THE B-MOVIE CATECHISM 
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.”
Jaws: The Revenge (1987) With her husband Martin dead from a heart attack and her youngest son Sean recently killed by a great white shark, Ellen Brody throws in the towel and moves from Amity Island to the Bahamas where her oldest son Michael works as a marine biologist. However, the shark, ticked off at the number of its kin that the Brody family has dispatched over the years, follows the family to the Commonwealth with the intent of finishing the rest of them off (okay, I guess). Using Ellen's newly discovered psychic link with the beast (look, I didn't write the movie, okay), she and Michael, along with their new pals Jake and Hoagie, track down the vindictive fishy. Or is it tracking them? Yes, this is the film which Michael Caine now claims he made just because he wanted to buy a new house. Chances are you've already heard how bad this movie is and you'll find nothing to contradict that assessment here. Like all chondrichthyans, sharks have brains adapted primarily for sensory processing, instinctual behaviors, and survival. Scientists say a shark's lack of an advanced neocortex means their minds can't support higher-order emotions, self-awareness, planning, or sustained cognitive processing. That pretty much rules out a shark experiencing anything like remembering a specific person who did them wrong or planning retaliation for the wrongdoing like the shark does in Jaws: The Revenge. Any antagonistic behaviors they display are likely just the simple fight-or-flight responses common to all animals. You know, it's always nice when science catches up to the Church, which has taught animals lack the rational soul to experience anything beyond basic emotions/appetites since at least Aquinas expounded on Aristotle in the 13th Century. Shadow of the Hawk (1976) Mike is pretty content to live in the big city far from the reservation he grew up on. However, when journalist Maureen shows up with Mike's grandfather Old Man Hawk in tow, Mike is guilted into driving the man 300 miles back to his home. Along the way, Mike learns his ancestor has sought him out to train him as the tribe's next medicine man, a responsibility Mike wants nothing to do with. Nevertheless, he may have no choice but to do some on-the-job training since the spirit of the evil sorceress Dsonoqua wants Old Man Hawk and his bloodline wiped out of existence. Can our heroes survive the supernatural dangers Dsonoqua unleashes long enough for Mike to answer his calling? Though it opened in theaters, and some elements like Dsonoqua's masked visage are surprisingly effective, the production has more of a made-for-television feel than that of a cinematic release. Still, it earns an extra star for the presence of Chief Dan George, who oozes Native American authenticity even when the goings get silly, such as when Jan-Michael Vincent wrestles a guy in a bear suit while his stunt man gets mauled by the real thing. As it often goes in these types of movies, Mike is reluctant to follow his true calling. That happens in the Christianity as well. According to the Vhurch, a calling ( or vocation) is God's personal invitation to each person to live a life of holiness, love, and service in a specific way that leads to fulfillment and eternal happiness. However, there's often resistance to that calling due to such things as anxiety over commitment, feelings of unworthiness, concerns over losing personal freedom, and just plain old fear of radical change. This kind of thing is normal, to the point that the Bible is full of people who were reluctant to follow their vocation at first. Moses, Jeremiah, Jonah, and more all had their qualms when God came calling. Even Mary had a question or two before speaking her famous line, "Let it be to me according to your word.” Reluctance doesn't disqualify a calling. As with Jacob, honest wrestling with God can lead to a more rewarding vocation.
