Podcasts
The High Camp and Overt Queerness of ‘Addams Family Values’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
MA-LI-BU BAR-BIE!
It’s already the end of November, but we had a wild ride this month discussing the dream-like pastel world of Jennifer Reeder’s women-centric Knives and Skin and the 25th-anniversary fascist machismo world of Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers. Then last week we made our second foray into animated fare (after ParaNorman) with Satoshi Kon‘s stunning first film, Perfect Blue. This week, in celebration of Thanksgiving and Netflix’s release of Wednesday (review), we’re visiting the Addamses in Barry Sonnenfeld‘s better-than-the-original sequel Addams Family Values (1993)!
In the film, Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) celebrate the birth of their child Pubert (Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper), while black widow serial killer Debbie Jellinsky (Joan Cusack) marries Fester Addams (Christopher Lloyd) with the intent to murder him for his inheritance. Plus, teenagers Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) are sent to a summer camp for privileged young adults and butt heads with the camp counselors (Christine Baranski and Peter MacNicol)
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 205: Addam Family Values (1993)
Make sure you’ve got a Ballerina Barbie instead of a Malibu Barbie because we’re going toe-to-toe with the delicate and graceful Debbie Jellinsky in Barry Sonnenfeld’s superb sequel Addams Family Values (1993)! Joining us for the discussion is Nick of the nicksaysboo YouTube reaction channel!
After we briefly discuss the first film’s production woes, we go into the many reasons how the sequel improves upon nearly every aspect of the already wonderful original film. This is, of course, mainly due to Christina Ricci’s expanded role and the introduction of a delightfully unhinged performance from Joan Cusack.
Plus: political commentary, the joys of being privileged, reading the Addams’s as a queer family unit, and what might be the best Thanksgiving play ever put on stage. Don’t trust Sarah Miller, y’all.
Cross out Addams Family Values!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re heading back into the world of Val Lewton with a deep dive into the 1942 classic Cat People!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 210 hours of additional content! This month, we’ve got episodes on the morals and ethics of True Crime, Fall’s box office smash Smile, the absolutely wild Barbarian, Anya Taylor-Joy’s culinary thriller The Menu, and an audio commentary on the sequel that’s better than the original, The Collection (2010), just in time for its 10th anniversary!
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.