DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 16, 2025

 

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) Not long after he pens a tune in her honor, young Charlotte's married lover John has his hands and head chopped off, and it sure looks like the blood-covered belle is responsible. Nobody can prove it, though. Decades later, in an effort to save her family estate from being torn down by the Highway Commission, the spinster Charlotte seeks help from her cousin , the local doctor, and an insurance investigator obsessed with the long ago murder. Unfortunately, John's hands and head show up as well, which doesn't bode well for Charlotte's tenuous grip on sanity. And if Charlotte really was the original killer and is now losing her marbles, does that mean more meat cleaver murders are on the way? This spiritual sequel to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Is top tier hagsploitation with another great turn from Bette Davis, who really made the most of her later roles.

TIL: St. Pope John Paul II described old age as a "favorable time" for life's fulfillment, a phase of maturity, serenity, and preparation for eternity, blessed by divine favor in Scripture (e.g., long lives of Abraham and Moses).  He described the elderly themselves as "guardians of shared memory" and "privileged interpreters" of values that guide society. Pope Francis expounded on this, criticizing the modern "throwaway culture" where the elderly face abandonment, isolation, and marginalization. In a way, the hagsploitation genre kicked off by Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte embodied JPII's philosophy. Rather than consign elderly actors to the film vaults, it gave legendary thespians like Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Olivia de Havilland another chance to prove what made them legends to begin with.

Extra Terrestrial Visitors (a.k.a. Pod People) (1983) Stranded on Earth, something that looks like the unholy offspring of ALF and the Great Gonzo gets ticked off when egg poachers destroy her nest and decides to take her anger out on a rock band camping in the area. Well, alleged rock band. You can decide for yourself if they're deserving of that title. Anyway, one egg survives, and quicker than you can say E.T., the newly hatched alien makes friends with a little boy who christens the creature Trumpy. And as all MSTies know, Trumpy proceeds to do stupid things. However, will Trumpy's silly shenanigans be enough to calm his mad mommy down, or is a sad ending for all involved inevitable? This flick is featured on one of my favorite episodes of MST3K, so it's dear to my heart, but divorced from the show, it's … it's not great.

TIL: Not quite the same response as Trumpy's mom over her murdered children, but in 2 Samuel, there's the story of Rizpah, a concubine of the late King Saul. To atone for Saul's massacre of the Gibeonites, King David allows them to execute seven of Saul's descendants, including Rizpah's sons. As was the law, the boy's bodies were hung on gibbets to be eaten by birds and beast. Rizpah wasn't having it, though, so she camped by the bodies for five months, protecting them from desecration. This shamed David so much, he finally gave them an honorable burial alongside Saul and Jonathan. In response to this righteous act, God ends the famine he had imposed on Israel. So, while it doesn't take away the pain, Rizpah's dignified response to her personal agony becomes a catalyst for broader reconciliation for an entire nation. God can work all things, even the worst ones, for the good of those who love Him.