DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 26, 2026

Hercules and the Captive Women (1961) As seems to be his modus operandi in a lot of these flicks, Hercules is drugged and kidnapped, this time by his good pal Androcles, who needs Herc's help to save Thebes from bad weather. Put on a slave ship with his son Hylas and his sidekick Timoteo the dwarf, Hercules handles the situation the way he usually does, laying around doing nothing. Events soon force the dazed demigod into action, however. First, he must save a captive woman from the shape-shifting Proteus (a guy in a lizard costume). Then he must travel to Atlantis to save a bunch of captive women and men from a cult who worships the power of Uranus. I'm not above chuckling at that sentence, which is good, because a lack of seriousness is the best way to approach these silly old sword and sandal movies. This one, featuring Reg park's first outing as the musclebound one, is sillier than most.

 

When Christianity first kicked off, the Romans often persecuted believers for refusing to honor the Roman gods. However, after the Edict of Milan, Christianity became the realm's legal religion and the tables turned somewhat. Public sacrifices to the Roman pantheon were banned, temples were closed or converted to Christian use, and their festivals were suppressed. Now, Uranus (or Caelus as the Roman's called him) wasn't missed too much as he had no real cult of his own. Still, he did come under ridicule due to the well-known myth of his castration by his son Cronus (Saturn). Apologists like Lactantius used this story as proof that the Roman myths (and therefore the Greek ones before them) were based on tales of ancient humans, not divine beings. After all, if these figures had truly been gods, then such acts as castration would be an impossibility. And if the stories had human origins, then the cults that grew up around the false gods were grounded in error and deception.

 

 

Perfect Victims (1988) After contracting AIDS from a prostitute, a mentally disturbed man goes completely over the edge and blames all women for his inevitable demise. To ensure he takes as many hated hussies with him before he goes, the psycho puts on a very Michael Myers-like mask and begins to stalk and assault women so he can infect them with HIV. When it becomes apparent he has set his sights on two models who have just moved to the big city, their agent and the police desperately try to protect them. This is the kind of weird variation on the genre that '80s slasher completists run across now and then, but unfortunately this one is too mean spirited, and the killer just a bit too misogynistic, to fully enjoy. Who knows, maybe that's the point of the movie given the subject matter, but slasher fans watch these things for some gross grand guignol fun, not to actually feel gross.

 

Back in the early '80s when AIDS was still considered just a disease for gay people and junkies, and nobody wanted to get too near anyone with it, Catholic institutions became major providers of care for the inflicted through hospices, clinics, home care, orphanages, and pastoral ministries. This may be shocking to some considering the Church's stance on homosexual actions and drug use, but the Church sees no conflict between compassionate care and doctrinal consistency. In fact, around the time Perfect Victims came out, the U.S. bishops issued two documents entitled The Many Faces of AIDS (1987) and Called to Compassion and Responsibility (1989) which insisted on loving care for the ill, the release of accurate information about the disease, and the rejection of discrimination, but also reiterated the Church's clear moral teaching on sexuality. You know, the same kind of thing Jesus used to do.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 21, 2026

Volunteers (1985) To escape serious bodily harm over unpaid gambling debts, snooty trust fund layabout Lawrence Bourne III hitches a ride on a Peace Corps plane to hide out in Thailand, only to discover his parents have arranged for him to be an involuntary volunteer in the organization's bridge building project. Having learned nothing, Lawrence spends his time teaching the locals how to play poker, unsuccessfully wooing fellow American Beth, and making deals with the region's drug lord. However, as Lawrence begins to develop real human feelings for Beth and various nefarious forces reveal plans of their own for the proposed bridge, Lawrence must decide what kind of person he really wants to be. Volunteers is one of those movies you know you've seen, but can't recall anything about it. Once you rewatch it, you remember why you forgot. Even though it has Tom Hanks. John Candy, the Donger, and the director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and there's nothing blatantly awful about it, Volunteers just has little of the memorable quirkiness that defines so many of its 1980s contemporaries. It just is.

