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!
On the DL.
After spending June on explicitly queer texts like Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (listen) and William Castle’s Homicidal (listen), it’s only appropriate that Horror Queers celebrate the American holiday with a blockbuster film with a not-so-secret gay connection.
In Independence Day, an unlikely group of people come together when the human race faces extinction from a threatening alien race. After spaceships destroy every major city, pilot Steven Hiller (Will Smith) must team up with secret tech genius David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), as well as the US President (Bill Pullman), to execute a daring plan to save the planet from annihilation.
Along for the ride are the two saviors’ romantic partners – WH Communications Director Constance (Margaret Colin) and stripper Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) – plus eccentric scientist Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner), who is at the center of the film’s most horrific set piece.
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 393: Independence Day (1996)
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day…courtesy of gay German director Roland Emmerich.
As the summer blockbuster celebrates its 30th anniversary, we’re looking back on an alien disaster film that scared young Trace (thanks to that alien autopsy scene) and turned Will Smith into a star.
Plus: the death that upsets the most; bemoaning Vivica A. Fox’s career; pondering what could have been with the casting; why Smith’s bravado and the film’s patriotism doesn’t always work for Joe; and plenty of riffing on the atrocious sequel.
Cross out Independence Day!
Coming Up Next: We’re retreating to the country for some questionable therapy courtesy of Joe Dante’s 1981 classic, The Howling!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 503 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 the utterly ridiculous sequel Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985), and the conclusion of our Requel Tier coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.