joe D'Amato, 1990) almost kill Filmirage?

We would love to hear from you about your favorite Italian female filmmakers, or your favorite Filmirage films.

Check out all the show related info at our LINKTREE. 

Wild, Wild Podcast - Ranking the Rapiers and Ruffles Films

Join Rod and Adrian as they agonize over how to rank the films from the Rapiers and Ruffles season. Will they agree, or will there be rapiers at dawn? Or perhaps will there be some witty repartee? Hope springs eternal!

 If you have been watching along throughout the season, do contact us and let us know which have been your favorites. The podcast is also open to suggestions for future seasons!

 You can get in touch with us, follow us on social media, buy our merch, and all that stuff, through our LINKTREE.

Naschycast Email - Summer of 2025

Troy noticed that the mailbag had collected several new pieces of correspondence so we decided to find out what was on your minds. Strangely, Paul Naschy seemed to be a major subject of these missives! Will wonders never cease? 

The email folder held five emails to read out and we respond to them to the best of our ability. My crushing inability to correctly pronounce several names is noted and corrected by a longtime listener and I promptly find other names to destroy. I should not be allowed near a podcast! We discuss keeping the Naschy flame burning and note recent online articles that a helpful fan of the show has provided. (See links below.) We also talk a bit about some upcoming Blu-Ray commentary tracks that are being released soon while giving a piece of bad news concerning a hoped for extra on another. Sometimes we have to hold on to older releases to sooth our collector minds. Our sick, sick collector minds. 

If you want to be part of our next email show naschycast@gmail.com is the place to send your thoughts. Thank you for listening!

Commentary List

Moonlight shines on Paul Naschy: 5 cult classics from the Werewolf of Spain

Music, Monsters, and Spies Add Up to an Assignment: Terror

Wild, Wild Podcast S8:Ep2 - ACID - DELIRIUM OF THE SENSES (1968)

Grab your copy of ‘From Russia With Love’ and suck those LSD-infused corners with us as we trip out in New York City with Beatniks, Bohemians and off-Broadway performers. Just watch out for those Mafioso drug dealers - they have shoes in your size and they're not afraid to use them!

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite psychedelic Italian films, or if you've ever danced naked in one of Manhattan's fountains. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find our YouTube channel here.

We also now have a small but developing merch store on Zazzle, so check it out if you have always wanted to wear our logo in public.

Please also remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice!

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 8: Ep 1 - LSD - FLESH OF THE DEVIL (1967)

Turn on, tune in and drop out with Adrian and I as we enter the wild, wild world of 1960s psychedelics. In this episode we take a trip with secret super-agent Rex Miller as he infiltrates the evil international crime organization E.C.H.O. (just don't ask anyone what it stands for) and foils their plans to drug the world with LSD. At least, that's what might be going on. It's honestly hard to tell.

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite psychedelic Italian films, or if you've ever had a powerful radio transmitter inserted into your body. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find our YouTube channel here.

We also now have a small but developing merch store on Zazzle, so check it out if you have always wanted to wear our logo in public.

Please also remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice!

Naschycast #75 - Don Cunningham Visits!

Independent filmmaker Don Cunningham joins Troy and I to talk about Paul Naschy and how he has influenced Don’s work. We discuss favorite Naschy movies with our guest naming some surprising choices. I love getting different perspectives on the icon’s career and this conversation has a few curves I was not expecting.

Of course, we could barely wait to ask about Don’s wonderful short film THE CASTLE OF BARON FINCH (2024). For this movie Mr. Cunningham writes, directs, produces and stars making him very much a man following in Paul Naschy’s footsteps. We dig into the production process, the genesis of the film’s story and the influences other than Naschy. The film is a (mostly) black & white silent movie featuring a vampire or two and a poor lovestruck soul with a moonlight and hair problem, so naming Jacinto Molina’s work as a major touchstone is perhaps a bit obvious. But this atmospheric little cinematic love letter stands on its own just fine. Don gives some details on the film’s release and places to see it. Oh! And I’ve scattered a bit of the fantastic score by Andreu Jacob into the latter half of the show as well.

If you have any comments or questions naschycast@gmail.com is the place to send them. If you want to reach out to Don you can message him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CastleBaronFinch or through email at drcushing@yahoo.com – thanks for listening! 

 

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 7: Ep 5 - ARRRIVA DORELLIK (1967)

Take one of Italy's most popular entertainers, stick him in a moth-eaten supervillain costume, then have him come face to face with a buffoonish Terry-Thomas and you have Arrriva Dorellik, a star vehicle for singer, actor and all-round charisma machine Johnny Dorelli. But given this is an Italian comedy, will Rod and Adrian be able to agree on whether this is one to enjoy or avoid like the plague? Tune in to find out. In this episode Adrian also gets very easily distracted by Dorelli's Sanremo win of 1959 which leads to him going on about the Eurovision Song Contest at length.

