NaschyCast

THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER (1963) is a gothic horror film set in 1884 which has a small cast of characters wandering around a huge castle-like home searching for different things. At times the castle search is for the origin of a strange nighttime noise (Is that a man moaning in pain?) or for a missing companion (Did they go down to the dungeons for some reason?). Sound familiar? But, in the end, ev...

Westerns are not the most frequent category of cinema covered on this podcast. In fact, this episode marks only the third one in the ten years we’ve been doing this! That might be considered strange when you know just how many fine examples of the genre were made in Spain employing Spanish actors and technicians. Because of the low costs of production many westerns were shot in the Spanish country...

The year of new guests continues as the 10th anniversary year celebration rolls on! This time we have only two people visiting but we talk to them for quite a long time. Kat Ellinger has made a name for herself in film fanatic circles over the last several years as the editor-in-chief of Diabolique Magazine as well as writing for both that site and the British Film Institute among others. She is a...

With this episode we cross the one decade mark! Neither Troy or I thought we’d still be making this podcast ten years after we began, but here we are! We realized that, although our enthusiasm for Paul Naschy’s work has only grown, it was time to actively seek out more new voices to include on the show. So, our goal for 2020 is to speak to a host of people who have never been on the podcast to get...

The Naschycast returns for October! Barely. And we work diligently to NOT spoil this film for newcomers!  THE CORRUPTION OF CHRIS MILLER (1973) is one of the most overlooked and least talked about of the Spanish horror films of the 1970’s. In a way this is good because its rarity leaves its many secrets and revelations unknown to modern viewers. There’s a good debate to be had about how the film s...

After nearly ten years of covering Paul Naschy films it is no secret that we have reached the final few movies that are available for us to see. Sure, we’ve stayed away from some later efforts with very small roles for our hero that might be worthy of attention. But, of the movies made during his most productive years, there are not many left to dig into and most of those are movies that were neve...

It’s not often we get the opportunity to meet any of the friends we’ve made over the course of making the Naschycast. When we do (and I have enough lead-time) I try to record these fellow fans’ thoughts on our favorite Spanish Horror star. Such is the case with this mini-episode interview with longtime fan of the show and major fan of Paul Naschy – Mike Tutino! Mike has been a generous contributor...

Leon Klimovsky directed dozens of films of all genres but will forever be remembered for his substantial contributions to Spanish Horror. In collaboration with Paul Naschy he made some of the most successful and effective monster movies to come out of Europe in the 1970's. The horror tales he made without Naschy are often overlooked with THE DRACULA SAGA (1973) being a perfect example. Graced with...

Our latest episode has us finally covering an under seen and not often spoken about horror classic. A BELL FROM HELL (1973) straddles the fence between the worlds of Art-House and Exploitation cinema taking elements from both to create an impressive fusion. It's easy to imagine this film playing to highbrow crowds seeking an intellectual vision of the fate of aristocratic families in rural Spain u...

The Naschycast returns with our ninth anniversary episode! We dive back into the films of beloved Spanish filmmaker Jess Franco with THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z (1966). This is one of the director's final black & white movies and is considered by many to be his most accomplished work. I'm not sure where I would rank it on Franco's long list of credits but it is certainly a fantastic and beautiful horror...

In general, our shows focus on the Golden Age period of Spanish horror but the genre continues to flourish in Spain. Throughout the 90's and on up to today there have been some extraordinary horror movies produced in Naschy's home country including some efforts that were actually copied/remade here in the States. One of those genre films that we've been planning to view for a few years now finally...

Sharp-eyed or eared (?) listeners to the Naschycast will recognize THE UNLIVING as an alternate title for a film we've already covered on the show. Troy and I took a look at this Fred Olin Ray joint a few years ago under it's more evocative name TOMB OF THE WEREWOLF and you can still check out episode #30 for our original assessment. This time out we revisit this problematic entry on Paul Naschy's...

While most films made in Spain during The Golden Age of Spanish Horror could be seen as comments about the repressive fascist government of that countrY, few films so blatantly addressed the clash of conservative ideas with modernity as A CANDLE FOR THE DEVIL. Set in a small country town outside of Madrid, the film casts two middle aged spinsters as hypocritical defenders of the old ways. These si...

