NaschyCast

NaschyCast #8 - COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE (1972)

Proving that there are no obstacles that we won’t overcome to bring you Naschy film discussion here is number Ocho. One of the most talked about of his non-Daninsky films COUNT DRACULA’S GREAT LOVE is an amazing mix of the clunky and the sublime. In a way, this film is a succinct summation of all that is usually praised in a Naschy film and all that is usually criticized. A mangled mess of a story with elements that don’t come together it still shines as an atmospheric horror piece with some truly brilliant moments that often distract you from a script that seems to be running in two directions at once. This film might be the perfect Rorschach test for fans- What do you remember from the film when it’s over? 

We discuss vampire tears, non-existent sequels, the variable speed of vampirism, mad voice-overs, active vs. passive film viewing and the relative merits of a script with too many contributors. 

You will find the sound quite variable as I had to cull the entire show from multiple sources. I apologize for the occasional distortion and changes in sonic quality. The uphill battle to get these shows made is often surprising for us untutored computer illiterates. Drop us a line at naschycast@gmail.com if you please! 

NaschyCast #7.5 - Extra Yeti

Here’s an unexpected surprise! Let’s call this the first ‘extra’ show for the NaschyCast with no promises that we’ll do this kind of thing often. We decided to record this brief episode to answer a few questions, ask for listener input on a few topics and tell everyone about a friend of the show’s new Spanish horror internet radio program. But the biggest reason for this bonus bit of audio babble is to let everyone know that the uncut version of NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST is out there! It may be available only on the bootleg market but, as we relate, it contains far more than you might have guessed. We were just thrilled to be able to see it. Listen closely and you’ll hear Troy’s cat Flex enter the room and make his presence known. 

Drop us a line at naschycast@gmail.com to let us know what you think. 

NaschyCast #7 - INQUISITION (1976)

This time out we venture back to the 16th century for a dose of religious persecution during one of history’s nastier periods of paranoia. Who’s a witch, there’s a witch, everywhere a witch witch! 

Taking his place in the director’s chair for the first time Paul Naschy serves up a harsh look at human nature by way of fear, torture and hatred. Putting his well researched stamp on a sub-genre made financially viable by Vincent Price in WITCHFINDER GENERAL and made gorily disturbing by THE MARK OF THE DEVIL this film serves up a complex look at what might drive someone to embrace darkness. Based on an actual historical event, Naschy spends a lot of time getting the details right and this realism pays off. 

The film boasts an excellent cast able to bring both the over the top elements and the more subtle shades of character to play. INQUISITION is one of the most authentic looking of Naschy's films and the script shows that when working without the usual supernatural elements his stories retain their power and possibly even gain deeper relevance. Another winner from Naschy but certainly one that is harder to enjoy when it dips into graphic, matter-of-fact torture. Typically enough for the podcast, it becomes a contest to determine which is more gruesome – the nastiness onscreen or my mangling of both Spanish and French names.

Remember- we can be reached at naschycast@gmail.com and you can subscribe through iTunes.

NaschyCast #6 - DR JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN (1972)

It's that time once again my friends, so gather around! The moon is rising and so is our favorite hairy beast. This time out Naschy indulges his love for the Monster Mash and combines two unlikely members of the classic horror gallery for a romp through swinging London. Knowing that putting these two together requires some work Naschy first takes us to the rural villages of the Carpathian Mountains for a gothic tinged introduction to our old friend Waldemar Daninksy before his trip to England in search of a cure for his unfortunate problem. The grandson of the infamous Dr. Jekyll agrees to try an unorthodox (and completely nutty) method of dealing with lycanthropy, but, as is usual in a Paul Naschy script, things don’t go quite as well as our poor cursed man might hope. 

This was the sixth Waldemar Daninsky adventure and it’s a good one. Once again rebooting the character from scratch we have the tortured soul hoping for deliverance from a hellish life and given some small measure of happiness by the love of a beautiful woman. It’s a shame the village people hate him so! Troy and I have a great time going through this one point by point finding pleasures both large and small even if I have to be reminded that Hombre Loco is a very different thing from Hombre Lobo! 

NaschyCast #5 - CRIMSON (1976)

First a disclaimer: I regret that the audio on this episode is not as good as it could be. This podcast has been an ongoing learning lab for me in how to record the two of us with some form of sound quality. I finally got pretty happy with the way the show sounds with episode #4 but then, as we sat down to record this one I promptly forgot one simple lesson of microphone operation. Because of that Troy often sounds as if he’s in a pit or roughly a mile away from me. For this I apologize and you can rest assured the people responsible have been sacked. And I promise it won’t happen again. The good news is that Troy did a little audio tweaking to improve some of the worst spots so hopefully it won’t be too bad. Let us know if we suck. naschycast@gmail.com

For the fifth show we decided to step outside the horror genre and for our deviation from the norm we paid a heavy price. CRIMSON is not a good film. It is at best a passable time waster with a few points of interest for Euro-Trash enthusiasts and very little screen time for Naschy. A French-Spanish co-production it is mostly boring with long stretches of tedium broken up by moments of crap. Director Juan Fortuny didn’t step behind the camera for many movies in his career and it’s easy to see why. Luckily Troy and I find some joy at the edges of the screen as we marvel at some of the reoccurring actors working in Spanish cinema in the 1970s. You might actually enjoy us talking about CRIMSON more than you enjoy the film itself! 

