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Learning to Appreciate Getting Lost In David Lynch’s ‘Mulholland Drive’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

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3 years ago

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Masc Matale

The slow inch towards October continues, but in the interim, September has been a bounty of great content on the pod! We’ve been to Germany with Der Samurai, Detroit with It Follows and Springwood last week with Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Now we’re headed to Los Angeles to cover our very first David Lynch film: the beautiful, surreal and sumptuous Mulholland Drive.

In the failed TV pilot-turned-film, naive ingenue Betty (Naomi Watts) arrives in LA hoping to make it big in the movies. At her aunt’s vacant house, she finds amnesiac brunette Rita (Laura Elena Harring), who was in a car accident in the hills. Together the pair work to solve the mystery of who tried to kill Rita, all while Betty tries to make her dreams come true and has a meet cute with up and coming director Adam (Justin Theroux) who is involved in his own trials involving mobsters and cowboys. But what is real and what is fantasy in this hallucinatory version of Hollywood?

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, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS.

Episode 145 – Mulholland Drive (2001)

In advance of its 20th anniversary, we’re dipping into the beautiful, surreal world of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001).

In keeping with the film, the episode adopts a non-linear format as we track the Betty/Rita storyline, then double back to discuss Adam, before finally digging into the extra footage Lynch shot when the project switched from TV pilot to film.

Expect plenty of discussion about how great both female leads are, which Hollywood director Adam reminds Trace of, Joe’s ongoing obsession with Showgirls, and talk of how goddamn gorgeous this film is.

Plus: Speculation on a shared cinematic universe with Southland Tales and Alias S3, Trace’s dislike of Noir, and the hilarious reason why Monty Montgomery’s line delivery as the Cowboy is so unnerving.

Cross out Mulholland Drive!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re closing out September with our final Universal Monster film of the year: 1936’s Dracula’s Daughter.

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for tons of additional content! This month, we 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.

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Joe is a TV addict with a background in Film Studies. He co-created TV/Film Fest blog QueerHorrorMovies and writes for Bloody Disgusting, Anatomy of a Scream, That Shelf, The Spool and Grim Magazine. He enjoys graphic novels, dark beer and plays multiple sports (adequately, never exceptionally). While he loves all horror, if given a choice, Joe always opts for slashers and creature features.

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Podcasts

The Double ‘Othering’ of David in ‘An American Werewolf in London’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

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3 days ago

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April 15, 2024

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After concluding March with Raja Gosnell’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (listen) and James Whale’s The Invisible Man (listen), we kicked off April with a discussion of  Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley (listen).
Now we’re checking off another classic with John Landis‘ 1981 werewolf film, An American Werewolf in London.
In the film, American best friends David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are horrifically attacked while backpacking through the UK Moors. Jack is killed and David spends a month recuperating in the hospital, where he befriends attractive nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter) and kindly Dr. Hirsch (John Woodvine).
On the cusp of his release, the mangled corpse of Jack visits David, warning that on the full moon he will become a lycanthrope unless he kills himself. But David is unable to accept his fate and a series of terrible murders follow.
As the bodies (and the comedy) pile up, the question becomes: what will David, Alex, and Dr. Hirsch do to stop the deaths?
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 277: An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Try not to wolf out because we’re talking about John Landis’ classic, An American Werewolf in London (1981). Backpacking along with us is Xero Gravity, who went on a werewolf binge and has recommendations!
Up for discussion: Alex’s underdeveloped character, urban set pieces, dirty movie theaters, and British rural horror.
Plus: a queer reading of David and Jack’s relationship, Jewish horror, an unsexy sex scene, and extended tangents about werewolf anatomy.

Cross out An American Werewolf in London!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re undergoing a risky experimental treatment for a “different” kind of child with Netflix’s 2019 title, Eli.

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 302 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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