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PODCAST

Morally Offensive

Morally Offensive

What Makes a Film “Morally Offensive”?Ex-Catholics Bill, Cisco, Jess, Kevin (and Reform Jewish co-host Stephanie) ask this question every other week as they tackle the list of films “Condemned” or considered “Morally Offensive” by the Catholic Legion of Decency (RIP) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Each week, they explore the production history of these movies while also exploring topics relevant to their ex-Catholic backgrounds and relevant, contemporary social issues. Not just for

tv & film film history

All Episodes

151:53

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975): Don't Dream It....

Morally Offensive ·

2025/10/30

Stephanie and Bill head on up to the lab, to see what's on the slab...and it turns out it's The Rocky Horror Picture Show (celebrating it's 50th anniversary!), a cult classic that started as rebellion and transformed into a midnight movie ritual. With special guest props expert and technical theatre professional Jeffrey Rockey, they dig into the history of the movie that became a cultural touchstone, especially for Catholic school kids who found they didn't quite fit in.Jeff talks coming out, Bill

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132:51

Mortal Kombat (1995): Video Game Ultra-Violence Gets...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/10/17

In this episode of Morally Offensive, we revisit the 1995 cult classic Mortal Kombat, the movie that brought video game violence, bad CGI, and 90s martial arts chaos to the big screen. We dig into Catholic reviews of the film, including one that blames stuffed-crust pizza and child day planners for the future downfall of civilization.We talk about the movie, it's place in 90s pop culture, our mutual experiences with the game series, the panic surrounding video game violence, the mammoth status of

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119:47

Your Vice Is a Locked Room And Only I Have the Key...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/10/04

Bill and Stephanie are joined by film scholar Christopher Hoppe to unlock Sergio Martino’s Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972), a cornerstone of Giallo cinema, laced with gothic unease, which explores the cultural anxieties of 1970s Italy. The film follows a washed-up writer, his abused wife, and the arrival of his seductive niece, as secrets, betrayals, and murders spiral inside (and outside) a crumbling villa. Lurking over it all is the ghostly presence of the writer’s

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168:02

The Brood (1979): Government Subsized Cinematic Birth...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/09/19

This week, Bill and Stephanie drag Atlanta filmmaker Nicole Kemper into the delivery room to talk David Cronenberg’s The Brood (1979), a horror movie which doubles as the world’s worst sex-ed film. We’re talking cinematic birth control, belly-buttonless mutant murder children, slutty vintage men's bathrobes, and why men are absolutely terrified of the female body. Diversions include Oliver Reed's drunken shenanigans, an attempted cult kidnapping, the Canadian public's outrage over finding out their

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119:54

Mae West: I’m No Angel (But the Catholic Censors...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/09/05

Mae West struts into the spotlight in I’m No Angel (1933), the pre-Code sensation that saved Paramount and scandalized the censors. Co-hosts Bill and Jess welcome Sara Shea of Shea Cinema to talk about Mae’s wit, sexuality, and the double entendres that made Catholic watchdogs sweat. Along the way we meet Joseph Breen and Will Hays, the moral gatekeepers who tried to rein her in, and discover how Cary Grant was launched into stardom with her assistance. From her Broadway scandal Sex (and a stint in

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02:08:51

The Pope's Exorcist: From The Crazy, Mixed-Up Files...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/08/22

Bill and Cisco take a deep dive into The Pope’s Exorcist, the horror film where Russell Crowe channels his inner Super Mario Bro, and chews scenery as Father Gabriele Amorth, the wacky, self-proclaimed "Chief Exorcist" of the Vatican (he wasn't). We unpack the real Amorth’s history and his outrageous claims about what opens the door to demonic possession,- from Harry Potter books to yoga classes, from Freemasonry to the soothing music of Yanni. Along the way we compare the movie’s Hollywood

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02:05:38

Stigmata (1999): Bleeding Saints, Banned Scriptures...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/08/08

