Podcasts
[Horror Queers Podcast] The Surprisingly Feminist Mindset of Eli Roth’s ‘Hostel: Part II’
Reclaim the cunt!
After kicking off the new year with an episode on our favorite entry in the Scream franchise (that would be Scream 2, in case you were wondering), we’re making a return trip to Slovakia to discuss Eli Roth‘s controversial 2007 sequel Hostel: Part II, which is leaps and bounds better than its predecessor!
In the film, three American female art students (Lauren German, Bijou Phillips and Heather Matarazzo) are directed to a Slovak village where they are kidnapped and taken to a facility in which rich clients pay to torture and kill people. In an inspired turn of events, the film splits its screen time between the trio of girls and two of the men (Roger Bart and Richard Burgi) who have paid to kill them.
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Episode 56 – Hostel: Part II (2007)
The boys are making a return trip to Slovakia to discuss a film that no one wanted to guest on! That’s right, they’re discussing Eli Roth’s controversial and (dare they say it?) feminist sequel Hostel: Part II!
Join them as they discuss the rapid decline of the torture porn sub-genre between 2006 and 2007, the accusations of misogyny lodged against the film, and Roth’s progressive decision to make the protagonist of his sequel a lesbian (whom he doesn’t objectify!) while casting out-and-proud lesbian Heather Matarazzo as the character who gets the film’s most brutal death (in a scene that got the film banned in several countries).
Also, Trace tries to come up with a synonym for the word “castration,” Joe gives a brief oral history of the word “cunt” and they both try to figure out why Jordan Ladd needs so much sleep.
Cross out Hostel: Part II!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re heading back to high school to discuss Lucky McKee’s (May, The Woman) and Chris Sivertson’s (I Know Who Killed Me) kooky horror comedy All Cheerleaders Die!
– Joe & Trace
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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!
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