Podcasts
[Horror Queers Podcast] Takashi Miike’s ‘Audition’: Feminist, Misogynistic or Both?
A different kind of foot fetish.
Over the last few weeks, Joe and I have made a brief detour into the world of television with the BBC queer zombie series In the Flesh, discussed the completely bonkers twist in Jaume Collet-Serra‘s Orphan (just in time for its 10th anniversary!) and made our first foray into family films with ParaNorman and its secret queer character.
We are officially declaring August “Femme Fatale Month,” which means we’ll be looking at a number of horror films that feature villainous (and some not-so-villainous) badass ladies. On this week’s episode, we go back to our favorite year (1999) with a look at Takashi Miike‘s Audition! In the film, a widower (Ryo Ishibashi) stages a phony audition to meet a potential new wife. After interviewing several women, he becomes interested in Asami (Eihi Shiina), whom he immediately clicks with. Unfortunately for him, Asami has a dark past that leads to one of horror cinema’s most shocking and gag-inducing climaxes!
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Episode 33 – Audition (1999)
Kiri Kiri Kiri! The boys are officially declaring August Femme Fatale Month, which means they’ll be tackling a bunch of films with some killer ladies (aka Trace’s favorite type of character)! First up is Asami Yamazaki in Takashi Miike’s controversial 1999 film Audition! That’s right, it’s another Japanese film, which means you can laugh along (or take a shot) every time Joe mispronounces a character’s name!
Join Joe and Trace as they discuss the misogynistic (douchebag protagonist, objectification of women) and feminist (taking down the patriarchy, Asami as an avenging angel) elements of the film, BDSM, the secret queer relationship that no one talks about and the beautiful gore that fills the film’s final act. Finally, they take the film’s revelatory flashback to task for not making any sense whatsoever!
Oh, and Joe is somehow able to liken the film to Bring it On.
Trigger Warning: The dog DOES die in this movie, but it’s off-screen. You do see its corpse, though.
This Week’s Game: If forced to part ways with a body part, which body part would it be?
Cross out Audition!
Coming up Wednesday: It’s a double dose of femme fatales with Sadie and McKayla in Tyler MacIntyre‘s Tragedy Girls!
– Joe & Trace
P.S. Be sure to check out all of our online articles right here.
P.P.S. As an added bonus, if you subscribe to our Patreon you can listen to a full-length bonus episode on Alexandre Aja’s insanely fun killer alligator movie Crawl, as well as a minisode on a controversial topic: do horror fans lack empathy?
Coming Soon & Now Showing is a monthly series on Halloweenies that catches up on the latest horror headlines and round robins capsule reviews of new and old horrors.
This month, Michael Roffman and Justin Gerber discuss the blockbuster weekend involving Backrooms and Obsession. They also brush on some franchise news and dust off oldies for the first time: 1987’s Dead of Winter and 1977’s False Face.
Stream the episode below. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and RSS. New to the Halloweenies? Catch up with the gang by revisiting their essential episodes on past franchises such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, The Evil Dead, Chucky, Alien, and the Universal Monsters.This year? Hellraiser!
You can also become a member of their Patreon, The Rewind, for hilariously irreverent commentaries (e.g. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Re-Animator, Darkman), one-off deep dives on your favorite rentals (e.g. Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Manhunter, ), and even spinoffs like their recent run Fortune & Glory: An Indiana Jones Podcast.