Morally Offensive

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

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 media, which they viewed as attacking the Church. Starring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Alanis Morrisette, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Jason Mewes, Alan Rickman, and many others, Dogma is a comedic epic which has persisted, despite attacks from religious groups and attempts by Harvey Weinstein to suppress it's re-release.
In this episode of the Morally Offensive podcast, Bill and Cisco are joined by comedian Ross Childs aka Crabman732 to revisit the controversy. Was Dogma truly as offensive as the Catholic League claimed, and does it hold up?
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The Devils (1971): The True Story of Witch Hunts, Mass Hysteria, and Moral Panic in the Catholic Church

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 offensive, than fiction. The crew breaks down the history behind the Loudun possessions, digs into the background of filmmaker Ken Russell, and reads scathing “Condemned” reviews from outraged Catholic news sources. Tune in to find out why some are calling Morally Offensive the "podcast equivalent of a forced enema exorcism".
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Cruising (1980): Kink, Controversy, and Catholic Guilt with Jim Marcus

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 takes the Hanky Code Quiz.
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Bonus Episode: Why We're Going to Hell If We Get in a Car Accident (According to Our Moms)

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 guests.
The more we sat on the "missing" parts of this episode, the more we realized that we were sitting on some pretty relatable and heart-felt content, that really needed to released into the wild. In this "lost" material, we dig into the way Catholics scare children and teens into compliance with fear of God and damnation, the problematic quackery that is abstinence-only "sex-ed", and Bill and his wife Kelly talk about that one time they saw a DIY exorcism at a Basilica.
Also in this episode, we talk with ex-Catholic producer/director Dalila Droege about her Kickstarter campaign for her latest horror movie project, with directly ties in with the themes of this week's "missing episode". To learn more about Droege's film "Beauty Night", please check out her Kickstarter campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/beautynight/beauty-night-a-horror-film-about-puberty
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Freddy Got Fingered: The Worst Comedy of the 2000s...or Surrealist Masterpiece?

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 Country and a new stand-up special, we ask: is it time to rethink Green as a proto-absurdist innovator rather than just an MTV shock jock?
We trace Green’s legacy from late-’90s shock humor to anti-comedy pioneer, clearing the path for the surreal chaos of Tim and Eric and The Eric Andre Show. The guys ask if Freddy belongs in the tradition of absurdist theater à la Ionesco and Beckett, the surrealist works of Bunuel, or if this is Tom Green using his blank check to self-sabotage his career in full public view. Either way, it’s one of the most deranged movies ever made, made with unique, original voice, and somehow, it might have changed comedy forever.
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Blood for Dracula: “Virginity, Vampires, and the Velvet Underground” with Matt Harding (Severin Films)

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 Morrissey's strange blend of conservative ideology and avant-garde aesthetics, his collaborations at The Factory, and his time managing the Velvet Underground and Nico.
This episode dives into the film’s bizarre politics, its critique of socialism, and how Catholic values, exploitation cinema, and vampire lore collide in one of the strangest art-house horror movies ever made.
Content Warning: This film includes disturbing content involving minors and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised.
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Final Destination (2000): A Pre-9/11, Y2K Time Capsule

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 about that one bathroom scene.
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The Last Temptation of Christ

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 go it alone—so they brought in fellow Detroit native Eric Kiska from A24 on the Rocks to ask:
Is The Last Temptation of Christ a good film?
Is it offensive to Christians—or to Jesus himself?
Did people overreact?
Tangents include: David Bowie’s worst haircut, Pasolini’s Gospel According to St. Matthew, Pope Gregory's lies about Mary Magdalene, and (you guessed it) another loaf of bread in cinema.
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Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke"

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 our mutual stories of being Catholic and connecting to the movies and albums of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. Also, Bill makes Cisco take the "know your 70's drug slang" quiz. 
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The Accountant (2016): He'll Depreciate...Your Life

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 debate whether or not U of C is where fun goes to die (or if it's really Kankakee, Illinois, (home of the Mazon Creek Formation). They also dig up early 90s, late Satanic Panic era Catholic writing on the "evils of New Age music" from one of Bill's favorite crazy Catholic bathroom books.
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