DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 12, 2022

Rawhead Rex (1986) Rude rubber demon terrorizes the Irish countryside. Clive Barker adaptation is probably not his proudest moment. TIL: In Barker's short story, Rex embodied the unfettered male sex drive, which Christianity tries to keep in check, in part, for women's sake.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) Weird Al conquers the world, but Madonna wants it for her own. Not true? Bah! Every second of this movie is now historical canon in my mind. TIL: For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his totally weird life?

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 5, 2022

Hired to Kill (1990) Bro lifter MERC goes undercover as a gay fashion designer; assassin/model gal pals tag along. So, how much booze did Oliver Reed down to get through this? TIL: Abstinence from alcohol may be morally appropriate at times, but it's not required by Scripture.

Dad Rock Diary: Ram Jam - Ram Jam (1977) Sounds like the jukebox inside a bar with nothing but trucks, motorcycles, and muscle cars in the parking lot. Laudable Lyrics: I don't care about the money, I ain't seen none, and I don't care about the women cause I just need one.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 3, 2022

The Curse of La Patasola (2022) Camping couples summon a demon that punishes the unfaithful. South American folklore has promise. Alas, unfulfilled. TIL: Sacramental marriage expresses the unbreakable bond between Christ and Church, so yeah, God's not too fond of adulterers.

Dad Rock Diary: Dave Loggins - Apprentice (In a Musical Workshop) (1974) Decent 70's singer/songwriter vibe, but only Please Come To Boston sticks. Laudable Lyrics: You're a worthless woman, an aging overnight friend... nobody needs to be drowned in your wishing well of sin.

DAILY CALL SHEET: NOVEMBER 23, 2022

Hell Squad (1986) Combat trained showgirls take on terrorists. Unquestionably awful, but as pure an 80's Cannon Film as you'll find. TIL: After the Israelites slaughtered their wives, the Benjamites kidnapped hundreds of Israeli dancing girls to replace them. Life... finds a way?

Dad Rock Diary: King Harvest - Dancing in the Moonlight (1972) The title track is excellent; the rest sounds like demos from a band trying to find its sound. Laudable Lyrics: We like our fun and we never fight. You can't dance and stay uptight. It's a supernatural delight.

DAILY CALL SHEET: NOVEMBER 20, 2022

Shaolin Soccer (2001) Spiritually renewed monks take on soccer's souless corporate champs. Looney Tunes plus kung-fu equals pure fun. TIL: Vatican City's national football team is eligible to join FIFA, but remains amateur to retain the game's message of friendship and love.

And speaking of soccer, here’s a little something I did from ages past to help get into the spirit of the day for World Cup 2022.

DAILY CALL SHEET: NOVEMBER 14, 2022

The Beach House (2019) Deep sea organisms make things icky for a troubled couple. Fairly effective mashup of indie drama and Lovecraftian goo. TIL: Matthew Maury, the "father of modern oceanography," insisted that to study the deeps was to perceive the evidences of God's design.

Now Showing At A Blog Near You: Even Saint John Paul II wasn't created ex nihilo. My latest for Aleteia takes a look at the new film "Prophet" which details the life of Stefan Wyszyński, the Polish cardinal whose works laid the groundwork for JPII

DAILY CALL SHEET: NOVEMBER 12, 2022

The Black Scorpion (1957) Giant pests emerge from a volcano. A bit slow, but the effectively creepy Willis O'Brien scorpions are worth the wait. TIL: Middle Eastern scorpions account for half the world's fatalities. No wonder Scripture uses them as symbols of pain and punishment.

The Professionals (1966) Hired guns search for a millionaire's kidnapped wife. Holy cats, this cast! Look 'em up. Enough testosterone to power a city. TIL: Mercenaries, sometimes armies of them, are all throughout the Old Testament. It was considered a respectable profession.

Funny Book Philosophy: Marvel Super Special 001 (1977) Apparently even a guy who calls himself a demon knows Mephisto's offers are B.S.

DAILY CALL SHEET: NOVEMBER 11, 2022

The Hidden (1987) Human detective and alien lawman track a psychotic body hopping slug. Sounds dumb, but it's a legitimate late 80's treat. TIL: Invasive parasites are a common analogy for sin because both kill their host if left unchecked, one physically, the other spiritually.