Johnny Dorelli was still singing this film's theme Arriva la bomba well into the 1970s, and can be seen making an appearance on Italian television here.

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite Italian comic or masked hero/ villain-based films, or if have ever found yourself stuck in your car, trapped between two palm trees. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find our YouTube channel here.

Please also remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice!

Wild, Wild Podcast S7: E4 - THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN (1967)

What's better than one Superman? That's right, it's three Supermen! And if you add Adrian and Rod, that makes five. Strap on your suction cups, grab your mini-capes and join them in them in this super-exciting, very silly adventure film that combines elements of the Peplum and the Eurospy with Batman and The Green Hornet. The Three Fantastic Supermen is nothing if not ambitious. But we never do figure out where the movie takes place.

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite Italian comic or masked hero/ villain-based films, or if your children were ever replicated by an evil genius intent on world domination. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find our YouTube channel here. 

 

Then Is Now Ep. 132 – 13 Days of Hallowtober – Paul Naschy Part 1

I was thrilled to be a guest on the 'Then Is Now' podcast! This time the occasion was to talk about Paul Naschy, which I have a habit of doing even if there is no one listening. I've been on the show before and it is always a fun time. This is the second episode of their '13 Days of Hallowtober 2023' and we discuss the Naschy classics “Horror Rises From the Tomb” (1973), “Werewolf Shadow” aka “Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman” (1971), and “The Mummy’s Revenge” (1975)! Its a fine show and if you want to check it out you can follow the LINK below. 

Then Is Now Ep. 132 – 13 Days of Hallowtober – Paul Naschy Part 1 with Rod Barnett

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 6 Episode 1 - Gungala, the Black Panther Girl (1968)

Grab your pith helmet, machete, mosquito netting and come with us into the deepest, darkest, fakest-looking jungle in search of the lost heiress Gungala. Yes, we're back with a brand new mini-season, taking a look at the brief burst of Jungle Girl films to come out of Italy in 1968-1969. Gungala la pantera nuda is significant for a number of reasons; the first is of course the presence of Kitty Swan in the lead role, and the second is that it was Ruggero Deodato's first jungle movie. Give him another few years and he would become infamous for what he caught on camera in the jungles of South America. Here however it's Africa, although it's mostly the De Paolis sound stages in Rome. You will struggle to tell the difference - or not.

You can read all about Kitty Swan's terrible accident and miraculous recovery in THIS ARTICLE. Or if you just want to look at lots of photos of Kitty Swan THIS LINK has you covered.

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite Jungle Girl films, or if you ever got lost in the jungle yourself and ended up befriending the animals or becoming a god to a local tribe we'd love to learn the story. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. Please also remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice!

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 5 Episode 11 - A MAN CALLED RAGE (1984)

This film is about a man called Rage. His name is on the poster and everything! But is he actually full of rage? Or is he just a bit annoyed at being mildly inconvenienced by the post-apocalypse? There may have been nuclear war, but it hasn't stopped him being able to get a really good haircut or from going to the gym. It's hard to see what's got him so cross. Let's see if we can find out. Join Adrian and I for this latest episode as we get ripped with Rage and slashed with Slash – not the famous one, though. Yes, we head out once more into the forbidden lands in search of whatever it is they need this time, with only a gun and a girl in hot pants for company. Standard military issue denim hot pants, of course!

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite post-apocalypse films that we haven’t covered yet. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. Please also remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice!

NaschyCast #72 - Jon Kitley Visits!

This episode we are joined by Jon Kitley to talk about his love of and history with Paul Naschy! Readers of Horror Hound magazine are aware of his regular column ‘They Came from the Krypt’ but he has also published the book ‘Discover The Horror’ which is part genre exploration and part autobiography. Both Troy and I recommend it. As you might expect from such a conversation, the three of us range all over the place touching on more topics than we could comfortably list.

Suffice to say that we discuss horror conventions (where we all met), non-fiction horror genre books (which we all collect) and our shared fascination with movies and monstrous stories. Of course, we do finally get around to talking about Naschy with Jon falling squarely on my side of the critical Mummy divide! It is about time I had someone to stand with me on that hill! HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB was our guest’s introduction to the great man’s work and it becomes a big part of our chat. As a bonus, the legendary Spanish character actor Victor Israel gets more than a few minutes of glowing examination too. We had a great time talking Naschy and we hope you’ll enjoy listening. 

If you have any comments or question naschycast@gmail.com is the place to send your emails. Thank you for checking out the show and we’ll be back soon.

Wild, Wild Podcast S5: E10 - WARRIORS OF THE YEAR 2072 (1984)

Strap your motorcycle helmet on, rev your engines, grab your weapons and head into Rome's New Colosseum where violent death is just seconds away! Yes, Adrian and I are once again dressing up in leather to face the nightmarish futures of Italian cinema, and in this episode it's a future brought to you by none other than the Godfather of Gore himself, Lucio Fulci. Many aspects of the film are discussed, including when is a post-apocalypse not a post-apocalypse, and Adrian gets sidetracked by the brief pop career of its female lead and Playmen cover model, Eleonora Brigliadori. Once you've heard Balla Il Tip Tap you may find yourself wishing for the apocalypse or wanting to compete in Kill Bike.

