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Martin Scorcese is the executive producer of this series and he introduces each episode with some historical context. He also narrates with more backgrounds of the characters. He later leads a panel of Catholics in a discussion after each episode. The Jesuit priest, James Martin is my favorite of the group.

Joan of Arc is the subject of the first episode and Liah O'Prey is the right choice for the role, although she is in her early twenties and Joan was between the ages of sixteen and nineteen. I knew of her plight as I attended Catholic school in my early years. Her treatment by the pompous inquisitors was disgusting and it ends, as expected, with fire and brimstone.

John the Baptist is next, and it is a beautifully filmed segment with a spectacular marble bath with King Herod bathing in splendor as he consults with his wife and Salome. John has made a few disparaging comments on the two women and later on after a sultry dance by Salome, Herod vows to carry out any of her requests. Meanwhile, John has baptized Jesus in the Jordan River and continues the practice with others. The king is indifferent but he fulfills his stepdaughter's wish and she receives John's head on a silver platter.

Saint Sebastian is next and I was not familiar with this man. Joan and John are well known but the saint from the fourth century did not have their PR agents. Sebastian was a high ranking officer of the Roman king and he participated in the torture and murders of Christians while secretly joining the flock. His sainthood was assured after he suffered and died for the One True Church.

Maximillian Kolbe was a Polish-German Franciscan priest who was at Auschwitz in 1941 when a prisoner escaped. The camp commander gave the order to starve ten prisoners to death as punishment. Kolbe took the place of a man who begged to be spared as he had a wife and children. After ten days, the future saint was near death when he was injected with carbolic acid and died like a dog. An unforgettable episode.

Seema Biswas portrays Phoolan Devi, a Robin Hood-like heroine who was sold by her parents at the age of eleven to a much older man who raped her. Devi escaped and hit the road, eventually joining a band of lower caste bandits who robbed the upper class and distributed their booty to the lower classes.

Along the way, Phoolan is captured and is gang raped on more than one occasion. She was rescued by a man of her caste but they did not live happily ever after. This is not a Disney feature.

Devi became a symbol of the oppressed of India and after surviving in the wilderness became a political leader. Apparently, she was not happy with the film and I might read her autobiography. Bandit Queen is beautifully filmed with a riveting performance by Seema Biswas.

I recently watched the first film of the series, forgetting that I had seen it eight years ago in 2016. I skipped the second movie and moved on to the third of the horror franchise.

Leone adds some wicked bloody humor this time around and it is a blast. A bar scene involving liquid nitrogen is hilarious as Art the Clown expands his use of tools of torture.

The clown is back to settle things with a previous survivor as she has just been released from a nut house to live with family members as Christmas day approaches. Leone uses a good amount of yuletide music accompanied by cheery holiday sets in the midst of all the mayhem. A portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe, my Patron Saint, was a nice touch.

I was highly entertained by the latest flick from the warped mind of Staten Island's Damien Leone.