Podcasts
‘Batman: Mask of the Phantasm’: The First (and Only?) Batman Slasher Film [Horror Queers Podcast]
Does Batman fuck?
After kicking off December with a proper holiday horror film in Michael Dougherty’s Krampus, we’re now moving on to a film released on Christmas Eve in the first (and only?) Batman slasher film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm!
The film sees the troubled yet heroic Batman (Kevin Conroy) pitted against The Phantasm, a mysterious figure who is rubbing out Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals, and who many believe is the caped crusader himself. Batman’s alter ego, millionaire Bruce Wayne, is about to get married to the lovely Andrea Beaumont (Dana Delany), who helps him recover from his need to avenge his parents’ murder — meaning that his crime-fighting days may be numbered. To add to the mayhem, the unpredictable Joker (Mark Hamill) has an unexpected connection to the Phantasm.
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Episode 103 – Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Our Angel of Death awaits as we enter the dark streets of Gotham City to discuss the first (and only?) Batman slasher film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm! Joining us for the discussion is film/comics writer (and all-around swell gal) Lindsay Traves!
We’ll delve into the film’s rushed production and failure at the box office. Joe compares the Bruce/Andrea romance to a similar one in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Lindsay gives her reading on the romantic (or sexual?) relationship between Batman and the Joker.
We’ll also highlight the importance of having an openly gay actor (Kevin Conroy) voice one of the world’s most iconic superheroes, lament the inherent gatekeep-iness of comics and have a grand ol’ time pitching the live-action casting of Andrea Beaumont.
Plus, Joker = horror (and plenty of Mark Hamill praise), balaclavas vs. bolas, Tia Carrere, and Trace confesses one of his incredibly embarrassing high school horror stories. Oh, and masturbating to video game characters, because why not?
Cross out Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re getting festive with a discussion of toxic masculinity in openly gay director Chris Peckover’s 2016 Christmas horror comedy Better Watch Out.
– Joe & Trace
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for tons of additional content! This month we’ll have episodes on Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor and Christopher Landon’s Freaky, and we’ll have an audio commentary on Deadly Games (aka Dial Code: Santa Claus), which is currently streaming on Shudder.
“This is life’s ultimate cruelty. It offers us a taste of youth and vitality, and then it makes us witness our own decay.”
Is there anything more terrifying than the relentless passage of time? It’s a bitter truth that just when we’ve become accustomed to our bodies, the sands of time turn and we’re forced to watch them slowly break down in a cruel march towards inevitable death. But what if there were a way to stop the aging process – a potion that would return us to our peak physical condition and hold us there until the end of time? Would we take it? And would we eventually find that the blessing of perpetual life is actually a curse? No film explores this dilemma quite like Death Becomes Her. Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 horror comedy pits two showstopping divas against each other for a single spotlight while asking what they would do for eternal youth – and what will be the hidden cost?
Madeline (Meryl Streep) and Helen (Goldie Hawn) are old frenemies with a history of vicious competition. Madeline seems to have won the most recent battle and married Helen’s fiance Ernest (Bruce Willis), but decades later, their marriage is on the rocks and Madeline’s once thriving career is now a thing of the past. When Helen returns with a stunning new look, Madeline turns to unorthodox methods to maintain her feminine dominance. She drinks a potion designed to give her eternal youth, but returns home to find her life turned upside down by her downtrodden husband and jealous “friend.” Having both taken the potion, “Mad” and “Hel” engage in a bitter fight to the death over years of petty snipes and the right to claim the title of Most Desirable Woman.
In their latest episode, The Lady Killers dissect these two glamorous killers and the hidden social commentary in Zemeckis’ iconic film. Co-hosts Jenn Adams, Mae Shults, Rocco T. Thompson, and Sammie Kuykendall dish over their own fears of aging, choose their favorite diva, and decide whether they would take the potion should they ever find themselves in Lisle’s (Isabella Rossellini) lavish home. How does the film hit differently when watching as an adult? Could Madeline, Helen, and Ernest ever make a polycule work? Is Lisle a hero or a villain and how does she keep that gorgeous necklace in place? They’ll wrestle with these questions and more in a podcasting shovel battle to the death on this unique horror comedy and one of the most glamorous casts of all time.
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
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