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!
Podcasts
Ableism, Representation, and Perverse Sexuality in ‘Wait Until Dark’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
After concluding April with discussions of Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) and David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (listen), we kicked off May with a revisit of Stephen Sommers’ delightful 1999 film, The Mummy (listen).
Now we’re headed into the past with Terence Young‘s adaptation of Frederick Knott‘s “disabled woman in danger” play, Wait Until Dark (1967).
In the film, recently blind Susy (Audrey Hepburn) is menaced by a trio of strange men, including sexually perverse ring leader Roat (Alan Arkin), “nice guy” Talman (Richard Crenna) and portly Carlino (Jack Weston). The men are looking for a doll full of heroin, which is located somewhere in her apartment, but she doesn’t know where!
Can Susy figure out the scam with the help of upstairs neighbor girl Gloria (Julie Herrod) or will she wind up hanging in the closet like Roat’s poor accomplice Lisa (Samantha Jones)?
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 281: Wait Until Dark (1967) feat. Ariel Baska
Smash all the lights and strike a match because we’re talking about disability horror, Audrey Hepburn and Wait Until Dark (1967).
Joining us for the conversation is disability documentary filmmaker Ariel Baska, who has a love/hate relationship with the film and its contribution to “cripping up.”
Plus: that famous jump scare, accusations of misogyny and ableism, the gross history of “Ugly Laws,” and the return of Trace’s recurring joke about Charade.
Cross out Wait Until Dark!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re going into genre-adjacent territory with a look at Gregg Araki’s horrifying adaptation of Scott Heim’s novel, Mysterious Skin.
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 308 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal Season 1 Episode 5, a double feature of Sting and Infested, Tarot and The Strangers: Chapter One. And our audio commentary for the month will be on Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell, just in time for its 15th anniversary!
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