DAILY CALL SHEET: JULY 14, 2026
Splatter University (1984) Three years after a lunatic escapes from a nearby asylum (didn't anybody put locks on these places in '80s movies), someone murders the sociology teacher at St. Trinian's College. Her replacement, Julie Parker, immediately becomes suspicious of everyone she meets, and for good reason. The creepy wheelchair-bound priest who serves as the school's headmaster is nosy and overbearing, her new boyfriend may have secret ties to the murdered woman, and the matron of her boarding house has Norma Bates written all over her. Then there's the fact that her classroom is full of slovenly degenerates, and that's just the girls. Seriously, every kid in this movie acts like they were written by a hormone-crazed 13-year-old who has never met a college student, but has definite fantasies of what they must be like. Once the classless coeds start getting picked off, it's hard not to root for the killer. Still, even though it's a middling low-tier slasher at best, it's got that locally-flavored regional horror vibe that will appeal to some. One of the problems right off the bat with Splatter university is that there is no St. Trinian for the school in the movie to be named after, not even on the list of the hundreds of Saints who lost their feast days in 1969. That was the year the Church decided to clean things up a little bit by removing from the General Roman Calendar any Saint whose historical existence, details, or legends were questionable based on modern hagiographical and historical scholarship. This didn't mean those Saints were taken out of the Roman Martyrology (the Church's official list of recognized saints and martyrs), just that their feasts were made optional for the whole Church, leaving them to private veneration and local celebrations. St. Christopher is probably the best example, as his feast is not on the calendar, but most every Catholic still carries a medal with his image on it. Now, it's possible the movie's writers used the name St. Trinian's as an homage to the British comic strip popular in the '50s, but that's suggesting they put some thought into the film. Cool World (1992) Cartoonist Jack Deebs creates a comic called Cool World based on visions he believes to be imaginary, at least until he is sucked into the quite real cartoon dimension where the indecently drawn Holli Would awaits. Holli has discovered that if she can have sex with a human, she can transform into a real girl and escape into our world. For whatever reason, that's the rule. Anyway, detective Frank Harris, another human trapped in Cool World, does his best to prevent this, as such an unlikely coupling would result in the two dimensions merging and animated mayhem usurping the natural order on Earth. One shudders to think what legendary underground animator Ralph Bashki would have done with Cool World if given free reign, but extensive studio interference resulted in this oddly neutered, yet still slightly sleazy take on Roger Rabbit. Waifu pillow guys might love it, but most others will probably find it too cringey. As for Gabriel Byrne, Brad Pitt, and Kim Basinger, they would probably like this erased from their resumes. Although the Church has never directly produced an animated movie, in 1984, the Vatican did get Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) to relay a request to famed animator Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion among others) to see if he would be interested in producing an anime adaptation of the Bible. Hesitant at first because he wasn't a Christian, Tezuka finally agreed after reassurances from the Holy See. Sadly, Tezuka passed away in 1989 before work could be completed, and only 26 episodes covering the Old Testament were released. As Tezuka's death resulted in many episodes being completed by other directors, In the Beginning: Stories from the Bible isn't considered on par with his acknowledged masterpieces, but it's still fondly remembered for its overall artistic value and sincere attempt to bridge cultural differences. One such difference is that some versions of the show contain nudity (Adam & Eve and such), not a huge deal in Japan. Cool World fans shouldn't get too excited, though, as such instances are brief, non-gratuitous, and never eroticized.
DAILY CALL SHEET: JULY 7, 2026
Species (1995) Scientists receive an extraterrestrial message detailing how to create an alien/human hybrid, so you better believe they do so immediately, producing a baby they name Sil. However, when Sil develops to 12-years-old in just a few months, the big brains decide that maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all and futilely attempt to euthanize her. Escaping, Sil quickly ages to adulthood and sets out on her genetically programmed mission, to mate so she can produce offspring designed to wipe out the human race. Oddly, despite the fact that she looks like a Cosmopolitan cover model (which is exactly what the actress playing Sil was in real life), Sil has a difficult time finding someone to hook up with. It's only a matter of time, though, so the government sends in a crack team of scientists and mercenaries to deal with the problem. But can they? Don't let the fact that this was made by MGM, has art design by H. R. Giger, and stars not one, but two Academy Award winners fool you. This is pure exploitation, basically Alien's trashy cousin, so expectations should be set accordingly. Obviously, the Church has no official teachings on sexual relations with aliens, but that hasn't stopped some Catholics like Jimmy Akin and Paul Thigpen from speculating about it. It goes without saying that such a pairing would have to occur within a valid marriage. Beyond that, they seem to agree that, at a minimum, the alien would have to have a rational soul in the image of God and have biological compatibility with humans to allow for procreation. That's because a sacramental marriage requires the consent of free will and an openness to life. Just because one of the spouses was an alien, you don't get to discard those requirements. Then there's the question of baptism and redemption through Christ. Authors like C. S. Lewis raised the possibility of aliens who are not fallen like mankind. Would that be a hindrance? Again, the Church has no definitive statement on such things, but she doesn't discourage noodling over them as a way to explore faith and reason. The Descent (2005) One year after the death of her husband and daughter, Sarah goes on a spelunking trip with five of her friends hoping to find some peace of mind. That's not to be, however, as the group's most gung-ho member, Juno, purposely leads the ladies into unexplored tunnels where they become trapped by a cave-in. To make matters worse, the women soon discover they are not alone. In between them and their only possibility of escape is a hereto undiscovered tribe of cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers (Hmm, why does that sound familiar?). To top it off, one of the group reveals to Sarah some upsetting truths about her late husband. Can Sarah and the rest overcome the psychological and physical dangers of the situation to make it to the surface, or are they all destined to be dinner? With some excellent performances, its undeniably creepy Crawlers, and some of the most claustrophobic scenes put to celluloid, The Descent ranks as one the first horror classics of the 21st century. Before he founded the Benedictine order, St. Benedict of Nursia spent three years living as a hermit in a cave near Subiaco, Italy. Disgusted by the moral decay and licentiousness he saw in the city, Benedict decided to follow the example of the Desert Fathers and seek a life of austerity and isolation. He did receive some aid from a nearby monk named Romanus who provided clothing and food, which he would lower into Benedict's cave by rope. Otherwise, the future Saint spent most of his time in prayer and contemplation. There's no records of Benedict having to battle subterranean cannibals, but one source does mention him battling the temptation of lust by rolling around in thorns, so there's that. Naturally, the Church doesn't call everyone to spend time alone in caves, but she does suggest occasional periods of fuga mundi (flight from the world), which is the deliberate withdrawal from worldly distractions, attachments, and the corruptive influences of society in order to pursue a deeper life with God.