The wounds of Christ. A chain-smoking atheist. Gabriel Byrne as a brooding Vatican investigator in designer black. Welcome back to Hot Priest Summer.This week on Morally Offensive, we’re going full incense-and-industrial as we revisit Stigmata; the aggressively 1999 Catholic horror film where Patricia Arquette becomes an accidental mystic and Gabriel Byrne has his faith (and sex drive) tested. It’s a heady mix of the Gospel of Thomas, the Nag Hammadi library, anti-clerical paranoia, and…

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02:25:01

Dogma (1999): Kevin Smith vs. The Catholic League and...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/07/25

Dogma looms large in the canon of Morally Offensive films, casting a long shadow over many millennial Catholics. For those of us who were teens when it premiered, Dogma felt like the ultimate “anti Catholic” movie we were warned about, crafted by ”satanic” filmmakers from Hollywood (never mind that Smith is from New Jersey). Written and directed by Kevin Smith, it sparked national outrage and became one of the most high profile targets of Bill Donohue and the Catholic League in their crusade against

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02:31:34

The Devils (1971): The True Story of Witch Hunts,...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/07/11

On this episode of Morally Offensive, Cisco takes a break, so Bill is joined by frequent guest and film presenter Stephanie Sack along with television producer and writer Ken Melvoin-Berg to dive headfirst into The Devils (1971), Ken Russell’s blasphemous, banned, and still shocking masterpiece. Based on Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of Loudun, this true story of sex, power, witch hunts, and moral panic in the Catholic Church proves that real life is often stranger, and in this case even more

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02:40:09

Cruising (1980): Kink, Controversy, and Catholic...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/06/27

Jim Marcus (author, musician, and designer) joins us to dissect the controversy surrounding Cruising (1980), the William Friedkin thriller that pushed Al Pacino into New York’s underground leather scene. We explore the film’s legacy, the protests it sparked, and the moral outrage it provoked, including strong reactions from Catholic reviewers. We also discuss the film’s ongoing re-evaluation, its impact on queer visibility, and why it continues to divide audiences over 40 years later. Plus, Bill

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43:26

Bonus Episode: Why We're Going to Hell If We Get in a...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/06/14

This week, we were slightly concerned that we would not have our Freddy Got Fingered Episode done in time, so we prepared a backup episode to buy us time to wrap it up. As it turned out, we were able to complete both, so our listeners get a double dose of Catholic guilt this week. In an early episode covering Barbara Stanwyck's iconic performance in Baby Face, we still thought our average show length should be about an hour and a half, so we removed a large chunk of the conversation with our

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01:55:52

Freddy Got Fingered: The Worst Comedy of the...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/06/13

On this episode of Morally Offensive, Bill and Cisco dive headfirst into Freddy Got Fingered (2001), Tom Green’s aggressively unhinged film that might be the worst comedy of the 2000s, or a misunderstood absurdist masterpiece, according to some. Filled with horse semen, broken bones, and a wildly uncomfortable false molestation subplot, it was a critical disaster. Yet, it somehow features Rip Torn, an Oscar-nominated actor who fully commits to Green’s chaotic vision. With the release of Tom Green

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01:57:30

Blood for Dracula: “Virginity, Vampires, and the...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/05/30

This week on Morally Offensive, Bill and Cisco are joined by Matt Harding of Severin Films to unpack Blood for Dracula, the 1974 cult horror film that’s part vampire flick, part Catholic fever dream, and weirdly anti-communist.Directed by Paul Morrissey (a devout Catholic and outspoken conservative) and presented by Andy Warhol, the film follows Count Dracula as he travels to Italy in search of a virgin bride, because, naturally, good Catholic girls are presumed to still be pure. We explore

