Podcasts
The Exploitation of Young Reese Witherspoon in ‘Freeway’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Famous in Mexico.
Trace and I are closing out a very random February. We’ve discussed found footage demons with The Taking of Deborah Logan, a Canadian slasher classic with My Bloody Valentine, and my birthday pick, the gonzo WTF-ery of Splice.
Now it’s Trace’s birthday pick and he’s opted for…exploitation/trash?
Welcome to Matthew Bright’s 1996 film Freeway, a contemporary take on Little Red Riding Hood which finds a young Reese Witherspoon attempting to escape from an impoverished life of poverty and sexual assault. She hitches a ride from Keifer Sutherland‘s predatory Bob Wolverton, who threatens to rape and kill her (though maybe not in that order) before she turns the tables on him.
What happens next involves about five different subgenres as the film tackles girls-in-prison (hi Brittany Murphy!), rape-revenge, courtroom comedy, police investigation (hi Dan Hedaya!) and lifetime melodrama (Brooke Shields sporting *enormous* earrings). It’s over the top, completely offensive and ridiculously funny, while still being incredibly prescient and disturbing.
In short, it’s a perfect pick for Trace!
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Episode 114 – Freeway (1996)
This week, in honor of trick baby Trace’s birthday, we’re delving into Matthew Bright’s Freeway (1996), a “white trash” exploitation/rape revenge/little red riding hood genre mash-up starring a very foul-mouthed Reese Witherspoon and predatory perv Keifer Sutherland. Content warning: pedophilia, sexual assault, suicide and racism.
We discuss the stacked cast, the line between satire, parody and offensive humor, and the film’s surprisingly smart class critique. Plus: Trace’s favorite lines, Joe’s difficulty divorcing the film from recent events and Brooke Shields’ earrings! This is basically “genre whiplash, the movie” – it’s A LOT and it’s amazing.
Cross out Freeway!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re starting off March with a laugh as we tackle an even more offensive property: the Wayans brothers parody, Scary Movie 2.
– Joe & Trace
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for tons of additional content! Thanks to the release of the new Wrong Turn (2021), March is Hillbilly Horror-themed. In addition to tackling that new film, we’re revisiting the controversial The X-Files episode “Home”, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake (2003) and delivering an audio commentary on Alexandre Aja’s The Hills Have Eyes remake (2006).
Maybe you haven’t thought about your good friend Sweeney Todd in a while, or maybe you have. The 2007 movie is a bit of a memory, though a fond one – it has a healthy 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, for what it’s worth. But 2023’s Broadway revival starring Josh Groban, who your mom thinks is “so talented” (she’s right!), was enough of a hit that its run was extended.
It appears we’re in a bit of a Sweeneyssaince.
For the uninitiated, Sweeney Todd is the story of a barber who kills his customers and disposes of the bodies by passing them off to pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett, who uses them as a special ingredient. But there’s more below the trap door.
Sweeney Todd isn’t just a late 70s musical that turned into a movie; it started as a penny dreadful called The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance (author unknown), told week-to-week in the 1840s. Penny dreadfuls were essentially fiction zines featuring serialized stories that were usually horror-based and cost a penny, leading to the very literal nickname.
The String of Pearls differs from the more well-known Sweeney Todd plot in that it follows the investigation of a missing persons case that leads to the reveal of Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett’s arrangement, as opposed to the more modern iteration which treats audiences to the duo hatching their homicidal plan and then giving the worst haircuts ever. What a delightfully wild reveal that must have been if you were a reader in Victorian London after weeks of wondering what had become of the missing sailor carrying a string of pearls to deliver to a lovely girl.
Kristen and Will discuss the history and future of Sweeney Todd and works inspired by it this week on Guide to the Unknown. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to get a new episode every Friday.
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