 

Unsurprisingly, the Church is big on volunteerism. In fact, in March 2025, she held The Jubilee of the World of Volunteering to celebrate those who take time out to participate in humanitarian works. In his homily, Pope Francis told volunteers their generosity and small, free gestures of service offer hope to society, especially in the “deserts of poverty and loneliness.” He went on to say In societies “too enslaved to market logic” where everything risks being measured by interest and profit, volunteering is a “prophecy and a sign of hope” that witnesses to the primacy of gratuitousness, solidarity, and service to those most in need. In short, volunteering is a concrete, visible living out of the Gospel message. And if you're looking for something more Church related than the Peace Corps, the Catholic Volunteer Network (CVN) is a membership organization of roughly 200 domestic and international Catholic (and some broader Christian) full-time volunteer and mission programs who would be more than happy to put you to work.

 

The Octagon (1980) Renowned karate champion Scott James accompanies a date home only to be attacked by ninjas. As Scott is played by Chuck Norris, he beats the living crap out of anyone dressed in all-black, but his date and her entire family are all murdered. Both an earring-wearing Lee Van Cleef and a millionairess whose hobby is assassinating terrorists attempt to enroll Scott in their efforts to track down the ninjas, but Scott wants nothing to do with it as he highly suspects the ninjas are being led by his estranged step-brother Seikura. The two had a heated rivalry as young ninja padawans, but after Seikura dishonored the family, he was exiled and Scott was ordered by his step-father to avoid Seikura for the rest of his life. That may no longer be possible, though, as events will soon force Scott to confront his step-brother at his secret ninja-training facility, The Octagon. This is early Chuck Norris and it shows, but if you ever dreamed of listening to Chuck gruffly whisper his internal monologue for an entire movie, this is the one for you.

 

It's commendable that Chuck didn't want to fight his step-brother, even though Seikura was the world's biggest d-bag even as a child. However, sometimes that kind of thing can't be avoided, especially if you're a Christian. As Jesus said in Matthew 10, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household." Now, that sounds bad on the surface, but obviously Jesus isn't promoting family hatred and violence. That would be a bit off-brand. What He was getting at was the inevitable cost of true discipleship. When a person truly follows God, putting His Kingdom first, the occasional conflict with non-believers is unavoidable, even if they're family. So, Jesus wasn't encouraging strife, he was just being honest about the potential cost of following his teachings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 19, 2026

Black Sunday (1960) Sentenced to death for being a witch/vampire/all around nasty person, Princess Asa Vajda of Moldavia has a mask full of spikes hammered into her face. A couple of hundred years later, some doctors visiting the country accidentally release Asa from her tomb. They also meet Asa's doppelganger descendant Katia, who invite the two men to stay at her family's castle. One of the doctors becomes smitten with Katia, but Asa has her own designs for the young woman. If she can just get past all the dang crucifixes around the castle, Asa plans to steal Katia's youth to restore her own vitality. The movie is historically significant for horror fans as it's both the first directorial effort from Mario Bava and the film that made an international star out of Barbara Steele. Even without that stuff, though, Black Sunday is just a classic gothic romp.

 

Back in the day in Germany, the fifth Sunday of Lent, these days usually referred to as Passion Sunday or Judica Sunday, was then called Schwarzer Sonntag, or Black Sunday. This name came from the medieval custom of placing black veils on all the crucifixes, statues, and images in churches at the start of Passiontide. The veils are a liturgical sign of mourning, hiddenness, and longing, representative of Christ withdrawing and hiding his glory as the Passion approaches. Only when He rises on easter do the veils come off. While not as widespread as it used to be, you can still find various parishes continuing the custom to this day.

 

Cujo (1983) Both Donna Trenton's marriage and automobile are on the rocks. With her husband leaving town for a business trip, she can't do anything about the marriage at the moment, but the car she can take to their usual mechanic Joe, who lives and works on the outskirts of town. The problem is Joe's St. Bernard, Cujo, who has always been a sweetheart in the past, has recently contracted rabies and chewed Joe into pieces. Naturally, Donna's Ford Pinto finally gives up the ghost as she's pulling into Joe's driveway, so she and her young son Tad are soon at the mercy of Cujo, who makes his presence known quite adamantly. If the pair stay in the car, they'll suffocate in the rapidly rising heat. If they try to make it inside, slobbering death waits right outside the car door. What to do? Some of the early scenes without the dog are a bit of a slog, but once it becomes Jaws with a collar, the movie becomes one of the more enjoyable Stephen King horror adaptations.