I thought it might be fun to make a list of favorite non-Naschy Spanish Horror films and also get Troy to make one of his own so we could argue the various qualities of the films we love. Then I realized how much fun it might be to get others to play along! So, Cort Psyops joins us again this time out to indulge in one of fandom's great games - the making and comparing of lists of favorites! No co...

Sorry for the break! We're back with a Mini-Episode - we'll not call it a .5 episode, I guess. This time out we bring a new voice to the show. Author Troy Howarth has just published a new book about Jacinto Molina entitled Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy. He debuted this look at the career of our favorite Hombre Lobo at this year's Monster Bash in Pittsburgh, PA. I took the opportunity to s...

This month marks the 8th anniversary of the Naschycast! To celebrate we tackle a Paul Naschy film that neither of us have ever seen before. Many things have made SECQUESTRO a difficult film to view, not the least of which is that there has never been an English language version available. Luckily, just a few months ago, some clever, talented people translated the Spanish dialog and created subtitl...

The new year starts with a shiny new episode of Beyond Naschy! Finally returning to the cinema of Amando De Ossorio the NaschyCast dives into the waters of the North Sea and are surprised to find that the Blind Dead lurk there waiting for fresh victims. The third of this classic Spanish Horror series is called THE GHOST GALLEON or HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES or THE CURSED SHIP but under any title it is...

Maybe the last thing we expected when we watched EL CAMINANTE (a.k.a. THE TRAVELLER) was that we would discover one of Naschy’s best movies. That it is also an incredibly funny, bawdy, cynical and darkly incisive view of how the world works was a revelation. The last time we strayed away from his horror output we were cursed by CRIMSON but this time we struck blessed gold! Naschy described EL CAMI...

We’re back with our second Beyond Naschy mini-episode in which we talk about…well… a lot of things actually, but we try to stay on topic. The IMDb lists THE STRANGE LOVES OF THE VAMPIRE as a 1977 release but it turns out that Phil Hardy’s guide to horror films claims it as a 1975 film so your guess is as good as ours. I think it is likely that the film debuted in the US in 1977 and Europe two year...

The good, the bad and the primordial! Naschy called HUNCHBACK ‘one of the best Spanish Fantastic Films of all time’ and who are we to argue? Among the many awards heaped on this standout film was Naschy’s first acting prize- the George Melies Award for best actor and his beautiful, sensitive performance is only one of many reasons to see this classic. Of course, this being a horror film, Naschy’s...

In our first ‘Beyond Naschy’ episode we take a look at Leon Klimovosky’s bizarre gender switch film I HATE MY BODY (1974). To call this a strange film is to undervalue the concept of weird cinema. I have no idea how folks who might have seen this movie at a drive-in theater in the 1970s actually reacted but I can guess that stunned shock would be at least a fairly common response. Until I can dig...

Rarely have we been as confused, flabbergasted and frustrated as we were by FURY OF THE WOLFMAN even though we went into this one with our eyes wide open, knowing full well that Naschy himself hated the film and decried what was done to his script. We weren’t completely surprised but it is still a kick in the head to watch the film ramble itself apart. Trying to figure out what might have been int...

For the first time in a while we give you a bonus episode! Now that we've completed a full year of podcasts Troy and I take a breath, relax and look back at the dozen Naschy films we've covered so far. We rank them from worst to best and debate the relative merits of each film once again in relation to Naschy's career and our own reactions to them. Troy's hatred for mummies still shines as his lar...

For episode #12 we lurch back into the 1980s for Naschy’s horrific variation on a couple of classic old stories. Of course, since it’s filtered through Spanish Horror the nastiness is severe, the relationships complicated and the violence bloody. With PANIC BEATS we see that Naschy’s love for classic stories ranges wider than just monster films or stereotypical horror fiction. His openness to diff...

Oh my goodness! Naschy tries his hand at the giallo genre and hits one out of the park. In this episode we celebrate and analyze this thriller with more twists and turns than a mountain road. BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL is a stylish but sleazy murder mystery sure to keep you guessing up until the final scene. Naschy places his character Gilles in a bad spot as a man with personal demons of the mi...