Editorials
The Queer Horror of “Chucky”: Episode 8 – “An Affair To Dismember” and Horror’s Newest Final Boy
Each week Joe Lipsett will highlight a key scene or interaction in Don Mancini’s Chucky series to consider how the show is engaging with and contributing to queer horror.
It’s been a long, weird road to the season finale of Chucky and we’ve had plenty of great conversations about various queer facets of the show. It delights me to no end that we get to end the first season with a discussion of the Final Boy.
The definitive interpretation of the slasher trope is Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) from A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Of course, there’s a legacy of trauma wrapped up in Patton’s experiences making the film (Trace and I chatted with Mark for our live episode of Horror Queers on the film, and there’s a whole fantastic documentary called Scream, Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street that we strongly recommend). While I wouldn’t wish Patton’s mistreatment on anyone, the queerness of NoES2 was a beacon of light for gay men of a certain age, who finally saw themselves represented on screen. Importantly it wasn’t simply as a victim, or a best friend, either; NoES2 remains a fixture of queer horror history because Jesse survives to become a Final Boy.
What’s changed in the 36 years since then is evident in “An Affair To Dismember.” Not only do both Jake (Zackary Arthur) and Devon (Björgvin Arnarson) live to fight another day, but Jake gets to deliver the killing blow against Chucky (Brad Dourif) in direct response to an attack on his queer sexuality.
Jake’s whole arc over these eight episodes has led to this: from a difficult “coming out” to his unsupportive father (Devon Sawa) in episode one, to wooing Devon and kissing him in episode five, to identifying his Chosen family in last week’s episode. The most significant difference between Jesse and Jake is that Jake has never been coded queer; from the very beginning, Jake has been out and (mostly) proud. He’s remained true to who he is throughout, which is something Jesse couldn’t be at the height of the AIDS crisis in Reagan’s homophobic 1985 America.
The other frustrating aspect of NoES2 is that Jesse doesn’t get to be his own hero. He is consumed and discarded by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), so the duties of dispatching the villain falls to Final Girl Lisa (Kim Myers). Jesse only returns for the denouement: he’s a hero who gets sidelined in his own climax.
By comparison, Jake remains firmly in control of his own narrative. He orders Devon to rescue Caroline (Carina Battrick), then faces Chucky down. And while he doesn’t exactly become Sigourney Weaver, Jake more than manages to hold his own. Like his father and his uncle before him (there’s that cyclical familial violence in action), Jake opts to use his own hands, pinning Chucky against a wall to deliver the killing blow.
There’s no subtlety in writers Mancini and Harley Peyton’s dialogue in this scene (by design, I would argue). Chucky, ever the manipulator, suggests that he was Jake’s only friend and that Jake’s father Lucas would never have “accepted him.” Jake laments that Chucky’s actions never gave him a chance to “work it out” with his father, who he argues would have come around if he could have met Devon. Chucky retorts “That is so gay,” a microaggression that equates “gay” with “bad” and is basically a softer version of using the F slur. It’s in keeping with Chucky’s intolerant colloquialisms throughout most of the episode, particularly evident in his interactions with Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), which similarly leads to violence.
“That’s so gay” proves to be the last straw for Jake and he chokes Chucky until his eyes pop out of his plastic head. “Watch your fucking mouth, that’s my boyfriend you’re talking about” he tells the doll corpse, which is itself a significant milestone considering that Jake corrected Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) when she used the same label to describe Devon and Jake earlier in the episode.
Obviously Jake is not the sole hero of this tale – Lexy’s moral rescue of Junior (Teo Briones) and his sacrificial death are arguably the finale’s emotional climax. Still, there’s no doubt that the episode’s greatest “fuck yeah” moment belongs to Jake, an out and proud Final Boy for a new generation of horror queers.
He kills the bad guy, lives to fight another day and gets the boy. What a legend.
Season one of Chucky is now available on Peacock. For more coverage, see Meagan’s review of episode eight.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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