 

A lot of the Saints were fond of dogs. St. Augustine, of course, considered them from a catechetical p[perspective, noting, "For even some dogs have been reproved by the Prophet Isaiah, not because they were dogs, but because they knew not how to bark, and loved to sleep. In which place indeed he hath shown, that if they had watched and barked for their Lord, they would have been praiseworthy dogs: just as they are praised, of whom is said, ‘The tongue of Thy dogs." St. Basil the Great's assessment was a little more personal, saying, "Does not the gratitude of the dog shame all who are ungrateful to their benefactors? Many are said to have fallen dead by their murdered masters in lonely places. Others, when a crime has just been committed, have led those who were searching for the murderers." The Desert Father Abba Xanthios was perhaps the most direct, quipping, “A dog is better than I am, for he has love and he does not judge.”

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 14, 2026

Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) The title character isn't just a fashion photographer, she's an artist. You can tell because she stages all of her fashion shoots to look like the scenes of violent crimes and accidents. It's art! Still, even though it brings her financial success, Laura's eerie aesthetic does have some drawbacks. Not only does she receive a fair amount of criticism for glamorizing violence, but when Laura begins to have visions of murders that turn out to be real, the police initially shrug her off as just some attention seeking weirdo. However, the more evident it becomes that Laura is actually experiencing the slayings through the eyes of the killer, the authorities become convinced they can use her to catch the guilty party. That's the good news. The bad news is that the culprit may be one of the men in Laura's life, and they can all get to her before the police can. Screenwriter John Carpenter, who wrote the initial draft of this before Halloween, turns in a fairly decent American version of a giallo (though he publicly decries the rewrites the studio did without his input) and the cast of Academy Award winners is far above what you usually get in these kind of flicks.

 

I doubt this movie's premise is what Henry David Thoreau meant when he wrote, “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” It is a sentiment that Pope Francis agreed with, though. In a 2016 General Audience, the Pontiff noted, "In the Bible we see that God himself must employ mercy in order to bear the lamentings of his people. For example, in the Book of Exodus the people become truly unbearable… But God had patience and thus he taught Moses and also the people this essential dimension of faith. Therefore a first question arises spontaneously: do we ever conduct an examination of conscience in order to see if we too, at times, might be annoying to others? It’s easy to point a finger against the faults and shortcomings of others, but we must learn to put ourselves in their shoes." Or, see the world through their eyes, as the poet put it.

 

Monster a Go-Go! (1960) The space capsule carrying astronaut Frank Douglas crashes to Earth and soon an eight-foot tall radioactive monster is terrorizing the countryside. At least that's what the narrator tells us. In fact, the narrator has to tell us a lot of things because the movie sure as heck doesn't show them. It can't, because a lot of the movie is leftover footage from a previous uncompleted film. For instance, we're assured by the narrator that the teenage girl on screen is watching Frank kill her boyfriend, but we have to take his word for it. And apparently Frank is in the back of a truck slowly killing the driver by radiation poisoning, but we just have to take the narrator's word for it. The whole movie is like this, so if you enjoy being told and not shown, this is the flick for you. And yes, this is the infamous movie in which a phone rings, but since the filmmakers seemingly couldn't afford foley, the sound we here is just someone making "ring-ring" sounds with their lips.

 

One of the nice things about Christianity is that it's structurally a show, don't just tell religion. God doesn't merely sit on high proclaiming rules and demanding we love one another. Instead, He incarnated in flesh and lived amongst us, showing how love works in real life. Sure, Jesus preached, but He also healed the sick, talked with the sinners, drove out demons, and lived a life of service to others. And, when it was time for His death, he left behind a Church with visible, tangible sacraments to continue the work. That's why the New Testament spends so much time harping on the fruits of one's labors, because we'll ultimately be judged on a lot more than just what we confessed with our lips. Christianity isn't just a set of ideas that one assents to. It is a life that one is invited to inhabit.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 8, 2026

 

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) Bow-tied man-child Pee-wee Herman is having an absolutely perfect day, that is until someone steals his highly customized Schwinn DX Cruiser, the one thing he treasures above all else in the world. Conned by a phony psychic into believing it has been taken to the Alamo, Pee-wee packs up his collection of novelty gags and sets off on a cross-country trek to retrieve his beloved bicycle. Along the way, he encounters a host of bizarre characters including an escaped convict, a surprisingly dance-enthusiast biker gang, and the unforgettable Large Marge. By ever-so-slightly toning down his stage character of Pee-wee and placing himself in the insanely capable hands of first-time big-screen director Tim Burton, Paul Reubens delivers one of the best comedies of the '80s, the one decade fully prepared to embrace his weirdness.

