The Horror Queers have spent the last several weeks checking out foreign horror films from Japan (the 2014 video game adaptation, Fatal Frame), France (controversial 2004 New French Extremity entry, Calvaire) and Canada (Cronenberg classic, The Brood, in honour of its 40th anniversary).
This week Trace and I – along with our guest, Kyle Turner – are checking out Bruce LaBruce‘s German/Canadian co-production, Otto; Or Up With Dead People (2008). The controversial film about a disaffected young gay man who may (or may not) be a zombie offers plenty of discussion fodder, including how audiences distinguish between art cinema, pornography, camp and queer cinema. There may also be some talk of animal sexual avatars and the explicit gay chest penetration scene in the film, which gets Trace all hot and flustered.
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Episode 22 – Otto; Or Up With Dead People (2008)
There’s a queer zombie uprising in Berlin and the boys, plus special guest Kyle Turner, are on the case. The trio tackle Canadian director Bruce LaBruce’s challenging and subversive mainstream genre effort with a discussion on camp, the distinction between art cinema & porn, and whether or not the titular Otto is a melancholic young gay man or an actual zombie.
This episode is a must for any aspiring queer media scholar (Kyle knows his shit!), but it’s not all serious: we also discuss Gaga’s Met Gala lewk, CockyBoys porn and our reactions to the erect penis fucking a gaping chest wound.
Plus: Kyle takes over the game, challenging Trace and Joe to identify the creature or animal that best represents them in bed. You know you don’t wanna miss that!
Cross out Otto; Or Up With Dead People!
Coming up Wednesday: We celebrate the start of Pride Month with our newest film to date, Yann Gonzalez’s queer French giallo Knife + Heart. It literally drops tomorrow (June 3) on VOD!
– Joe & Trace
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P.P.S. As an added bonus, if you subscribe to our Patreon you can listen to full-length bonus episode on Netflix’s The Perfection and, later this week, the new Octavia Spencer/Blumhouse film, Ma!