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02:12:12

Final Destination (2000): A Pre-9/11, Y2K Time Capsule

Morally Offensive ·

2025/05/16

On this episode of Morally Offensive, Bill and Cisco revisit the Y2K-era horror classic Final Destination (2000), the film that made audiences afraid to fly and introduced death as the ultimate slasher. Released just a year before 9/11 and a few years after the TWA Flight 800 disaster, its opening plane crash and creeping paranoia feel strangely prophetic in hindsight.The episode dives into horror, practical effects, the teen slasher boom, and turn-of-the-millennium anxieties. And yes, they talk

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02:39:18

The Last Temptation of Christ

Morally Offensive ·

2025/05/02

It’s all been building up to this. The Last Temptation of Christ is one of the most, if not the most, controversial films of the 1980s—and of Martin Scorsese’s career. Willem Dafoe plays Jesus, but this isn’t your grandmother’s technicolor epic Messiah. This Jesus wrestles with violence, lust, and self-doubt.Naturally, the film enraged many Christians. There were boycotts, bans, death threats against Scorsese, and even a terrorist bombing by Catholic Integralists. Cisco and Bill were too scared to

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01:39:21

Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke"

Morally Offensive ·

2025/04/18

Easter falls on 4/20 this year, so the guys decided to push their Last Temptation of Christ episode back a couple of weeks, to make room for two other culturally important, long-haired dudes, who also fought against "the man". "Cheech and Chong's Last Movie" comes out on Easter this year, which falls on April 20th, appropriately, so we decided to go back to the beginning, by reviewing 1978's "Up in Smoke". Although it's pretty obvious why this one probably offended the Catholic Church, we both share

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01:28:03

The Accountant (2016): He'll Depreciate...Your Life

Morally Offensive ·

2025/04/04

This was a rough one. Ben Affleck plays an autistic accountant, whose neurodivergent mind allows him to be a genius with numbers, and even better with a gun. Let's just say the guys had...takes on this movie. With The Accountant 2 coming to theatres on April 25th, it felt like the perfect time to revisit this film, and to ask "does this film actually warrant a sequel"? Bill and Cisco talk about autistic and neurodivergent representation in media, action movie tropes, what makes a good script, and

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02:05:25

Danger: Diabolik (1968) Groovy Secret Lairs, PVC...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/03/21

Time to go deep deep down the Italian genre cinema rabbit hole, as the guys dig into Bill's birthday pick - a Mario Bava comic book adaptation and cult classic, which inspired everyone from Roman Coppola to the Beastie Boys. Diabolik is the world's greatest super-spy, and one of Italy's most famous comic book heroes. The guys talk Ennio Morricone, PVC vs. Leather bondage wear, Italian vs. English overdubs, and debate just how much Diabolik and Eva pay in property taxes on their secret lair. If you

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01:43:53

Kiss Me, Stupid (1964): When Billy Wilder’s Hot...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/03/07

What made Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), a comedy starring Dean Martin and directed by Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot), so scandalous that it became the first U.S. film since Elia Kazan’s Baby Doll (1956) to receive a "Condemned" rating from the Legion of Decency? In 1964, both Kiss Me, Stupid and The Pawnbroker shocked the Catholic censors and the Hays Office, pushing the MPAA to rethink Hollywood’s entire ratings system.In this episode, Bill and Cisco dive into the controversy: Did Kiss Me, Stupid

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01:59:59

My Bloody Valentine (1981) PLUS: Are All Horror Films...

Morally Offensive ·

2025/02/21

Missed Valentine’s Day? No worries—we’re bringing you a heartshaped box of classic horror, featuring, as Kendrick Lamar would say, "A Minerrrrrrrrrrr!" 🔪⛏️This week, Bill and Cisco talk Damien Leone's statements in the wake of Terrifier 3, as well as the controversy surrounding the Superbowl half-time show, in relation to censorship and pearl-clutching of the past. Plus, we go behind the scenes of this iconic slasher, deep dive into trivia and filmmaking minutae, and even dig up a hilarious

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