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The Inexcusable Transphobia of Controversial ‘Incident in a Ghostland’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

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Shut Up, Pascal!

May continues to be a month of extremes. Trace and I started the month with Jane Schoenbrun’s microbudget creepypasta film We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, followed by our usual Friday the 13th film,  Friday the 13: Jason Lives. Then last week we headed Down Under for notorious kangaroo-killing Ozploitation flick, Wake in Fright. Now we’re tackling notorious French director Pascal Laugier’s North American film Incident in a Ghostland (2018) which has no shortage of controversies.

In the film, a family of three – Colleen (Mylène Farmer), older sister Vera (Taylor Hickson) and dreamy younger sister Beth (Emilia Jones) – move into a deceased family member’s home that is infested with creepy dolls. Almost immediately they are savagely attacked by a Fat Man (Rob Archer) and Candy Truck Woman (male actor Kevin Powell). Years later, Beth (Crystal Reed) – now a successful horror author – reunites with her mother and sister at the house where the nightmare really begins…

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 179 – Incident in a Ghostland (2018) feat. Xero Gravity

This week we’re covering our second Pascal Laugier film, 2018’s Incident in a Ghostland. C/W: misogyny, transphobia.
 
Along for the ride is Blerdy Massacre co-host Xero Gravity, who joins us in getting increasingly aggravated with the Martyrs director the more we learn what he thinks he’s doing with this film, which includes a lot of teen female abuse, a caricature trans woman villain and unabashed love for HP Lovecraft?!
 
We’re more forgiving of the twist, as well as the performances of Emilia Jones and Taylor Hickson (whose disfigurement on the film’s set is another controversy Trace unpacks).
 

Plus: TCM-meets-giallo production design, a sly police subversion, a groan-worthy typewriter and dolls everywhere.

Cross out Incident in a Ghostland!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re sticking with grim material as we dive into Álex de la Iglesia’s 1997 exploitation/crime film, Perdita Durango (aka Dance with the Devil). C/W: rape

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 180 hours of additional content! This month, we’re discussing horror movies that make us cry, Shudder’s new zombie(ish) movie The Sadness, the remake of Firestarter, Alex Garland’s Men and an audio commentary on 28 Weeks Later to commemorate its 15th anniversary!

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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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2 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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