Podcasts
[Horror Queers Podcast] Discussing the Sibling Protagonists of Mike Flanagan’s ‘Oculus’
Mirror, mirror, on the fritz.
The last few weeks on the Horror Queers Podcast have resulted in plenty of great discussions and hilarious shenanigans. We’ve considered cannibalism as a metaphor for homosexuality in Ravenous, drooled over Delphine Seyrig’s fierce queer vampire in Daughters of Darkness and been baffled by the sheer ineptitude of the slasher musical Stage Fright.
In the newest episode, Joe and I discuss Mike Flanagan’s 2014 killer mirror feature Oculus. We know, we know: there’s nothing queer about this movie. But rewatching it got us thinking about the close relationship between sibling protagonists Kaylie and Tim and the role that a sibling (or siblings) can play in the coming-out process. So we made it work!
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Episode 15 – Oculus (2014)
Who would have ever thought a movie about a killer mirror could actually be A) good and B) scary? That’s right, the boys are discussing Mike Flanagan’s 2014 film Oculus! Join Joe and Trace as they gush (pun intended) over Flanagan’s oeuvre and discuss the role a sibling (or siblings) can play in the coming-out process. Plus, the boys decide which killer mirror movie is better: Oculus or Alexandre Aja’s Mirrors? Hint: it’s not the one with Kiefer Sutherland.
We’ve even got some homework for our more devoted listeners this week!
- Share your sibling’s (or siblings’) role(s) in your coming-out story.
- Send us your Oculus sequel ideas.
- And for those of you who don’t like Oculus or find it difficult to relate to the characters: Why?
Cross out Oculus!
Coming up Wednesday: we admire the balls that everyone had to follow up Hitchcock’s classic horror film Psycho with a look back at the underrated sequel Psycho II.
– Joe & Trace
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P.P.S. As an added bonus, if you subscribe to our Patreon you can listen to our reactions to Jordan Peele’s Us and the new adaptation of Pet Sematary! Also dropping at the end of the month: our thoughts on The Curse of La Llorona, the latest film in the Conjuring universe!
On the DL.
After spending June on explicitly queer texts like Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (listen) and William Castle’s Homicidal (listen), it’s only appropriate that Horror Queers celebrate the American holiday with a blockbuster film with a not-so-secret gay connection.
In Independence Day, an unlikely group of people come together when the human race faces extinction from a threatening alien race. After spaceships destroy every major city, pilot Steven Hiller (Will Smith) must team up with secret tech genius David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), as well as the US President (Bill Pullman), to execute a daring plan to save the planet from annihilation.
Along for the ride are the two saviors’ romantic partners – WH Communications Director Constance (Margaret Colin) and stripper Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) – plus eccentric scientist Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner), who is at the center of the film’s most horrific set piece.
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 393: Independence Day (1996)
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day…courtesy of gay German director Roland Emmerich.
As the summer blockbuster celebrates its 30th anniversary, we’re looking back on an alien disaster film that scared young Trace (thanks to that alien autopsy scene) and turned Will Smith into a star.
Plus: the death that upsets the most; bemoaning Vivica A. Fox’s career; pondering what could have been with the casting; why Smith’s bravado and the film’s patriotism doesn’t always work for Joe; and plenty of riffing on the atrocious sequel.
Cross out Independence Day!
Coming Up Next: We’re retreating to the country for some questionable therapy courtesy of Joe Dante’s 1981 classic, The Howling!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 503 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Forbidden Fruits, Saccharine, Evil Dead Burn, an audio commentary on the utterly ridiculous sequel Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985), and the conclusion of our Requel Tier coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.