Public Domain Theatre

- Season 2

(2012)

Paul beings Season 2 by announcing his recent graduation from a two-year college and shows his desperation for finding work. While talking about the episode's film (Ed Wood's craptacular "Plan 9 from Outer Space") he tries to get the audience drunk by creating a drinking game, but then decides that shots of another beverage might be better (if not as tasty and fun). Following the film, Paul gives us a rundown of the IMDb Top Twenty Worst Films of All-Time to see where "Plan 9" ranks and answers that age-old question: is Dick Cheney the reincarnation of Tor Johnson?

If you've ever wondered who the second person to break the sound barrier was, what the second video ever shown on MTV was or what the second full-length animated feature film was, you've come to the right place. The Fleischer Brothers' "Gulliver's Travels" was a huge box-office hit and was nominated for two Academy Awards (losing both to something called "The Wizard of Oz"). Maybe it would have won if it had been produced with Popeye in the lead.

If you can't get Peter Sellars and you just HAVE TO make a movie, unknown comedy legend Bob Dishy is your guy! Dishy is one of the few actors in this film that does not hail from the Boston, MA area. Host Paul Fish quickly apologizes for the ham-fisted performances in the film and assures the audience that they are not a good representation of the acting talent that comes from the Bay State. The show ends with the "'I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now?' Bad Impression Photo Book" which chronicles all of the bad impressions Paul noticed while watching the film.

Host Paul Fish is set to show four classic public domain horror films when he is interrupted, beaten and tied up by the one, the only Death! It seems that Death is 37 deaths short of his quota and figures that the best way to gather these souls is to catch those that die of boredom watching these films. During the "scare-a-thon" Death regales the audience with tales of watching a film with Vincent Price and Liberace, calls serial killer Charles Starkweather, and thinks his eye sockets are playing tricks on him when Paul is shown wearing different t-shirts while tied ...

There are many things that make a film so bad its good, and bad dubbing is one of them! Tonight's film ("Bloody Pit of Horror") was originally filmed in Italian and then dubbed into English. Part of the first host segment was shot in English...and then dubbed into English (?). Then host Paul Fish dives into the Americanization of the cast and crew's names and the marriage and lineage of Mickey Hargitay.

Paul presents a pretty good (for "PDT" anyway) film starring Elvis Presley/human pug Arch Hall, Jr. called "The Sadist". It is a well-shot film from cinematographer Vilmos Sigmund who went on to shoot such classics as "Deliverance", "The Deer Hunter", "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and win an Oscar for "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". The film's dialogue is comprised of five hundred ninety-two questions (by Paul Fish's count) or roughly half as many as "Inception". In the final host segment, Paul is in dire need of a chiropractor and casually mentions that real bullet ...

Kids today just don't know Vincent Price! If they do it's only as the guy who talks over the end of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" or the guy that Bill Hader used to lampoon on "Saturday Night Live". Paul hopes to rectify that by showing the classic thriller "House on Haunted Hill". In its initial theatrical run the film was a hit due to a gimmick called "Emergo" where a skeleton was rigged up to fly over audiences. It is rumored that the success of this film inspired Alfred Hitchcock to make his own little thriller. A film that we like to call "Psycho".

Wait a minute. How did an actual classic like "Night of the Living Dead" make it into the public domain? Host Paul Fish explains. He also rattles off George A. Romero's other (read: lesser) zombie films and makes a comparison to Woody Allen's "What's Up Tiger Lily?". Don't worry, it will all make sense. "They're coming to get you, Barbara..."

Santa Claus fills in for vacationing host (and perennial "nice lister" Paul Fish) and shows the classic "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". A quick scan of the film's Wikipedia page confirms his fears of how bad the film is. Santa then checks out the IMDb Bottom 100 and is relieved that people liked it more then "that baseball playing chimp movie with Matt LeBlanc". After viewing the film, his mood soured, Santa sends Paul mean Facebook posts, talks at length about the career of Pia Zadora and decides the nice list/naughty list fates of the LCTV crew.

Paul has enrolled himself in the "Starman School of Fight Training and Self-Defence" and is more that willing to show off his newly discovered skills: twirling, arm flailing and posing. Two short films from the "Super Giant" series were edited together and released as "Attack from Space". All the panting, twirling and mistake pointing out-ing can't hide the fact that Paul actually enjoyed the film. After his workout ends, Paul speaks open-heartedly about his friend Steve the Elf.

Season 2's final episode, "At War with the Army" stars the classic comedy duo of Dino Paul Crocetti and Joseph Levitch, whom some people might know as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Paul talks a bit about the film's origins as a play and how you can't really see the magic that Dean and Jerry have until near the end of the film. Paul's reverence for the duo comes through during the second host segment. And surprisingly there is only one reference to Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo.