Podcasts
[Horror Queers Podcast] 80s Slasher Meets Rape/Revenge in ‘The Ranger’
Let Them Snort Coke
Trace and I have spent the last few weeks discussing big (or Canadian big) budget films like The Blob and Jason X, so we’re pivoting to discuss indie festival film, The Ranger, which debuted at SXSW back in 2018. Thankfully we have help from punk extraordinaire Annie Rose Malamet of Girls, Guts & Giallo to help us make heads and tails of the subculture.
In The Ranger, a group of punks, fronted by Chelsea (Chloë Levine), flee the police in the city to lie low in the woods. There they run afoul of a chipper – and sociopathic – park ranger (Jeremy Holm) whose penchant for enforcing the rules includes plenty of homicide. Will the punks find a way to survive, or will they wind up like all of the other missing people whose posters are plastered in the local convenience store?
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, Libsyn, Google Play, and RSS.
Episode 65 – The Ranger (2018) feat. Annie Rose Malamet
In their attempt at social distancing, the boys abandon the city and head deep into the woods. Along for the ride is Girls, Guts & Giallo‘s Annie Rose Malamet, who schools the boys on all things punk (and Lisa Frank) so that they can understand the annoying teens in Jenn Wexler’s The Ranger.
Are you ready for two films in one? On one hand, we’ve got an 80s slasher throwback featuring punks vs authoritarians. On the other hand, we’ve got a (secret?) rape/revenge with lead character Chelsea (Chloë Levine) potentially being abused by her uncle (veteran director Larry Fessenden) or the titular Ranger…or both.
Up for discussion: what drug are these kids doing? What’s up with the wolf symbolism? Why does the film’s pacing suffer when the kills begin? And why doesn’t the film lean harder into punk?
Finally: Trace opens up about an unsettling encounter tied to the film that initiates a frank discussion about film festival reviews, as well as the relationship between directors, critics and the production of art.
Cross out The Ranger!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re time traveling back to the 80s to check out a vampire dive-bar and some Grace Jones performance art with 1986’s Vamp!
– Joe & Trace
P.S. Check out last month’s article on 1981’s Roadgames. You can find all of the old articles here.
P.P.S. If you subscribe to our Patreon you can listen to new episodes on Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man and Craig Zobel’s The Hunt (both of which are now available on VOD). Plus: a full-length audio commentary on Paul Verhoeven’s 2000 ode to invisible sexual assault, Hollow Man!
Game Loop.
Trace and I inadvertently bookended our April discussions of John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London (listen) and Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) with Jude Law films. At the start of the month, we tackled Matt Damon’s Italian grifter in The Talented Mr. Ripley (listen) and now we’re closing out April with David Cronenberg‘s eXistenZ (1999).
The unofficial sequel to Videodrome (listen) and precursor to Crimes of the Future, eXistenZ takes place in the world of virtual reality and simulation. Game goddess Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is forced to go on the run with PR nerd Ted Pikul (Jude Law) through the Canadian backwoods when ‘Realist’ terrorists declare open season on her life.
Featuring no shortage of strange encounters and oddball characters, including Willem Dafoe‘s queer-coded Gas and Canadian film royalty like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley, Allegra and Ted must travel between the real world and the game world, all the while keeping track of who is friendly…and who is foe.
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, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 279: eXistenZ (1999) feat Vannah Taylor
Lube up your industry standard bio-port because we’re playing David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) with someone friendly: Vannah Taylor!
David Cronenberg’s meditation on the dangers of gaming and simulation is the middle entry of an unofficial trilogy. It’s also a film that gets real confusing, real fast, so good luck figuring out if we’re still in the game!
Plus: criticisms of a “bland” game world, praise for Jennifer Jason Leigh, Canadian royalty, comparisons to Serenity, disgusting gristle guns, and Pikul getting his back blown out (several times!)
Cross out eXistenZ!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re continuing our celebration of 1999 films with a look at Stephen Sommers’ bisexual awakening, action adventure film, The Mummy (1999).
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 306 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal S01E04, Late Night with the Devil, The First Omen, Femme, Abigail and a brand new audio commentary on the original The Omen (1976).
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