Podcasts
The Transgressive Brilliance of ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Dairy Queens Choking on Swan Gas.
After heading to 1990s New York to discuss James Bond III’s Troma classic Def By Temptation and unlocking the Patreon vault to release our episode on Josh Boone’s cursed 2020 comic book adaptation The New Mutants, we’re kicking off a month-long celebration of camp by discussing the brilliance of Michael Patrick Jann‘s transgressive (and hilarious) 1999 black comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous. It’s not really horror, but there sure is a lot of murderin’ goin’ on!
In the film, an annual beauty pageant in small-town Minnesota turns ridiculously competitive and ultimately chaotic. Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), the daughter of hard-drinking mom Annette (Ellen Barkin), and Becky Leeman (Denise Richards), who is motivated by her former beauty-queen mother, Gladys (Kirstie Alley), are among the top contenders in the event. As Amber, Becky, and other local girls (including Brittany Murphy and Amy Adams) prepare for the big day, someone decides to start killing contestants one by one until only one remains.
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 184: Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
Oh crap oh crap oh crap! The swan ate our baby and the most smartest tapper needs to go to state! That’s right, we’re discussing Michael Patrick Jann’s seminal dark comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) with IGN’s streaming editor Amelia Emberwing. Think we can do it? Amer-I-CAN!
Join us as we track the film’s journey from a script called Dairy Queens to a box office and commercial failure to a stone-cold cult classic beloved by (and offensive to) many. We’re laughing at eating disorders, mental disability and pedophilia. How did this get made?
Plus: non-stop praise for this outstanding cast, discussing the on-set tensions between the writer and the director, debating the effectiveness (or lack thereof?) of the third act, and an It Takes Two tangent? Ding! Fries are up!
Cross out Drop Dead Gorgeous!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re keeping things modern as we continue our month of Camp with a look at Paz de la Huerta’s “performance” in the 2012 schlock-fest Nurse 3D!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 180 hours of additional content! This month, we’re discussing our favorite horror film-to-TV show flip floppers, as well as looking back at popular alien films Signs and Attack the Block before we close out the month with Jordan Peele’s Nope. Oh, and we’ve got an audio commentary on the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie!
After winding down June with discussions of our vey first William Castle film Homicidal (listen) and queer director Roland Emmerich’s summer tentpole Independence Day (listen), we’re heading back to 1981 to check out Joe Dante‘s seminal werewolf film The Howling.
The Howling sees television journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace) attend a psychiatric retreat with her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) after being attacked and traumatized by local serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). It isn’t long before Karen realizes that the retreat is actually a secret cult of werewolves, and they’ve already got their sights set on Bill.
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 394: The Howling (1981)
Make note of that smiley face sticker and snag that conveniently-placed jar of acid because we’re talking Joe Dante’s stealth werewolf classic The Howling (1981)!
Join us as we discuss the film’s deviations from its source material before doing a deep dive into this very tongue-in-cheek, self-aware horror film. It honestly feels like a precursor to Scream, in many ways!
Plus: Roger Corman (again!) those incredible special effects, differentiating “color movies” from “movies in color,” and why queer icon Elisabeth Brooks has us going “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!”
Cross out The Howling!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling our very first Ken Russell film with a look at his controversial 1984 erotic thriller Crimes of Passion!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 508 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 Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (aka Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch), and the conclusion of our coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat on the Requel Tier.