NaschyCast #4 - THE MUMMY'S REVENGE (1973)

In the 4th episode of NaschyCast we unravel THE VENGEANCE OF THE MUMMY a.k.a. THE MUMMY'S REVENGE. Occasionally slow but packed with Egyptian lore and mystery this film is one of my favorite mummy movies and Troy (despite a lack of mummy movie love) actually feels the same way. Of course, calling it the second best mummy movie of all time is like claiming to be the leper with the most fingers but it’s still one Hell of a fun movie. Bloody, sexy and filled with murder set pieces that rival what was being done in gore films of the same vintage it’s a fun, furious ride with a few surprises along the way. Crushed heads for everyone!

Back from HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB is director Carlos Aured, lovely co-star Helga Line and Naschy his own bad self is again playing two separate roles. Hey! When you can play both the villain and his main henchman why not do it? I wonder if he got two paychecks?

Anyway- this is a great Naschy horror film and we have a lot of fun with it so enjoy!

NaschyCast #3 - NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST (1975)

In the third episode of NaschyCast Troy and  I delve into the 8th Waldemar Daninsky werewolf film NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST. Afflicted with at least a half dozen alternate titles the film is a fun adventure film crossed with Naschy’s usual lycanthropic madness and some unexpectedly acrobatic fight scenes. The movie has more than a few surprises including disproving one of my earlier statements about Mr. Molina’s tendency to write only two types of female characters. Also note that with this episode we add sound clips from the movie for your entertainment and edification. Some of the lines in this one are just too good to miss.

NaschyCast #2 - HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (1973)

Troy and I are proud to present the second episode of The NaschyCast! This time we run through HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB and discover even more madness than we had thought might be there. How did we manage to link THE EXORCIST, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DIRTY HARRY to this film? Were we able to pronounce the actor’s names any better this time out? Did we get distracted by the copious nudity on display? How much does religion play a part in the symbolism used in the film? Were we able to make sense out of the jumble of crazed ideas tossed around in this Euro-horror classic? All of these questions and more will be answered (or at least mentioned and picked at) in this show!

Truly, HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB is one of the most enjoyable of Paul Naschy’s movies and was part of an amazing string of entertaining pictures that showed him and his collaborators working at the top of their game. In the end I have to agree with Troy that this may be one of the best to introduce newcomers to the joys of the Mad Spaniard’s horror output. It’s certainly impossible to be bored by the movie.

Keep in mind that this is a spoiler packed Podcast and that we discuss the entire film from start to finish so if you haven't seen HRFTT yet you might want to be wary. And once again feel free to give us your thoughts on the Podcast –pro or con- at our email address naschycast@gmail.com or in the comments below.

NaschyCast #1 - THE MARK OF THE WOLFMAN (1968)

I've been a big fan of the films of Paul Naschy for about 20 years. I read about him and his work for years before I finally got to see any of it but, unlike many things longed for or anticipated, these movies were well worth seeking out and rewarded the attention paid to them. For the last few years my friend Troy and I have gotten together a few times a year for Naschy Nights during which we check out a couple of these cinematic efforts and, afterward, discuss them. With the recent passing of the great man we’ve decided to make a record of these little talks and let anyone who might be interested listen in as we ramble on. We’ll present these as audio PodCasts in MP3 format downloadable from right here. Our plan is to focus on a single film once a month and discuss it from stem to stern hopefully bringing some more attention to these often overlooked and still (in some cases) hard to find horror classics. With any luck we’ll be able to stick to our proposed schedule and in one year we’ll have an even dozen of these for your listening pleasure.

For the inaugural show we’ve chosen to start at the beginning with Naschy’s first monster film THE MARK OF THE WOLFMAN or, as it was known in the US, FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR. Next month’s episode will focus on HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB. We hope you’ll check out our humble effort and let us know what you think, at our email address - naschycast@gmail.com - grab the show at the link below or subscribe through iTunes.

 

NaschyCast #58 - Nic Brown Visits!

After a Summer hiatus The Naschycast is back with a new episode! This time out we have invited fellow podcaster and author Nic Brown to stop by for a discussion of a couple of Paul Naschy's finest werewolf movies - THE MARK OF THE WOLF MAN (1968) and DR. JEKYLL AND THE WEREWOLF (1972). Nic is one of the co-hosts of the legendary B-Movie Cast and, although they have occasionally covered wolfman films over there, this is the first time he has been able to dig into a Waldemar Daninsky double feature. Of course, the fact that Nic has famously written a couple of novels centered on a lycanthrope (The Werewolf For Hire series) just adds to the fun and explains why we wanted him to talk about our favorite Spanish Hombre Lobo. Needless to say, he finds the Naschy version of werewolfery to be very different from the cinematic standard we all know and love. Although the three of us do occasionally get off topic we do dig into things pretty well. We discuss Nic's favorite werewolf films; dig into the mystery of the alternate FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR title for MARK OF THE WOLF MAN; delight in the fact that both of these films are monster mashes with multiple creatures going at each other and we marvel at the creativity on display to get Mr. Hyde and the werewolf into one body! Also, we chew over the bizarre dance of the seven vampires sequence in MARK with new and improved (?) ideas suggested for this most insane stalking/seduction technique. Nic makes note of the logical reasons for the wolf man's most common form of attack while I wonder if maybe neck meat is simply considered an appetizer in the lycanthrope world. After we conclude the movie portion of the show Troy and I take the time to answer a few listener emails. There are some kind words and a few suggestions for future films to cover with a strong push toward those evil knights Templar, so look for a return to that beloved series soon for the show. If you have any comments or questions for us the email address is naschycast@gmail.com and we're always glad to hear from you. We can also be reached over on the FaceBook page where we post up information and cool links focused on Spanish Horror whenever we can. Thanks for downloading and listening to the show!