We would love to hear what your favorite post-apocalypse films are even if they're ones we haven't touched on in this series. You can contact us on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. Please also remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice!

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 5 Episode 8 - EXTERMINATORS OF THE YEAR 3000 (1983)

Adrian and I return with a Road Warrior rip-off that really doesn’t try very hard to hide its swipes. Shifting the focus of the post-apocalypse survivors from fuel to good old H2O is the biggest change if you put aside the obvious budget differences. But with characters named Alien and Trash you just know that things are going to be interesting! The film’s fast and furious car action scenes are discussed as well as western influences that go beyond merely filming in the same Spanish locations that hundreds of spaghetti westerns were made. This one is a lot of fun!

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

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 5: Episode 6 - ENDGAME (1983)

It's time to pull your leather trousers on, apply some Ziggy Stardust-style make-up and grab a shotgun as we bravely head into the Endgame arena for the reality show battle of our lives! Along the way we'll have some psychic alone time with Laura Gemser and go toe-to-toe once again with Joe D’Amato's lucky mascot, George Eastman.

We talk about how impressive the poster art is for this film and how it seriously oversells things the movies does not contain. We also find time to discuss the fact that we are living in a golden age if you are a fan of cult Italian cinema, which of course you are, and Rod makes a surprising revelation!

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite post-apocalypse films. You can contact the show on Twitter and Instagram or by email at wildwildpodcast@gmail.com. Please also remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice! And thanks for listening. 

NaschyCast #71 - INQUISITION with Marc McCloud

 

Marc McCloud drops by the show to discuss Naschy’s tale of the Inquisition in France. Marc is the owner of Orbit DVD and a longtime friend of Troy and I, but this is the first time we’ve ever talked about our mutual love of the films of Paul Naschy. Our guest chose Naschy’s directorial debut as the topic and we were happy to oblige.

Religious hypocrisy is a big part of our conversation and this gets us into the thorny area of what to call the subset of exploitation films of which this is a part. We note the influence of the Catholic Church on the nature of the fears that undergird the horrors of the film and wonder about the connections to the Nunsploitation genre. The villains of the story come under scrutiny with an eye toward how they use their relative places of power to extract their desires from those around them. And we speak a little about the ways that women had to work to accomplish things in the society ruled by male religious leaders. Join us for what I will refuse to call a ‘romp’ through INQUISITION.

We end the show with a short email from Kurt and if you’d like to send us your thoughts naschycast@gmail.com is the address. Thank you for listening! 

The East Meets The West Ep. 20 – Five Fingers of Death aka King Boxer from (1972) & Long Days of Vengeance (1967)

I am very happy to have been invited to be a part of the discussion on these two amazing films! I join Patsy the Angry Nerd and Re-Gor for the long awaited episode 20 of The East Meets the West! If you're unaware of the show's premise its right there in the title - each episode focuses on a Hong Kong action epic and a Spaghetti Western for comparison and contrast. The results are a fun mixture of bemused confusion and the intense desire for more of that genre cinema high! This show is a wave baby, and we're riding that cresting breaker onto the shore. Woo hoo! 

Click this LINK to go to the show's webpage and listen to the episode. You'll be glad you did. 

Wild, Wild Podcast Season 5: Episode 3 - 2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS (1983)

In this episode Adrian somehow had the wrong mic recording so everything on his end sounds like he's down a well. Perhaps a good place to survive the apocalypse?

Yes, we're still in a dystopian future world, and this time we're in the safe hands of uncle Joe D'Amato and George Eastman. 2020 Texas Gladiators can be found on YouTube if you want to play along at home, and this is one film you won't want to miss!

We would love to hear from you if you have any favorite post-apocalypse films. 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 and thank you for listening!

Magazines and Monsters #53 - THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974)

 

On the latest episode of Magazines and Monsters Nic Brown and I are guests to discuss a 1970’s werewolf movie! THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974) is a rare non-anthology horror film from Amicus productions and that is one of many reasons it stands out. Another is that this is a werewolf film in which the creature eschews the standard cinema two-legged Wolf Man variant for a four-legged wolfy monster. This choice is usually given by viewers as they turn up their noses at the film but fans of the movie think it has caused this mystery/horror hybrid to age very well. Others dismiss the film for it’s famous Werewolf Break in which the audience is given a minute of paused screentime to make a guess about the identity of the secretive lycanthrope. I’ve often wondered how many people actually solve the mystery before the final reveal.

The three of us discuss the movie from top to bottom defending much of it and suggesting fixes for certain strange moments. We had a great time with this film and hope you’ll enjoy listening.