Podcasts
[Horror Queers Podcast] Party Like It’s 1999 With ‘The Rage: Carrie 2’
Looks can kill….asshole teenagers.
The last few weeks on the Horror Queers Podcast (we launched back in mid-January) have resulted in plenty of great discussions and hilarious shenanigans. We’ve tackled Jessica Rothe’s delightful performance in out-and-proud director Christopher Landon‘s 2017 horror-comedy Happy Death Day, brought in a third to discuss the lesbian Rosemary’s Baby-esque film Lyle and discussed the toxic friendship at the center of Always Shine.
In the newest episode, we travel back to 1999 to reevaluate Katt Shea‘s (Poison Ivy) supernatural sequel The Rage: Carrie 2. The film sees Carrie White’s (Sissy Spacek) younger half-sister Rachel (Emily Bergl) discovering her telekinetic powers after her best friend Lisa (Mena Suvari) kills herself. Why does she kill herself, you ask? Well, she learns that the popular guy she recently had sex with (Home Improvement‘s Zachery Ty Bryan) used her to win a game the football team plays where they sleep with girls and receive points.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Libsyn, Google Play, and RSS.
Episode 10 – The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
Since the boys got a late start to Women in Horror Month, they’ve decided to continue it into the first week of March! Next up is Katt Shea’s under-appreciated and ahead-of-its-time film The Rage: Carrie 2.
Join Joe and Trace as they take a deep dive into the troubled production of this much-maligned sequel. Topics on the table include but are not limited to: the truly despicable teenage characters, an enormous stuffed dog, Amy Irving’s completely ineffectual guidance counselor, and Mena Suvari’s predilection for projects with the word “American” in the title. And yes, they do address the fact that the remains of the OG Bates High School are still there for some reason.
On a more serious note, they also discuss their experiences with bullying, narrowing them down to what they refer to as their “Carrie Moment.”
Cross out The Rage: Carrie 2!
Coming up Wednesday: we fast forward to the year 2000 with an episode on Geoffrey Wright‘s “kill the virgins” slasher film Cherry Falls, which stars the late (and great) Brittany Murphy and features a somewhat problematic cross-dressing killer.
– Joe & Trace
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P.P.S. As an added bonus, if you subscribe to our Patreon you can listen to our in-depth discussion of the remake of The Last House On The Left (2009) to celebrate its 10th(!) anniversary. And dropping at the end of the month: our reactions to Jordan Peele’s Us!
Aaliyah Innocent.
May was a busy subgenre-switching month. After kicking things off with disaster “slasher” The Poseidon Adventure (listen), we watched American Giallo The Fan (listen), then wrapped things up with Vincent Price’s horror comedy Theater of Blood (listen).
Now, in honor of Pride Month and the return of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire (renamed The Vampire Lestat for S03), Trace and I had to check out the straight-washed second attempt to bring Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles to life.
Back in 2002, director Michael Rymer pitched Hollywood on his vision for Rice’s second Chronicle book, The Vampire Lestat. Instead, the suits opted to adapt the third book, Queen of the Damned (likely due to the ancillary opportunities of the soundtrack, written entirely by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis).
In the film, Lestat (Stuart Townsend) awakens from slumber to reinvent himself as a leather-pant-wearing rocker. Lestat’s very public vampire persona attracts the attention of Talamasca novice Jesse (Marguerite Moreau), as well as the vampire’s maker Marius (Vincent Perez). But the nu-metal has the greatest impact on Akasha (Aaliyah), who awakens and promises to take over the world if her old foe Maharet (Lena Olin) doesn’t stop her.
Whose side will Lestat join? Will Marius help his fledgling or abandon him to public sacrifice? And does anyone actually care about Jesse? (Please note: that last question is rhetorical.)
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, and RSS.
Episode 389: Queen of the Damned (2002)
Practice your Egyptian accent and bare that midriff because we are talking the troubled “adaptation” of Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned (2002).
Directed by Australian Michael Rymer, this one was doomed by the suits before it was even greenlit (which happened AFTER all of the songs were written by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis). It’s a bit of a clusterfuck.
Plus: praising everything Aaliyah (RIP); critiquing everything Stuart Townsend (aside from his abs and leather pants); a soft queer reading of Marius; and bemoaning boring protagonist/audience surrogate JESSE.
Cross out Queen of the Damned!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling Ben Stiller’s horror-adjacent dark comedy The Cable Guy (1996), in anticipation of its 30th anniversary!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 495 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal Season 3 Episodes 5 & 6, Backrooms, Passenger, Leviticus, an audio commentary on the original Scary Movie (2000), and the return of our Requel Tier as we begin our episode coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.