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The Bleak Outlook of a World With AIDS in Todd Haynes’ ‘Safe’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

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Horror Queers Safe

Moore Milk, Please.

After wrapping up 2022 with a discussion of Carter Smith’s Into the Dark entry “Midnight Kiss“, we kicked off 2023 with a re-do of one of our earliest episodes on Richard Shepard’s The Perfection. Now, we’re talking about what Wes Craven dubbed “the scariest film of 1995” in Todd Haynes‘ AIDS allegory Safe, which boasts an astonishing performance from Julianne Moore.

The 1987-set Safe follows Carol White (Moore) a suburban housewife in Los Angeles, whose monotonous life is abruptly changed when she becomes sick with a mysterious illness caused by the environment around her.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple PodcastsStitcherSpotifyiHeartRadioSoundCloudTuneInAmazon MusicAcastGoogle Podcasts, and RSS.


Episode 212: Safe (1995)

Why do you think you’re sick? Well you better find out because we’re discussing Todd Haynes’ (not Todd Solondz’s) 1995 AIDS allegory Safe! Joining us for the discussion is returning guest Andrew Scahilll!

Join us as we discuss Julianne Moore’s heartbreaking performance before going all in on the social commentary that Haynes weaves into the film. From the mundane aspects of suburban life to the dangers of joining a cult built around the concept of self-blame, we’ve got it all! Plus: milk vendettas, all fruit diets, Beth Grant(!!!), igloos and allergic reactions to heteronormativity.


Cross out Safe!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re revisiting Guillermo del Toro’s 2015 Gothic romance Crimson Peak, with a special focus on the bisexual energy provided by Jessica Chastain’s Lucille.

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 222 hours of additional content! We’re wrapping up the year with episodes on Netflix’s Edgar Allan Poe-focused murder mystery The Pale Blue Eye, Shudder’s anthology sequel Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge, the creepy found footage film Skinamarink, Blumhouse’s killer robot movie M3GAN, and an audio commentary on Cloverfield, just in time for its 15th anniversary!

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

Podcasts

‘Death Becomes Her’ and the Horror of Aging [The Lady Killers Podcast]

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“This is life’s ultimate cruelty. It offers us a taste of youth and vitality, and then it makes us witness our own decay.”

Is there anything more terrifying than the relentless passage of time? It’s a bitter truth that just when we’ve become accustomed to our bodies, the sands of time turn and we’re forced to watch them slowly break down in a cruel march towards inevitable death. But what if there were a way to stop the aging process – a potion that would return us to our peak physical condition and hold us there until the end of time? Would we take it? And would we eventually find that the blessing of perpetual life is actually a curse? No film explores this dilemma quite like Death Becomes Her. Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 horror comedy pits two showstopping divas against each other for a single spotlight while asking what they would do for eternal youth – and what will be the hidden cost?

Madeline (Meryl Streep) and Helen (Goldie Hawn) are old frenemies with a history of vicious competition. Madeline seems to have won the most recent battle and married Helen’s fiance Ernest (Bruce Willis), but decades later, their marriage is on the rocks and Madeline’s once thriving career is now a thing of the past. When Helen returns with a stunning new look, Madeline turns to unorthodox methods to maintain her feminine dominance. She drinks a potion designed to give her eternal youth, but returns home to find her life turned upside down by her downtrodden husband and jealous “friend.” Having both taken the potion, “Mad” and “Hel” engage in a bitter fight to the death over years of petty snipes and the right to claim the title of Most Desirable Woman.

In their latest episode, The Lady Killers dissect these two glamorous killers and the hidden social commentary in Zemeckis’ iconic film. Co-hosts Jenn AdamsMae Shults, Rocco T. Thompson, and Sammie Kuykendall dish over their own fears of aging, choose their favorite diva, and decide whether they would take the potion should they ever find themselves in Lisle’s (Isabella Rossellini) lavish home. How does the film hit differently when watching as an adult? Could Madeline, Helen, and Ernest ever make a polycule work? Is Lisle a hero or a villain and how does she keep that gorgeous necklace in place? They’ll wrestle with these questions and more in a podcasting shovel battle to the death on this unique horror comedy and one of the most glamorous casts of all time.

Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.

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