Morally Offensive

In Part 2 of our two-part episode on Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Morally Offensive finally gets into the movie itself. Bill, Kevin, and Robert R. Kelly of the Record All Monsters podcast (and former Exorcist's assistant) walk through the plot of James Whale’s Universal horror classic, digging into the making of the film, behind-the-scenes stories, and the creative decisions that helped make it o...

In Part 1 of our two-part episode on Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Morally Offensive takes a look at the Catholic Legion of Decency’s censorship records (courtesy of the Academy Film Archive) and the crew discover that James Whale’s classic Universal monster movie had some very specific problems for Joseph Breen and company. The objections include exposed breasts, a priest getting injured by Frank...

Bill and Stephanie are joined once again by the winner of the Milwaukee Film Silent Auction, Bill's Sister-In-Law, Shannon, for episode two on Basic Instinct (1992), as part of the American Giallo series. They really try hard to make it through the plot of the movie, but when a movie is built around intense, often ludicrous, sex and violence, it’s hard to get very far without asking some uncomfort...

When we initially released this episode, in the early days of the podcast, Cisco had temporarily returned to the Movie Buffs podcast, and film curator and writer Stephanie Sack stepped in to the fill the void. We had no idea if we would keep going, we had no clue that our Devils episode would help us reach an entirely new audience, and we certainly did not anticipate Warner Brothers FINALLY re-rel...

For the next installment in their American Giallo series, Bill and Jess are joined by Shannon, Bill’s sister-in-law and the winner of the Milwaukee Film Silent Auction prize to guest on the show, to discuss Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct (1992). Starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone, this erotic thriller inspired protests from the religious right, feminists, and the LGBTQ community, all for v...

In Part Two of our discussion of The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), Bill and Kevin are joined by Ben Schneider from Reel Beans Podcast, and finally get into the movie itself. As part of the continuing American Giallo series, they walk through the plot, dig into the production and behind-the-scenes history, and see whether the Catholic reviews from Part One actually hold any weight. The crew goes over...

Bill and Kevin are back with another installment in the American Giallo series, and this time we’re staring directly into The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) with Ben Schneider from Reel Beans Podcast. In Part One, the guys dig through the Catholic reviews and internal memoranda on Irvin Kershner’s Faye Dunaway thriller, and apparently the “Catholics” had some thoughts. One reviewer dismissed the movie...

Since the Spooky Season is upon us, and we've gained a LOT of new listeners over the summer, we decided to restore one of our best early episodes, which unfortunately experienced technical difficulties during the recording process. Our Exorcist episode was famously interrupted by demons that got into our recording gear and caused a host of tech issues (or so the TikTok Exorcists tell us). As a res...

Bill and Jess continue their American Giallo series with Cisco Scartozzi for the second half of Brian De Palma’s Body Double (1984). Once again, Cisco is playing defense for De Palma, and Jess is dissecting some of the less savory subtexts within his films. This time, we dig into the behind-the-scenes stories surrounding the film’s second half, including the casting of Melanie Griffith, De Palma’s...

Do you like dirty movies? Did you grow up Catholic? Did you not grow up Catholic, but dislike censorship? Are you passionate about the history of film? Do you enjoy discussing film in the context of the past as well as modern social issues? Do you enjoy hearing weird personal anecdotes about DIY Exorcisms, being condemned by your own parents, or having your entire high school banned from a cathedr...

In this episode of Morally Offensive, Bill and Jess are joined by former co-host Cisco Scartozzi to take on Brian De Palma’s Body Double (1984), a voyeuristic erotic reimagining of Vertigo packed with Hitchcock references, murder, sex, bright red blood, and some of De Palma’s most controversial ideas about the male gaze, desire, and women. We read the Catholic condemned review of Body Double and d...

In Part 2 of Morally Offensive’s deep dive into Alice, Sweet Alice (1976), Bill and the gang look beyond the film’s Catholic imagery to examine director Alfred Sole’s career and the real-world religious and psychological ideas lurking beneath the movie’s murders, masks, and First Communion. The episode explores Sole’s two later feature films and his career as a production designer, before turning...

In Part One of their two-part deep dive into Alfred Sole’s Alice, Sweet Alice (1976), Bill and Kevin are joined by Janecka Deer of Scream Queen Podcast to explore a now-classic Catholic adjacent horror films of the 1970s. Set in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1961, Alice, Sweet Alice follows twelve-year-old Alice Spages as her younger sister Karen prepares for her First Communion. When Karen is murdered...