DAILY CALL SHEET: JUNE 30, 2026
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) When the world's greatest and most secretive confectioner announces a contest in which five children will be allowed to tour his fortress of a factory and secure a lifetime supply of chocolate, the entire world succumbs to Wonka-mania trying to locate one of the elusive golden tickets. The eventual winners include the gum-chomping Violet Beauregarde, the television-obsessed Mike Teevee, the ever-omnivorous Augustus Gloop, the proto-girl boss Veruca Salt, and the impoverished paper boy Charlie Bucket. As the children and their chaperones proceed through the wonderland of Wonka's factory, their individual vices lead to avoidable disasters, which are subsequently eulogized by singing orange-skinned little people known as Oompa-Loompas. Will any children be left to claim the ultimate prize? With an outstanding eccentric performance from Gene Wilder as Wonka, some immediately hummable tunes, and an underlying somewhat-mean spirit to the proceedings, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a classic kid's morality tale in which the unvirtuous are punished and the meek inherit everything they ever wanted. When Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," He wasn't referring to weak, spineless passivity. In the original Greek, the word translated in the verse as "meek" is the word "praus", which roughly means strength under control. Given that, biblical meekness is not being a doormat, it is doing good in response to evil. Meekness in the spiritual sense means showing humility and gentleness toward others, enduring trials patiently without resentment or revenge, accepting God's will without and over-abundance of muttering. In this way, meekness is a direct challenge to the worldly preference for immediate retaliation, over-assertive behavior, and crass self-promotion. Sounds nice, but meekness isn't easy. As Pope Francis noted, "Anyone can appear meek when everything is peaceful, but how does one react under pressure, if one is under attack, offended, threatened?" Meekness isn't just an idea, it's an active choice. The Land Unknown (1957) Stop me if you've heard this one before. An expedition heads to Antarctica to investigate some unusually warm waters. Now, any kid who has ever gone swimming in a public pool can tell that water which suddenly gets warm is a thing to be avoided, but these guys—and obligatory gal—head towards it anyway. A mistake, as a pterosaur instantly knocks their helicopter into a vast volcanic crater where dinosaurs and man-eating plants run rampant. Yep, it's The Lost World, but with enough story elements changed so Sir Arthur Conan Doyle doesn't get a dime. Of course, since pre-production budget cuts really put a hurt on the film's special effects, Doyle probably would have avoided drawing attention to The Land Unknown as he wouldn't want his name associated with it in any way. However, for fans of this particular kind of '50s schlock, the hand puppets, magnified monitor lizards, and poverty row T-Rex costume are probably a net positive. Methodist founder John Wesley was fond of variations of the term "the land unknown", using it in hymns and poems to metaphorically refer to heaven. In his eulogy, On the Death of Mr. John Matthews, Dec. 28, 1764, Wesley wrote, "Blessing, and thanks, and power, and praise, Jesus is worthy to receive, who keeps his saints throughout their days, and doth the final victory give! He hath his faithful mercies shown, to him, whose loss we now deplore, safe entered on that land unknown, to weep, and fret, and die no more." Interestingly, though he was born into Protestantism, Wesley was accused of being a secret agent of the Jesuits. The evidence against Wesley was his belief in apostolic succession, the necessity of good works and fasting, his rejection of predestination, his affirmation of the intercession of Saints, and apparently, a belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. If he could have just gotten over his Anglican-infused hatred of "popery", he might of made a fine Catholic.
