Podcasts
The Dreadful Comfort of Slow Burn Horror and ‘It Follows’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Bait Bus.
We’re deep into September after an August filled with queer dinner parties, bees and flies. After last week’s escape to Germany with Der Samurai, we’re back on US soil and firmly rooted in the suburbs of Detroit with David Robert Mitchell‘s contemporary classic, It Follows.
We’re joined by Trace’s hubbie Ari Drew, who helps unpack the story of Jay (Maika Monroe), a teen who is assaulted following a sexual encounter with what she thought was a decent guy (Jake Weary). As she gathers her friends close – including shitty neighbor Greg (Daniel Zovatto) and lovesick Paul (Keir Gilchrist) – Jay starts seeing mysterious people in white slowly advancing on her wherever she goes.
Is she cursed? Can she survive? And at what cost?
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Episode 142 – It Follows (2014) feat. Ari Drew
After two years, we’re FINALLY tackling a top request from listeners: David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows (2014). Along for the ride is Trace’s better half, Ari Drew, who has developed a special connection to the film during the pandemic.
Expect a lot of comparisons to Hereditary and other “slow burn/feel bad films”, including speculation about why horror audiences may struggle with these films, particularly on a first watch.
Also: how It Follows evokes a sense of timelessness, why the opening scene is a perfect short film, why Ari finds so much comfort in a dread-filled film, and how Joe has come around on the pool climax.
Plus: plenty of healthy debate about the ending, talk about shitty boys, and, finally, pondering the fate of Bait Bus.
Cross out It Follows!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re “celebrating” a maligned entry in the NoES franchise: Rachel Talalay’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for tons of additional content! This month, we’ll have episodes on Nia DaCosta’s Candyman, James Wan’s Malignant, Netflix’s series Brand New Cherry Flavor, as well as an audio commentary on 30 Days of Night and a minisode on weird horror films.
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!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 495 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal Season 3 Episodes 5 & 6, Backrooms, Passenger, Leviticus, an audio commentary on the original Scary Movie (2000), and the return of our Requel Tier as we begin our episode coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.