DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 22, 2026

Chiller (1985) Millionaire industrialist Miles Creighton isn't too fond about dying, so he arranges to have himself cryogenically frozen. After about ten years, though, the machine he's in malfunctions and Miles must be revived. Fortunately, during Miles' long nap, they've invented a procedure to fix his fatal condition. Unfortunately, they can't do anything about Miles' missing soul, which apparently didn't exit the freezer with him. Now a conscienceless monster, Miles sets about purposely ruining the lives of his employees by jettisoning anyone he feels is hampering profits. He also commits a few murders on the side. It's a Wes Craven made-for-TV film, so the movie is probably trying to say something about the perceived heartlessness of Reagan-era capitalism, but nothing Craven does can save this movie from being a complete bore.

Since the Church opposes the creation of human persons outside of the conjugal love of a husband and wife, the cryogenic freezing of embryos is right out. But what about the freezing of adults in hopes of reviving them later? Well, Justo Aznar, director of the Bioethics Observatory of the Catholic University of Valencia, notes that current cryogenic technology would kill a living person, so the person being frozen is required to be dead before the procedure takes place. Obviously, the killing part is right out. As for the preserving of the corpse for later, that goes against the Church's teachings on the proper handling of the body after death. Finally, there's the fact that the soul leaves the body after death, returning only for the final resurrection. So, the whole procedure is a pipe dream to begin with. Based on that, it's safe to assume the Church opposes cryogenics.

Dust Devil (1992) As a traditional Namibian healer named Joe warns us of Dust Devils, demons who materialize from the desert winds and roam the highways looking to kill those who have given up on life, we join one such creature as he burns down a woman's house and dumps her corpse in the back of a car. The Dust Devil then hitches a ride with his next intended victim, Wendy Robinson, a forlorn woman who has just left her husband after being falsely accused of infidelity. However, after Wendy overcomes her despair and decides against ending her own life, the Dust Devil decides to just hang out with her for a while rather than doing the thing he usually does. Meanwhile, thanks to the trail of bodies the Dust Devil has left behind, the police are now tracking him, aided by Joe and his magic stick. Richard Stanley's follow-up to his cult favorite Hardware is just as stylish and moody as its predecessor, coming across a little like if Sergio Leone had made a horror movie. It's ridiculously hard to find, but worth it if you can.

Aquinas was no fan of despair because it basically arises from the false belief that God is withholding his grace. Interestingly, despair seems to be a favorite tactic of the devil when it comes to attacking Saints. For example, St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote how she endured intense temptations to despair, especially when she was near death, feeling like heaven was nothing but a "night of nothingness" and that her faith was illusory. For 50 years, as her letters noted, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was deeply tempted by feelings of spiritual desolation and abandonment. She spoke of feeling “forsaken,” like Jesus on the Cross, and feared becoming “a Judas to Jesus.” Heck, St. John of the Cross wrote a whole book about his struggles, Dark Night of the Soul, in which he describes those times when God seemingly removes consolations, leading to aridity, confusion, and a sense of abandonment. However, as he explained, such times can lead to a deeper union with God because it's during them when the soul must walk by faith alone.