DAILY CALL SHEET: JUNE 23, 2026
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) While stranded in Cairo, an out of work Bud and Lou get wind of a sacred medallion that supposedly leads to a hidden treasure within the long lost temple of Klaris. Of course, they're not the only interested parties. A ruthless business woman and the cult of Klaris wouldn't mind getting their mitts on the treasure as well. Our bumbling heroes eventually secure the medallion but, of course, Lou ends up eating it. However, a quick trip to a doctor with a fluoroscope reveals the directions, and soon, all the rivals are on their way. Little do they know, the living mummy of Klaris awaits them all. This is on the lesser end of Abbott and Costello's trip through Universal's oeuvre of classic monsters, but it's still got more than enough fun moments to keep you entertained. The three mummy bit in particular never gets old. Legend says the Holy Family spent some time in Cairo during their flight from Herod. One spot that commemorates this visit is Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church, also knowns as The Hanging Church because of its suspended nave. Cairo is also the location where the Coptic saint Simon the Tanner is claimed to have performed the moving the Mokattam Mountain. When the Muslim Caliph al-Muizz challenged the patriarch Abraham to prove the truth of the verse where Jesus claims if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move a mountain, the Holy Virgin appeared and sent Abraham to Simon, who carried out the miracle. After witnessing the mountain move, the Caliph converted to Christianity. The Catholic Church does not formally recognize or venerate St. Simon the Tanner, but does recognize the broader Coptic Orthodox Church as having valid sacraments and apostolic succession in some contexts, which is more important. The Monster That Challenged the World (1957) An earthquake off the coast of California unleashes giant mollusks, though you'll have to take the movie's word for that as the monsters look more like deranged caterpillars. After a few swimmers get munched on, the Navy sends in divers who dispatch one of the creatures and retrieve a large egg, which they send to a nearby lab for study. While the military deals with a horde of mollusks making their way through the state's irrigation canals, the egg at the lab is accidentally allowed to hatch, setting loose a mollusk to menace the lead scientist and her young daughter. To be fair, the movie's title is a bit misleading as the monster only challenges a handful of swimmers and one little girl, but this is enjoyable '50s fare nonetheless. Plus, kudos to the filmmakers for actually building a full-sized giant monster to interact with the actors on set. He's pretty nifty, despite not being very mollusk-like. I guess since many mollusk are such slimy little things, they don't get a lot of attention in Christian symbology. However, there are a few paintings like Carlo Crivelli’s The Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and Sebastian and Francesco del Cossa’s The Annunciation which prominently feature snails. At the time these paintings were created, snails were believed to reproduce asexually, either by being fertilized by dew or just spontaneous generation. Trusting the science of his time, Dominican friar Francis of Retz wrote in Defensorium inviolatae virginitatis Mariae: “If the dew of the clear air can make the sea snail pregnant, then God in virtue can make His mother pregnant.” And that's how a simple mollusk became a popular analogy for the Virgin Birth, and by extension the Incarnation of Christ, in medieval/Renaissance religious art.
DAILY CALL SHEET: JUNE 14, 2026
Clash of the Titans (1981) Though Zeus ordered the city Argos to be destroyed by the enormous Kraken, he allowed his infant son Perseus to be taken to safety. Now a grown man and carrying magic gifts bestowed by the gods, Perseus travels to the cursed city of Joppa to win the hand of Princess Andromeda. The goddess Thetis has no intention of letting this happen, though, since her own son Calibos was going to wed Andromeda before Zeus transformed him into a hideous monster. Taking advantage of a faux pas by Andromeda's mother, who foolishly declares her daughter to be more beautiful than the goddess, Thetis orders the Kraken to be released on Joppa. Their only hope is for Perseus to obtain the only weapon on Earth that can defeat the most dreaded of Titans, the snake-covered head of the Gorgon Medusa. Harryhausen's final movie, chock full of his signature stop-motion animation, was deemed a little too old fashioned by many critics. However, movie-goers, including this one, disagreed, and made it a hit.If you count the various minor deities, local spirits, and personifications of abstract ideas, the ancient Greeks had in excess of 3,000 gods and goddesses, many of them overseeing specific domains for which they provided patronage. This has led some critics of the Church to declare many Christian Saints as nothing more than rebranded pagan gods. This doesn't hold up, though. Saints, after all, are just humans who lived exemplary lives and are believed to be in heaven interceding on our behalf. They don't have any divine powers of their own, as any miracles attributed to their intercession comes from God, not the Saint. Plus, it goes without saying, Saints aren't coming to Earth to father children all over the place. Now, all that's not to say the occasional devotions around particular Saints haven't absorbed old local customs, but the idea that Saints are recycled gods just doesn't work.The Valley of Gwangi (1969) Entrepreneurial cowgirl T.J. hopes to save her failing rodeo with a new act named El Diablo, a toy-sized horse from the supposedly extinct species Eohippus. Unfortunately, instead of generating excitement, the locals believe El Diablo to be cursed and try to return the tiny animal to its place of origin. Attempting to retrieve their headliner, T.J. and her men follow behind, only to discover El Diablo was not the only prehistoric creature still thriving in the hidden valley. Breaking out the lassos, the courageous cowherds manage to snag an Allosaurus whom they christen Gwangi and advertise as the rodeo's next attraction. However, Gwangi's debut doesn't quite go as they hoped. Look, if you can't get behind cowboys vs. dinosaurs with special effects by Ray Harryhausen, I don't know if there's any hope for you. Many early cowboys in what is now the Southwest United States were vaqueros who brought their ranching and herding skills along with them. They also brought their Catholic religion in the form of Spanish missions and settlements. It was through such missions that Sister Blandina Segale did her most notable work. She helped establish Catholic schools, co-founded hospitals, built orphanages, and worked against injustices to Native Americans. Of course, her best known story is the one in which she nursed a member of Billy the Kid's gang back to health and convinced the notorious outlaw not to seek revenge against the doctors who had refused the man treatment. A movie based on her journals, At the End of the Santa Fe Trail, came out in 2025. It doesn't have dinosaurs in it, though, so you'll have to look for reviews of it somewhere else.