 

It only takes a few minutes into the film to realize Pee-wee has a bit of a First Commandment problem as he's obviously turned his bike into an idol. As the Church notes, possessions are not evil in themselves. In fact, they can often be considered be gifts from God which can be used for one’s needs, the good of others, or the glory of God. Possessions only become a problem when attachment to them turns into domination: when they control the heart, displace trust in God, hinder charity, or, as in the case of PW and his bicycle, become the measure of happiness and security. It's best to follow the Church's advice when it comes to possessions; hold them lightly as a steward and love God first of all.

 

Haunted Honeymoon (1986) Soon to be wed Larry and Vickie take a break from their hit 1930s radio show to travel to Larry's ancestral estate where they hope to both get married and discover what's been giving Larry the on-air jitters. Much to the couple's dismay, however, not only do their wedding guests begin to arrive, but so do a hitman hired to dispatch Larry, as well as what appears to be a werewolf. Old dark house shenanigans ensue as bodies are found, bodies are lost, and family secrets are revealed. Led by real life newlyweds Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner, and featuring Dom DeLuise in drag as Larry's overwrought aunt, the cast is perfectly likable, and they breeze through the lighthearted goings-on like the pros they are. Given that, it would be nice to say the film's a laugh riot, but sadly, it settles for being mildly enjoyable.

 

Blessed Karl of Austria was the last Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary, and is widely remembered for supporting Pope Benedict XV’s peace initiatives during WWI and for the reforms he tried to initiate to help the poor, veterans, widows, and orphans in his homeland. In Catholic circles, though, he's celebrated not only as a model of Christian leadership, but also as a model of how to be a new husband. Right before marriage to Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Karl had their wedding rings engraved with the antiphon Sub tuum praesidium (“We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God”). More famously, he told his betrothed, “Now, we must help each other to get to Heaven.” These words remain one of the most frequently cited lines for Catholic newlyweds, spoken as a reminder that the primary goal of marriage from the first day is mutual sanctification.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 3, 2026

Jason X (2001) Unable to execute immortal serial killer Jason Voorhies, a government agent traps him, and inadvertently herself, in a cryogenic chamber, where they are eventually found by scavengers in the year 2455, who've come to the decimated planet Earth looking for historical artifacts. Once the debt-ridden leader of the expedition realizes whose body they've happened upon, he decides to bring the supposed corpse aboard his spaceship and sell him to a collector. It's Jason, though, so as soon as some members of the crew begin to indulge in a little hanky-panky, the hockey-masked horror quickly thaws out and the carnage begins. However, things have changed while Jason has been on ice, and if he wants to continue his signature slaughter, he might need a few upgrades. Well, it's certainly not art. Still, the change-up in location and the movie's tongue-in-cheek attitude provide for some entertaining moments for those who've stuck with the franchise this long. And, yes, Uber-Jason is admittedly a pretty cool design.

 

One of the little details that's easy to overlook in Jason X is the fact that apparently, in the future, there is a market for the preserved bodies of the dead. Weird, but that kind of thing sort of exists these days doesn't it, what with museums and educational shows like Bodies: The Exhibition and Body Works? While the Church has no magisterial documents that specifically address mummies or commercial exhibitions of plastinated bodies, it does demand the bodies of the dead be treated with respect and charity. In this light, Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center believes that museums might pass muster, but that plastinated-body exhibits “straddle the line between enlightening and edgy.” The test of appropriateness for these types of exhibits seems to be whether the deceased gave consent for their bodies to be used for educational purposes and if the displays are respectful rather than exploitative.

 

Atomic War Bride (1960) With such a title, one might expect (me, I'm the one who expected) a movie about a gal who's exposed to nuclear radiation and grows into a literal Bridezilla. Alas, this is about war breaking out during a young Polish couple's wedding and what happens after the groom is immediately conscripted into the military (talk about for better or worse). So, instead of giant monsters, you get a lot of attempts at anti-war satire of the type that wouldn't be perfected for a few more years with Dr. Strangelove. That's because this movie is too afraid to fully commit to jokes about nuclear war in the way Kubrick did, too often falling back into drama, including a sharp tonal shift into an utterly bleak ending. I don't know, maybe something just gets lost in the English dubbing.