This week on Morally Offensive, past guest Ophelia Crane returns for Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), Roger Vadim’s deeply unpleasant high school sex comedy/murder mystery, written by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. We ask the question: Why does Quentin Tarantino LOVE this movie? We get into Roger Vadim’s sleazy history, Roddenberry’s involvement and our subsequent ruining of Star Trek for ou...

In Part 2 of Morally Offensive’s American Giallo deep dive into Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill (1980), Bill, Jess, and Ava Davis get into the cast, production, infamous shower scene, and the choices that made Dressed to Kill one of the most controversial films of Brian De Palma’s career. The discussion looks at the film’s place between Italian giallo, Hitchcockian thriller, erotic thriller, and...

Bill and Jess are joined by filmmaker and actor Ava Davis to kick off their discussion of Brian De Palma's highly controversial film Dressed to Kill (1980). Starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, and Keith Gordon, Dressed to Kill blends Hitchcockian suspense with the stylish murder mysteries of Italian giallo, helping define the American Giallo movement while becoming one of the mos...

Bill and Kevin are joined once again by Milwaukee journalist Michail Takach to conclude their discussion of American Gigolo (1980), the first film in the American Giallo series. The conversation covers the film's second half, from Julian Kaye's downfall to its quietly redemptive ending. Bill argues that Paul Schrader's screenplay, informed by the filmmaker's strict Calvinist upbringing in rural Mi...

Bill and Kevin kick off a brand new season of Morally Offensive with American Giallo, a series exploring American thrillers from the 1970s through the 1990s that borrow the style, themes, and visual language of Italy's legendary giallo films. Their first stop is American Gigolo (1980), Paul Schrader's sleek and controversial neo-noir starring Richard Gere in the role that transformed him into an i...

Bill and Stephanie are joined once again by author and screenwriter J. Patrick Hanley for part two of their discussion of Abel Ferrara's Ms. 45 (1981), the controversial cult classic revenge thriller starring Zoë Tamerlis Lund. This episode focuses on the film's second and third acts as Thana evolves from a traumatized garment worker into one of the most infamous vigilante figures in 80s exploitat...

Bill and Stephanie are joined by author and screenwriter J. Patrick Hanley to discuss cradle Catholic Abel Ferrara's cult classic Ms. 45 (1981), one of the most controversial, influential, and widely debated revenge films of the 1980s. The conversation explores the film's place in New York exploitation cinema, Ferrara's early career, and the unforgettable performance by Zoë Tamerlis Lund as Thana,...

Co-Hosts Dr. Jess and Bill are joined again by Tif Robinette for part two of their series on The First Omen (2024), focusing on the film’s third act, religious horror themes, and connections to the larger Omen franchise. They get into the film’s cinematography, the obvious influence of Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, and the way director Arkasha Stevenson blends psychological horror, Catholic horro...

Bill and Jess are joined by horror author and screenwriter Tif Robinette for the first of a two part discussion on The First Omen. What starts as a conversation about the newest entry in the Omen franchise turns into a much larger discussion about Italy in the 1970s, institutional power, the antichrist, apocalypse, conspirituality, and what this films does to differentiate itself, while still bein...

Bill and Stephanie are joined once again by returning guest Christopher Hoppe, previously heard on the show’s Stigmata episode, to discuss the notorious 1979 nunsploitation film Killer Nun starring Anita Ekberg and Joe Dallesandro. Inspired by a real, true crime case, the film follows Sister Gertrude, a morphine dependent nun whose grip on reality steadily collapses inside a convent hospital. The...

In Part II, Bill and Stephanie get into the plot of Benedetta, and break down the story, the performances, and why this film stirred up so much controversy around Catholic mysticism, sainthood, visions, and miracles. They are once again joined by co-host of the Leave, Laugh, Love Podcast, Veronica Novotny, who once contemplated convent life. In this episode, the three address Benedetta’s ecstatic...

Bill and Stephanie are joined by Veronica (Leave, Laugh, Love) to talk about Benedetta—starting with her own experience discerning religious life, and the moment that path ended when she was denied entry to a convent because she’s a lesbian. From there, the conversation moves through fundamentalist Catholic spaces and the charismatic movement, touching on ideas like vocation, discernment, religiou...