Podcasts
The Queer Allegories in ‘The Wolves of Kromer’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Faerie Tale Queertre.
After celebrating the release of Spiral: From the Book of Saw (review) with a discussion of James Wan’s influential debut film Saw and closing out the month of May with the narcissism of Hollywood in The Neon Demon, we’re kicking off Pride Month with a look at Will Gould‘s 1998 morality tale The Wolves of Kromer!
In the film, a wicked old crone (Rita Davies) and her goofy sidekick (Margaret Towner) kill their mistress (Rosemarie Dunham) and frame two wolven lovers (James Layton and Lee Williams), inciting a torch-bearing mob of religious zealots to seek vengeance on the hapless pair.
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Episode 128 – The Wolves of Kromer (1998)
Grab your fur coat and tail because we’re heading to the UK for a little Faerie Tale Queertre to discuss Will Gould’s 1998 morality tale The Wolves of Kromer, which might be the only film we’ve covered with a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score!
Join us as we discuss the film’s very specific aesthetic (think Vacation Bible School videos or PBS original programming) before delving into the film’s admittedly on-the-nose allegories (wolves = queers) and try to figure out why Boy George only has a 5-second appearance in the opening scene.
Plus, murderous (and possibly queer?) old biddies who are horny for the Lord, a poppers anecdote and the revelation that Joe once worked at a gay bar?!
Oh, and why does this queer film’s only sex scene have to be a straight one? We lycan’t!
Cross out The Wolves of Kromer!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re heading into the land of adolescent misfits and overall weirdness in Richard Bates Jr.’s superb horror film Excision!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for tons of additional content! This month, we’re going to rank the films in The Conjuring universe and release episodes on The Conjuring and its sequel The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. We’ll also have a summer movie preview and an episode on Hulu’s new pregnancy horror film False Positive.
On the DL.
After spending June on explicitly queer texts like Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (listen) and William Castle’s Homicidal (listen), it’s only appropriate that Horror Queers celebrate the American holiday with a blockbuster film with a not-so-secret gay connection.
In Independence Day, an unlikely group of people come together when the human race faces extinction from a threatening alien race. After spaceships destroy every major city, pilot Steven Hiller (Will Smith) must team up with secret tech genius David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), as well as the US President (Bill Pullman), to execute a daring plan to save the planet from annihilation.
Along for the ride are the two saviors’ romantic partners – WH Communications Director Constance (Margaret Colin) and stripper Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) – plus eccentric scientist Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner), who is at the center of the film’s most horrific set piece.
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 393: Independence Day (1996)
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day…courtesy of gay German director Roland Emmerich.
As the summer blockbuster celebrates its 30th anniversary, we’re looking back on an alien disaster film that scared young Trace (thanks to that alien autopsy scene) and turned Will Smith into a star.
Plus: the death that upsets the most; bemoaning Vivica A. Fox’s career; pondering what could have been with the casting; why Smith’s bravado and the film’s patriotism doesn’t always work for Joe; and plenty of riffing on the atrocious sequel.
Cross out Independence Day!
Coming Up Next: We’re retreating to the country for some questionable therapy courtesy of Joe Dante’s 1981 classic, The Howling!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 503 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Forbidden Fruits, Saccharine, Evil Dead Burn, an audio commentary on the utterly ridiculous sequel Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985), and the conclusion of our Requel Tier coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.