DAILY CALL SHEET: JUNE 9, 2024
Bubba Ho-tep (2002) Weary of the limelight, Elvis temporarily trades places with one of his impersonators, but when said impersonator dies on the toilet and his personal documents are destroyed in a fire, Elvis is trapped in obscurity and eventually ends up admitted to a Texas nursing home. There, The King meets John F. Kennedy who, following his supposed assassination, was forced by Lyndon Johnson to have his skin died black before being secluded away from the public. When thieves steal an ancient Egyptian mummy and lose it near the nursing home, Elvis and JFK must team up to stop the reanimated creature, now dressed as a cowboy, from feeding on the lifeforce of the home's occupants. That kind of insane setup is tailor-made for director Don Coscarelli, the man who brought us Phantasm. It's not just about the weirdness, though. Thanks to some subtle performances from Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis, there's actually some thoughtful reflection on aging and fame thrown into the mix.While not as extensive as the number of hospitals it runs, the Catholic Church does operate numerous nursing homes and senior care facilities around the world where they offer not only healthcare, but options for daily Mass, prayer, sacraments, and chaplain services. Care for the elderly flows directly from the Fourth Commandment to honor our parents—and by extension any parental figures— as well as Jesus' command to love our neighbors. As the Catechism notes, we are called to provide the elderly with “material and moral support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress.” It's good to remember, however, that when performing these duties, we are not to see the elderly as burdens, but as persons with inherent worth, wisdom, and a continuing mission in family, Church, and society.UFO: Target Earth (1974) After intercepting a strange phone call, an instructor at a Florida university—who used to be kept awake by the light emanating from UFOs as a boy—looks up a local psychic who can sense extraterrestrial energy. The two putter around town a bit before heading to a nearby army base to interview a general, which doesn't seem to advance the plot very much. Eventually they end up camping at a lake where the psychic is possibly possessed by aliens and the instructor learns he may be the savior of all mankind. I guess. With the bad lighting, meandering plot, and distracting visible boom mikes, it's not always easy to tell what's going on. What is absolutely not going on, though, is UFOs, as none whatsoever appear in this movie.To try and give itself some gravitas, the film ends by quoting Revelation 5:9, which in the KLV goes, "“Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." The verse is one of a series that celebrate the universal scope of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice. It's a part of the Church's understanding of soteriology (doctrine of salvation) in which Christ’s death is not merely exemplary but truly redemptive, effective for those who respond in faith, and oriented toward forming a priestly people who will reign with Him. In other words, it has nothing to do with UFOs. Which, when you think about it, is pretty par for the course of this movie.
