DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 29, 2023

Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (1982) After snorting a mysterious white powder, meek surgeon Dr. Jekyll turns into a fright-wig wearing 80's party animal. It's like Robert Louis Stevenson tried to write Airplane... when he was twelve. Lots of faces you'll recognize in this, though let's be honest, they probably wish you wouldn't.

TIL: The Church opposes the legalization of drugs, even the so-called soft ones like marijuana. This is because even if their physiological effects are not as serious as those of hard drugs, which is debatable, soft drugs still foment the same type of dependence mentality and loss of personal dignity that hard drugs produce.

D-Tox (2002) Sylvester Stallone and a bunch of other troubled cops get sent to a snowbound rehab clinic in the middle of nowhere. The trouble is, one of the group is actually a deranged cop killer. But which one? It's basically a slasher movie that really wants to be The Thing, but ultimately ends up being just an average early-aughts action thriller. Nice cast though.

TIL: St. John Paul II noted that drug suppliers should be the primary object of legal and police action. He suggested that while it would be a mistake not to punish ordinary drug users, authorities should always take into account the personal and social factors that led to their addiction. Above all, users should be afforded the chance for rehabilitation.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 27, 2023

Bridge to Nowhere (1986) Hillbilly hermit hunts down peeping tom teens after their presence encourages his reluctant hut-mate to try and beat feet for the big city. Not necessarily a classic, but this oft-forgotten piece of Ozploitation is a decent entry in the backwoods horror genre. It even manages to throw in a little social commentary if you care to look for it.

TIL: Believe it or not, consecrated hermits are still a part of modern Church life, though they rarely live in caves anymore. The Code of Canon Law defines a hermit as one who has devoted their life to the praise of God and the salvation of the world through a stricter withdrawal from the world, the silence of solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance.

Zombie Brigade (1986) Small town Aussies want to open a theme park based on a Japanese superhero because why not, but they stupidly decide the best place to build it is on top of a Vietnam war memorial. The veterans buried there don't take kindly to the idea. It's actually a promising setup, but don't let that raise your expectations. The end product is dirt cheap, dreary, and dull.

TIL: In the late 18th century during the Tay Son rebellion, Catholics in Vietnam were heavily persecuted and many churches were destroyed. The 117 individuals the Church honors as the Saints collectively known as the Martyrs of Vietnam are just a representative sampling of the hundreds of thousands who were killed. 

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 25, 2023

Alone in the Dark (1982) Four psychotics break out of an asylum so they can lay siege to the home of the man they believe has murdered their favorite doctor. Without its cast of uber-recognizable faces this film would probably be relegated to mediocrity, but even if this were Jaws The Revenge level of bad (it's not), the scenery chewing from Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence, and Martin Landau would easily add an extra star or two.

TIL: In Old Testament times, insanity was most often seen as a form of divine retribution for those who refused to heed the word of God. However, as the science around mental illness improved, so did the religious understanding. These days, the Church does not consider psychiatric disorders a moral failure or sign of insufficient faith, but rather a condition which science, medicine, and religion must work together to provide care for.

Kids vs. Aliens (2022) Kids left home alone decide to throw an unsanctioned house party. Unfortunately, uninvited guests arrive, bringing with them close encounters of the worst kind. To be sure, the setup offers some goofy adolescent shenanigans, but don't plop the little ones down in front of it just yet. That's because once the credits roll, this becomes as bleak as one of those old 80's kid flicks that left Generation X forever emotionally scarred.

TIL: The Church commonly defines the Age of Discretion as the age when a child is capable of making free acts of the will, thereby becoming morally responsible for their actions. It's usually considered to be around seven years of age. So kids, if you decide to throw a party while you're parents are away and murderous aliens show up, unless you're under seven, that's on you.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 6, 2023

The Exorcist: Believer (2023) After going missing for three days, two young girls return home, bringing something evil along with them. Fortunately for all the helpless preachers, priests, and manbo priestesses in Georgia, Chris MacNeil, the mother from the original Exorcist, knows exactly what it is and agrees to help out. The film is well-meaning with a strong first half and some interesting God-talk, but the relativistic CoeXisT exorcism is goofy, and even it's undermined by the fact that you can apparently beat the devil (if that's even what it is) if only you can get "the feels" strong enough. Wishy washy and disappointing.

TIL: The Church does promote an ecumenicism which seeks to establish visible unity among the diversity of ecclesial communities, but rejects the idea that all religions are just varying (and fallible) human expressions of a natural religious impulse or instinct, considering that to be one of the fundamental errors of modernism.

Funny Book Philosophy: The Avengers 068 (1969)

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 4, 2023

The Lost Continent (1968) Ship full of nogoodniks washes up on an uncharted isle overrun with carnivorous seaweed, plus-sized crustaceans, and the religiously confused descendants of Spanish conquistadors. Rather fun once the rubber monsters show up and the insanity kicks in. If anything, it's convincing evidence that at least some of Hammer's writers were dropping acid in the late 60's.

TIL: Some scientists speculate that pre-Pangaea there was another lost supercontinent called Rodinia that was destroyed in a cataclysm. Some Christians who take all of the pre-Abrahamic stories in Genesis literally suggest this may have been where Noah lived pre-deluge. That might have been a bit hard, though, considering scientists believe Rodinia existed before life made its way to dry land.

Do the makers of 'Mother Teresa & Me' understand the Dark Night? That's the question in my latest for Aleteia.