The Cyclops (1957) Rescue party gets trapped in a cave by a one-eyed giant. Bert I. Gordon's test run for Colossal Man is watchable, but certainly no Odyssey. TIL: Depending on the Bible translation, the giant Goliath was between 6'9" to 8'9" tall. He had both eyes, though.

Dad Rock Diary: Virus - Thoughts (1971) thoughtful, bluesy, Hammond heavy hard rock from Germany. Like... really, really Hammond heavy. Not a complaint at all, just saying, there's definitely Hammond here. Laudable Lyrics: I've only one question. Mankind, where do you go to?

DAILY CALL SHEET: NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Hand of Death (1962) Chemist John Agar turns into a sort of Ben Grimm with poisonous mitts. Back end of a double-bill for sure, but dig that kerrazy score. TIL: While helping found organic chemistry, Michel-Eugène Chevreul also vociferously defended Catholicism from materialists.

Still Voices - Fantastic Four (2005) "The burned hand teaches best." - J. R. R. Tolkien

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 31, 2022

The Curse of Bridge Hollow (2022) Dad devoted to scientism freaks when Halloween decorations start to come to life. Passable kiddie fare. TIL: Now dismissed, Conflict Theory was an Enlightenment era idea that there's an intrinsically hostile conflict between religion and science.

Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952) Film's first big drag star bugs Bela Lugosi, who only made this so he could afford a plane ticket home. TIL: Scripture frowns on crossdressing for sexual kink or blurring of the sexes. For entertainment or Joan of Arc reasons, it's arguable.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 28, 2022

HauntedWeen (1991) College kids throw a Halloween fund raiser in a not-so-deserted house. Slasher fanatics may find something in this homemade regional horror. TIL: Sorry neo-pagans, but even the site History For Atheists recognizes Halloween is not pagan in origin, but Catholic. (Link to History For Atheists for the doubtful)

Miracles for Sale (1939) Magicians and spiritualists try to solve a locked-room murder mystery. Lesser Tod Browning, but a nice diversion. TIL: Since the 16th century, the Vatican's "miracle commission" has investigated, often debunking, alleged miracles by potential Saints.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 25, 2022

Terror Train (2022) Someone's picking off college kids on a train. Near shot-by-shot remake, but definitely misses Kubrick's cinematographer, who elevated the original. TIL: Vatican City has the shortest railway in the world, 300 metres long, which is used mostly for freight.

The Ghost Ship (1943) Stoic authority-obsessed captain may be a madman. Misleading title, but still a neat little psychological thriller. TIL: The Church teaches it is legitimate to defend against the abuse of authority within the limits of natural law and the Law of the Gospel.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 21, 2022

Deadstream (2022) A live-streamer's stay in a real haunted house is good for views but bad for his health. Humorous, occasionally inventive found-footage flick. TIL: In case you get the urge, Vatican Media Live on YouTube lets you watch a 24/7 livestream of St. Peter's Square.

The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976) Childhood abuse victim snaps; many men suffer. Not sure drive-in arthouse is a genre, but if it is, this belongs in it. TIL: Evil loves to hurt the young. As Matthew 25:40 notes, when it does so, an image of Jesus Himself is assaulted.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 14, 2022

Halloween Ends (2022) After the movie, some guy in the restroom starts talking and we end up having a brief discussion on natural evil vs. moral evil while standing at the urinals. Love or hate what they do with Myers here (fans will definitely be split), it does make you think.

Dad Rock Diary: Andromeda - Andromeda (1969) A little Psych, a little Proto-Prog, a little Pre-Metal, a little... well, you get the idea. Laudable Lyrics: Waves of mercy, constantly changing. But all they're meant to be, will I ever see? Well, there's a reason, what does it mean?

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 12, 2022

Fright Night (1985) Teenager seeks help from a skeptical horror host after ticking off the vampire next door. Creepy, funny, and (yes, ladies) sexy. TIL: Chesterton noted the Bible tells us to love our neighbors AND love our enemies because they're all too often the same people.

Dad Rock Diary: Free - Fire and Water (1974) Even if you take away the hit single All Right Now (as if you could ignore Paul Rodgers' vocals), it's about as solid as blues rock gets. Laudable Lyrics: A worried mind makes it so hard to bear, hard to live, and hard to care.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 9, 2022

The Monster (1925) Mad scientist Lon Chaney makes life hard for a cowardly amateur detective. No classic, but a fun little OG horror comedy. TIL: The detective story is yet another genre the Bible dabbles in, as when Daniel interrogates the accusers of the innocent Susanna.