DAILY CALL SHEET: JUNE 3, 2026
Alien from the Deep (1989) Do-gooder Jane and her cameraman are sent by Greenpeace to a tropical island where they hope to gather video evidence that the evil corporation E-Chem is illegally dumping radioactive waste into an active volcano. The cameraman is captured and tortured, but Jane escapes into the forest with the aid of a friendly snake venom farmer. As if Jane's situation wasn't complicated enough, a biomechanical alien—a 12-foot marionette with a ridiculously large crab claw—suddenly emerges from the nearby lake looking to munch on E-Chem's toxic sludge, and it will pinch anyone to death who gets in its way. The movie's burdened with an extremely padded runtime, even for an Antonio Margheriti flick, but the last 10 or 15 minutes are pretty fun if you stick around for them. As the subtitle of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato si'—on care for our common home—suggests, the Church is all for environmental protection in the name of stewardship of the planet. However, the Church is not too fond of radical environmentalism when it prioritizes nature over human dignity, promotes anti-human or population-control ideas, or uses tactics that conflict with Catholic ethics. So, how does that apply to Jane's bosses, Greenpeace? Alas, one of the organization's co-founders, Patrick Moore, testified before Congress that he left the group because it shifted from protecting people and the environment to treating humans as the enemies of the Earth and a cancer on the planet. If true, that doesn't really sound like it keeps to the spirit of Laudato si'. Night of the Big Heat (1967) It might be wintertime, but the small English island of Fara seems to be in the middle of an unexplainable heat wave. As if that weren't uncomfortable enough for local innkeeper and author Jeff, the new secretary he just hired sight-unseen turns out to be his former mistress Angela, the very woman he and his wife moved to Fara to escape. Amidst this domestic drama, the grueling temperature begins to drive everyone on the island nuts, especially once people begin turning up burned to death. As things reach a literal boiling point, a mysterious scientist shows up claiming the heat is a result of an ongoing alien invasion. There's nothing spectacular here, but if you're going to try and make a pseudo-Hammer film, then hiring Terence Fisher to direct and Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to star is the way to do it. Scorching heat appears as one of the final judgements of God in the 16th chapter of the book of Revelation where it states, "The fourth angel poured his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch men with fire; men were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory." Given the symbolic nature of the passage, the Church does not have an official single interpretation. Instead, rather than definitively say the verses depict some past or future event, many Catholic scholars focus on the themes of God’s definitive judgment on the unrepentant while assuring the faithful of ultimate victory in Christ.
DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 30, 2026
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992) A few days after the events of the first film, the remaining children of Gatlin are all adopted by the adults in a nearby town. Sure, the kids massacred their real parents, but they're probably fine now, right? No, they are not, as they immediately head to the cornfields to worship He Who Walks Behind The Rows. When a reporter and his son show up to do a story on what happened in Gatlin, the rebellious boy is quickly lured into the cult by one of the turn the tide? girls. As new murders begin to occur, the reporter is at a loss as to how to get his son away from the crazy corn-worshipers. Fortunately, there's one of those handy Native Americans around who always knew everything there was to know in movies of that time. But will even his secret knowledge be enough to turn the tide? Given the number of sequels that followed, this is, in fact, not the final sacrifice. Instead, it's mostly a sillier rehash of the already silly first movie. Is it really that hard to figure out your new friends are in a corn-worshiping murder cult? St. John Bosco, patron saint of youth and founder of the Salesians, warned , "Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake. If you keep good companions, I can assure you that you will one day rejoice with the blessed in Heaven; whereas if you keep with those who are bad, you will become bad yourself, and you will be in danger of losing your soul… Avoid bad companions, those who blaspheme and steal and do not fear God... Receive the sacraments often; be devoted to the Blessed Virgin; consider bad books worse than the plague; avoid bad companions even more than poisonous snakes." It's interesting to note Bosco included bad books in his warnings against having evil companions. He meant it, though, adding, "No poison is more fatal to youth than bad literature."Now Showing At A Blog Near Your: For Aleteia this week, I take a look at Pressure, the mostly true story of how one weather forecast nearly derailed D-Day.
DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 23, 2026
Crimes of the Future (2022) At some point in the not too far off future, biotechnology has advanced to the point that most humans no longer feel sensations like hurt or discomfort. These advances have also kickstarted evolutionary changes in the human body, which for some reason doesn't sit well with the government. To help crack down on illegal evolution, the National Organ Registry goes to performance artist Tenser to help infiltrate the evolutionist underground. Tenser, you see, suffers from Accelerated Evolution Syndrome, which causes him to grow extraneous organs and makes him one of the rare individuals to feel pain. Because of this, people pay to watch Tenser undergo surgery to remove his extra organs while still awake. This gives Tenser cred with the underground, so they accept him into their ranks. The thing is, Tenser starts to accept them as well. What's Tenser to do; turn the underground in, or join the cause? David Cronenberg's return to weirdness isn't up there with his best, but his fans will find much to appreciate. As Pope St. John Paul II noted in a 1996 address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, "Today, almost half a century after the publication of the Encyclical [Humani Generis], new knowledge has led to the recognition that the theory of evolution is more than a hypothesis... The convergence... of the results of lines of work conducted independently of one another constitutes by itself a significant argument in favor of the theory." Evolution is, in fact, taught without reservation in Catholic schools and universities as a likely part of God's natural order. But what about the notion that we might still be evolving? There's no official statement on that idea, but since microevolution has always been a part of the overall theory, it's probably safe to assume the Church would accept the idea of continuing evolution to some degree as long as it is understood within a framework that includes God's creative role and His special creation of the soul.Now Showing at a Blog Near You: For Aleteia this week, I hang out with The Sheep Detectives. No movie about a bunch of sheep trying to solve a murder has any right being this good. Definitely in my top five of the year so far.