 

While the exact phrasing "for better, for worse" comes from the Church of England's 1549 Book of Common Prayer, its origins stems from the 11th century Sarum Rite, an Anglo-Saxon variation of the Roman Rite. These days, most everybody uses it. The Church recognizes it as a concrete expression of its doctrine of the indissolubility of a valid, sacramental marriage. The vow is a promise to remain faithful not only when life is pleasant, but especially when it is not, relying on the grace imparted by the sacrament to make such fidelity possible. Like St. John Chrysostom said in his homily to husbands (and by extension wives), "Endure it all for Christ’s sake, as He endured all for us. … Even if it becomes necessary for you to give your life for her, yes, and even to endure and undergo suffering of any kind, do not refuse.”

DAILY CALL SHEET: JULY 25, 2026

The Vineyard (1989) People will pay thousands for a bottle of Dr. Elson Po's wine, unaware it's made from the blood of those he keeps captive in his underground lab. The wine, along with a bit of Chinese black magic, helps keep Po unnaturally young. However, the conniving quack needs the perfect sacrifice to make his stolen youth permanent. To that end, he invites a number of Hollywood hopefuls to his private island under the pretense of making a movie. To Po's consternation, though, the corpses of his prior victims don't want to stay buried beneath his grapes serving as fertilizer, and keep popping up to make trouble. And speaking of corpses, just who is that rotting old hag hanging out in one of his mansion's bedrooms? Indispensable character actor James Hong plays a barely disguised variation of his Big Trouble in Little China character Lo Pan, but more importantly, uses this film as his first foray as writer/director. It's certainly no masterpiece, but you get what you expect from a movie made for Roger Corman during his New World Pictures period.

This movie's title sort of obligates us to consider Jesus' Parable of the Workers/Laborers in the Vineyard. That's the one in which a vineyard owner hires a number of laborers at various times of the day, but pays them all the same wage when the sun goes down, much to the consternation of those who started work early. St. Augustine summed up the lesson pretty well, saying, "We may apply the parable to this life of ours. For they are, as it were, called at the first hour, who, when fresh from their mother’s womb, begin to be Christians; those, as it were, at the third hour, who begin as boys; those, as it were, at the sixth, who begin as young men; those, as it were, at the ninth, who begin when verging towards old age; those, as it were, at the eleventh, who begin when actually in the decay of life; but all, with the prospect of receiving the one denarius of life eternal. ... For to all an equal pay is promised; but as to the actual hour of working there is great uncertainty. ... Why then do you put off Him who calls you, when you are certain of the pay, uncertain of a day?”

Frankenstein 1970 (1958) At the start of the '70s, which look an awful lot like the '50s, an aging Baron Victor von Frankenstein is in need of some dough to continue the experiments in immortality begun by his grandfather Richard Freiherr von Frankenstein. Yeah, there's not much Mary Shelley here, just go with it. Anyway, he leases out his castle to a film crew making a movie about Frankenstein's famous ancestor. Apparently, it's not a low budget production, as the money he receives allows Frankenstein to purchase an atomic reactor, which he uses to start construction on an indestructible version of his own body. Fortunately for Frankenstein, there happens to be a lot of virile Hollywood types running around who might make for good spare parts. This really should be a lot more fun than it is with that kind of setup, but the film kind of stumbles around aimlessly like the bandaged monster Frankenstein cobbles together. Still it gets an extra star just for Karloff, who hams it up as the monster maker this time around, and for being shot in CinemaScope, which is more than this kind of movie deserves.

Movies like Frankenstein 1970 show that some transhumanist ideas have been around for a long time, in particular the notion that the soul can be transferred out of the body and into something else. The Church has long scoffed at this concept as it contradicts the revealed truth that the human person is a profound unity of body and soul (hylomorphism, if you need the big Catholic word). Created by God, the soul is not something humans can manipulate, replicate, or relocate like a piece of furniture. Because of this, whatever would get transferred into a new body wouldn't be a soul, so it wouldn't result in immortality, just death for the real person. That's why the Vatican’s International Theological Commission wrote that “in the utopian scope of its quest for immanent immortality, transhumanism can be interpreted as the existential expression of a presumption that is both naive and arrogant.”