Morally Offensive

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 visions, the plague backdrop of the...

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, religious orders, and what it actually mean...

This week on Morally Offensive, Bill, Jess, and special guest Syd King dive into The Little Hours—a medieval comedy where the nuns are anything but devout. Set in a 14th-century convent, the film follows a group of wildly unrestrained sisters who drink, swear, and terrorize the local help…until a fugitive posing as a deaf-mute handyman shows up and turns everything sideways.

What starts as a chaotic character study quickly spirals ...

This week, Bill and Jess are joined by comedian, actor, and writer Syd King to talk The Little Hours—a movie where nuns drink too much, swear constantly, and ignore basically every rule they’re supposed to follow. Loosely based on The Decameron, it’s equal parts historical weirdness and modern comedy. We get into the Catholic angle, the controversy (or lack of it), and why this kind of story keeps coming back. 

In episode one, find...

In Part 2 of Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), we get into what happens when Jesus stops being a mere prophet, and is named "king" by his followers. Bill, Kevin and guest Orion Couling talk fame, ego, pressure, and why nobody in this movie seems to have a handle on what’s a-happenin' (including Jesus).

Diversions include: stealing from David Brubeck, why the Apostles have a Hobbit problem, what you would buy with your 30 pieces of sil...

Jesus Christ Superstar is the musical that dared to ask: "What if the Gospels...but hippies?"

This week on Morally Offensive, Bill and Kevin are joined by actor, filmmaker, ghost tour guide (and former Judas) Orion Couling to break down Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). Along the way, expect some truly off-key singing as we dive into one of the most controversial religious films ever made.

We read through Catholic reactions ranging fr...

Bill and Jess continue their two part deep dive into the classic film Black Narcissus (1947) as part of the new Morally Offensive series Filthy Habits. Joining them, once again, is film director Dalila Droege (No More Time).

In part two - they discuss the film’s back half, where everything starts to come apart. Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) loses her grip on the order, while Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron) finds her commitment to her ...

Bill and Jess begin a two part deep dive into the classic film Black Narcissus (1947) as part of the Morally Offensive series Filthy Habits, where the show examines religion, repression, and scandal in films about nuns and clergy. Joining them is film director Dalila Droege to help unpack one of the most visually stunning and psychologically intense films of the 1940s.

This episode also introduces a new format for the show. Before ...

In this episode of Morally Offensive, Bill and Jess are joined by horror author Ophelia Crane to dig into the Oscar-nominated film Sinners—and the very different reactions it’s sparked. The trio wades into Catholic reviews of the movie and what they reveal about how religious critics approach controversial art, while also exploring the film’s bigger ideas about religion, colonization, and the long history of cultures borrowing—some...

In this episode of Morally Offensive, co-hosts Bill and Stephanie continue their series on X-rated films with Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. Originally released with an X rating, the film remains one of the most controversial titles in cinema history, raising enduring questions about violence, free will, censorship, and state power.

Guest John Enroth, composer (Regular Show, Interior Chinatown), joins the discussion to exami...

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) is an X-rated studio film written by Roger Ebert, directed by Russ Meyer, and still more culturally radioactive than most modern movies. So we had to talk about it.

This week on Morally Offensive, the ex-Catholic hosts are joined by Matt Harding of Severin Films to dig into Meyer’s psychedelic cult classic and its strange place in American film history. We unpack Roger Ebert’s involvement in th...

This week on Morally Offensive, Bill and Kevin dig into the origins and impact of John Waters’ Pink Flamingos. The crew is joined by Bryan Wendorf of the Chicago Underground Film Festival and Thomas Bottoms of Bottoms of the Barrel to trace Waters’ early years making films in Baltimore, from DIY shorts and church-basement screenings to cultivating an audience far outside the mainstream.

We break down the production of Pink Flamingo...

In this Christmas episode of Morally Offensive, Jess and Bill take a deep dive into Black Christmas (1974), the landmark horror film that helped define the slasher genre several years before Halloween. Joining them is Professor Eric D. Wesselmann, who brings an academic lens to Bob Clark’s deeply unsettling and surprisingly nuanced film.

The conversation covers the film’s complex female characters, the origins of the “the call is c...

This week on Morally Offensive, everybody's talking (okay its just Kevin and Bill) with singer/songwriter (and former film student) Stefanie Joyce about the ONLY X-Rated Film to win Best Picture, Midnight Cowboy. The film features a young Jon Voight as an aspiring sex worker who runs from his past in a small Texas town, toward the bright city lights of Broadway and 42nd St. While unsuccessfully attempting to get into the game, he r...

Bill and Stephanie sit down with Thomas Negovan to discuss the restoration of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut and how he and an editor pieced the film back together. Thomas explains how they uncovered hours of never-before-seen footage and used it to assemble a version of Caligula that reflects what was originally filmed, offering a clearer look at the movie’s intended narrative.

The episode also explores Bob Guccione’s controversial at...

Warning: This episode covers an actual adult movie, and contains discussions about graphic sexual topics.

In this episode of Morally Offensive, the first in our "X-Rated" series, we explore the cultural earthquake sparked by the 1972 film Deep Throat with special guest Mark Covino, director of the award-winning documentary A Band Called Death. We dive into the rise of 1970s “porn chic,” the collapse of the Hays Code, the creation o...

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 ...

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 serie...

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 vill...