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.
DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 8, 2026
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959) The titular professor decides to visit his 60-year-old brother Kenneth after seeing visions of floating skulls, but never gets to as the brother dies after finding a shrunken head right before Jonathan gets there. The cause of death appears to be cardiac arrest, which is weird because Kenneth's the latest in a long line of Drakes to die at age 60 in the same manner. Perhaps odder is that his corpse is later decapitated. Jonathan soon discovers that his ancestor Capt. Wilfred Drake traveled to Ecuador in 1873 and ended up massacring a Jivaro tribe, causing the local witch doctor to curse any male in the Drake bloodline to die at 60. That may not sound that bad if you're 20, but as the years pass, it begins to sound way too soon. Anyway, Jonathan must discover who's carrying out the curse and stop him before he loses his own head. Nothing spectacular, but fits the bill if you're looking for something a little different than the usual late '50s monsters and mutants.While not on the same massive scale as the Aztecs, the Incas, including those in Ecuador, also engaged in human sacrifice and enslaved their neighbors. So, when Pizarro and pals showed up and started putting an end to such things, they found eager allies amongst many of the other indigenous peoples in the region. Unfortunately, the Spanish also engaged in some abuses of their own, and it was for those that popes starting with John Paul II began to issue apologies for any role that the Church may have contributed to such actions. In 2023, the Vatican issued the Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery which formally rejected any 15th-century papal bulls that attempted to justify European claims over non-Christian lands and peoples, noting that such beliefs “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples”.The Sea Serpent (1985) Banned from piloting anymore ships because the courts didn't believe his tale of a shrieking sea serpent sinking his boat, Captain Pedro Fontan (played by Timothy Bottoms, who in no way looks like any Pedro I've ever met) seeks out the only other witness who can verify his claims. The hard part is she's currently locked away in an asylum. As the constantly screaming monster munches on a few more people, Pedro frees the falsely committed woman and assembles a small crew to track the beast down and destroy it once and for all. Overall, this is pretty standard stuff for a low-budget quickie from Spain, but the effects for the titular monster itself are so outlandish, like Reptilicus-level outlandish, that it instantly gains at least one star from fans of this kind of thing.What we know for sure about St. Senan is that he was born in Munster, Ireland, was a soldier before becoming a monk, and was named Abbot at St. Natalis at Kilmanagh in Ossory. When it comes to the Saints, though, their stories rarely stop with the verifiable facts. There is a legend referenced in the late eighth century Calendar of Oengus about St. Senan's confrontation with a sea serpent named the Cathach. This was a horrible creature with a spiked back, scales, a fish-like tail, clawed feet, and a spiraling nose which took to terrorizing the locals, gobbling up people and animals alike. With some timely aid from St. Michael the Archangel, St. Senan confronted the Cathach, made the sign of the cross, chained the beast, and banished it to Doolough Lake. True? Who knows. Cool? Definitely.
DAILY CALL SHEET: APRIL 24, 2026
Godzilla Raids Again (1955) The Big G died in his first movie, but not to worry, there's a backup. While attempting to rescue a fellow pilot who has crashed on Iwato Island, Shoichi Tsukioka discovers a second Godzilla fighting another giant monster soon to be named Anguirus. Shoichi alerts the authorities, who try to lure the beasts away from any cities by turning off all the lights and sending up flares in the opposite direction. Alas, some idiot thieves attempt a robbery during the blackout and the explosion they set off brings the two monsters straight to Osaka. Godzilla makes swift work of Anguirus, which is helpful, but that still leaves Japan with the problem of finding some way to put the rampaging King of the Monsters on ice. There is no such thing as an unenjoyable Godzilla movie, but this first sequel is a hug step down from the excellent original, with its only claim to fame being it started the trend of introducing a new kaiju in each film for Godzilla to battle.When the same guys who altered the original Godzilla for American release got ahold of Godzilla Raids Again, they made even more drastic changes, going so far as to change the name of the movie to Gigantis, The Fire Monster in hopes of convincing audiences it was a brand new monster. Producer Paul Schreibman later admitted regretting the decision, as it turned out viewers weren't fooled and would have preferred to have been given the real thing. It's like with the Bible. A study by LifeWay Research indicates that the overwhelming majority of readers prefer word-for-word translations that prioritize fidelity to the original text over those that use dynamic equivalence to paraphrase Scripture. This is because the more literal versions preserve nuances, word connections, and ambiguities in the original Hebrew/Greek while the paraphrases leave too much room for biased interpretation. In Godzilla movies and Bibles, always stay as close to the original source material as possible.Conquest of Space (1955) Aboard the Wheel, an enormous space station orbiting the