The Craft (1996) Outcasts take witchy revenge on school bullies. Overrated? Maybe, but it's still the faces that launched a thousand goths. TIL: Without acknowledging whether witchcraft's real or not, the catechism condemns any attempt to gain supernatural power over others.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 9, 2022

Sole Survivor (1984) Death pursues the only survivor of a plane crash. Less gruesome, much more atmospheric forerunner of the Final Destination flicks. TIL: The idea of a scythe wielding Angel of Death originated in the Talmud. However, he couldn't bring evil to the righteous.

Funny Book Philosophy: Werewolf by Night 003 (1972) Written by Gerry Conway and no doubt influenced at least a wee bit by his Irish Catholic upbringing.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 3, 2022

Carnival of Sinners (1943) Man jokingly sells his soul only to discover the devil is real and keeps receipts. Moves nicely between light-hearted and serious. TIL: It's said Satan has two lies. Before we sin, he says it's no big deal; after we’ve sinned, he tells us it's hopeless.

Sylvia and the Ghost (1946) Wistful kindhearted comedy has a father hiring three men to play the spirit his daughter's in love with, much to the chagrin of the real spook. TIL: Pope Leo XIII said if you want to learn to love the Holy Spirit, start out by talking to him every day.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 1, 2022

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) The Sanderson sisters set their sites on Salem one more time. The old cast's fun, but the new kid Sandersons steal the show. TIL: Most historians say it was local laws and customs, more than religion, that determined how severe penalties were for witchcraft.

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Hang ’em High (1968) "Most people approve of capital punishment, but most people wouldn't do the hangman's job." - George Orwell

DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

The Munsters (2022) It's like Sid & Marty Kroft made a big(ish) budget prequel to the show. A bit long, but as corny and kid friendly as the original. TIL: Christian marriage requires totality, unity, indissolubility, fidelity, and openness to fruitfulness. The Munsters qualify.

And then there’s this…

DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Allegoria (2022) Horror anthology explores the fears/insecurities of aspiring artists. Having served time in art school, I can confirm these characters. TIL: Not that you could tell from some of today's works, but Exodus 31 implies God is the original source of all creative arts.

Now Showing at a Blog Near You: Over at uCatholic they have a clip of Bill Conti explaining how the score he wrote for the Rocky films was inspired by... Catholic Mass? Yep. Who knew?

DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 24, 2022

Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972) Tom Smothers abandons corporate lunacy for tap dancing and magic. Kind of DePalma's weird meandering middle-aged version of The Graduate. TIL: Bro. John Hamman, the magical Marianist, created more than 100 card magic tricks, many still used today.

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972) "The magician and the politician have much in common: they both have to draw our attention away from what they are really doing." - Ben Okri

Now Showing at a Blog Near You: A few days back I shared Deacon SDG's notes on the positives of Amazon's Rings of Power. For balance, here's Darwin Catholic doing a fair job of summing up a lot of the show's negatives.

DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

Moonage Daydream (2022) Not a documentary in the traditional sense; more like a hot mud bath full of Bowie you sink into after dropping a tab of acid. TIL: A lifelong dabbler in spirituality, Bowie reportedly began reconsidering organized religion after his cancer diagnosis.

Grave Robbers (1989) Brainless teens raise a dead heretic and only a blessed axe and the rosary can stop him. Another loopy Mexican gem from Rubén Galindo Jr. TIL: Over 75% of Mexico still claims Catholicism as their religion, the second-largest Catholic population in the world.

NOW SHOWING AT A BLOG NEAR YOU

Steven Greydanus has some things to say on The Rings of Power: Season 1 at the halfway mark. My opinion? I'd say the writing on the show definitely needs some work, but overall I agree with the good Deacon (what, it happens more than you might think) on the positives of the series so far.

Over at Think Christian, JR. Forasteros has a pretty excellent take on the power of Hope as displayed in Netflix's adaptation of Gaiman's The Sandman and the Harrowing of Hell.

And finally, sorry Netflix, when even a secular outlet like Decider rolls its eyes at your latest anti-religious drivel, maybe it's time to just go back to showing old movies people actually want to watch. "The Catholic School' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It?"