Earth, Colonel Merritt is busy training astronauts for an expedition to the moon. Unexpectedly, Earth's government instructs Merritt to ready a small crew to land on Mars instead. Merritt assembles three men, including his own son with whom he has a strained relationship, and blasts off for the red planet. They soon discover they have a stowaway in Sgt. Mahoney, who was deemed too old to tag along but refuses to be separated from Merritt, whom he idolizes. The sergeant's hero worship is quickly tested, though, when Merritt succumbs to space fatigue and begins to sabotage the mission under the misguided belief that their efforts to reach Mars violates the edicts of God. With things turning deadly and no chance of returning to Earth for at least a year, do the men have any hope of ever seeing home again? While not on the level as other George Pal productions like War of the Worlds or The Time Machine, Conquest of Space gets points for trying to be The Martian of its day.Merritt's problem is that, in his madness, he has misinterpreted those parts of the Bible that state how God gave dominion of the Earth to mankind to mean that everything else outside our planet's atmosphere is God's only and therefore off limits. Merritt is mostly correct that the "dominion" granted to humanity is explicitly tied to this particular planet as it's the one God created as both humanity's home and the stage for the drama of salvation. However, Merritt's error is that this dominion doesn't preclude traveling to other planets, assuming our actions there are guided by the same rules of responsible stewardship which are supposed to govern how we treat the Earth. As Archbishop Ettore Balestrero noted in an interview, "The Church’s central message is that we must not turn space into a jungle … Space must be explored with responsibility, solidarity, and respect for subsidiarity, for the benefit of present and future generations … We must prevent it from becoming a theater of uncontrolled competition, or worse, conflict." Merritt definitely flubbed that part.
DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 5, 2026
Firestarter (1984) Looking to earn a few bucks, college students Andy and Vicky volunteer to take an experimental drug. The concoction drives many of the other test subjects insane, but Andy and Vicky develop strange mental powers, get married, and have a little girl named Charlie who has the ability to start fires with her mind. This is too good a potential weapon to let hang out in an elementary school, so the secret government organization The Shop eventually comes after Charlie and her family. To gain Charlie's trust while she's in captivity, an assassin named Rainbird poses as a friendly janitor and fills her head full of lies. Will The Shop's scheme work to woo the little girl work, or will Charlie figure out she's being duped and rain hellfire on them all. A bit dated and definitely slow in places, but the performances carry it to the finish line, especially that of the venerable George C. Scott as the cunning custodian with murderous intentions. Also, fans of Stranger Things will quickly notice this movie's DNA running all through the show.Obviously, lying to a child so you can turn her into a WMD is morally wrong, but are their times you can skate by with a little fib. Strictly speaking, no. According to the Church, lying is "per se malum" meaning it cannot rightly be done even the end result sought is a good one. Of course, as with many such teachings, there are nuances. Playing along with childhood fantasies such as some holiday traditions is usually given a pass as long as the child is told the truth when they ask. And, of course, if a small child asks an age-inappropriate question like where do babies come from, it's perfectly fine to redirect, put off the answer, or not give the full truth. In certain contexts, ambiguity is not considered lying. As it turns out, with both parenting and religion, verbal dexterity can be a huge asset. Night of the Ghouls (1959) Tor Johnson, Criswell, and many of the other Ed Wood irregulars return in this semi-sequel to Bride Of The Monster. Setting up operation in the same house where mad scientist Bela Lugosi met his fate in the previous film, conman Dr. Acula holds fake seances to pilfer the purses of the easily duped. However, once a real lady ghost dressed all in black starts murdering people in the woods near the house while a possibly real lady ghost all in white stands there and shrieks, the bumbling Officer Kelton and ghostbusting Detective Bradford are assigned to look into things. Look, it's Ed Wood, so you know exactly what to expect regarding the budget, the acting, and anything else involving general filmmaking skills. That being said, this is probably Wood's most competent outing, so take that for what it's worth.Okay, so you don't go to Ed Wood for logic, but the simple fact is, there are no ghouls in Night of the Ghouls, at least not in its original sense. Based on Middle-Eastern folklore, a ghoul is a supernatural being who feeds on the flesh of the dead. Basically, they're what we now think of as zombies thanks to George Romero, who really should have called his film Night of the Living Ghouls. But, I digress. The idea of ghouls brings to mind Ad Resurgendum cum Christo ("To Rise with Christ"), the Church's instructions on the proper handling the dead. The rules and restrictions within the short document are meant to emphasize hope in the resurrection, protect the faith against secular or superstitious attitudes, and generally ensure the deceased are remembered and prayed for in a fitting way. Unsurprisingly, eating the bodies is not allowed.