Podcasts
Analyzing the Queer-Coded Killer in ‘The Hitcher’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Fairy man.
We spent June discussing a cisgender male demon trapped in a female body, genderfluid dinosaurs and evil weaves, so we’re kicking off July with a film that’s a bit more grounded: Robert Harmon‘s classic cautionary tale The Hitcher!
In The Hitcher, Jim (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitchhiker named John Ryder (Rutger Hauer) while transporting a car from Chicago to San Diego. After quickly showing Jim his murderous ways, John is kicked out of the car and begins a relentless pursuit of Jim, murdering anyone who gets in his way and framing Jim for the murders. With no one to help him except a local waitress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Jim must decide how far he is willing to go to survive.
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Episode 236: The Hitcher (1986)
Our mothers told us never to do this but we just couldn’t resist so we’re having an in-depth discussion of Robert Harmon’s 1986 classicThe Hitcher. Join us as we discuss the gay panic of it all in this queer-coded cautionary tale. From Rutger Hauer’s predatory queer to C. Thomas Howell’s virginal twink, The Hitcher has it all!
Plus: the film’s origins as a 190-page(???) script, lots and lots of saliva play, ferryman/fairy man and getting your car all kinds of wet.
Cross out The Hitcher!
Coming up on Wednesday: In celebration of the next installment of the Insidious franchise, we’re taking a look at the Bride in Black in the supernatural sequel Insidious: Chapter 2.
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for nearly 250 hours of additional content! This month we’re going all in on the Insidious franchise with a episode discussing our thoughts on each entry, as well as delivering a full-length episode on the new film Insidious: The Red Door. We’ll also have episodes on the Netflix sequel Bird Box: Barcelona and the Set Rogen-produced horror film Cobweb. Plus: our audio commentary for the month is on the original Bird Box!
Aaliyah Innocent.
May was a busy subgenre-switching month. After kicking things off with disaster “slasher” The Poseidon Adventure (listen), we watched American Giallo The Fan (listen), then wrapped things up with Vincent Price’s horror comedy Theater of Blood (listen).
Now, in honor of Pride Month and the return of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire (renamed The Vampire Lestat for S03), Trace and I had to check out the straight-washed second attempt to bring Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles to life.
Back in 2002, director Michael Rymer pitched Hollywood on his vision for Rice’s second Chronicle book, The Vampire Lestat. Instead, the suits opted to adapt the third book, Queen of the Damned (likely due to the ancillary opportunities of the soundtrack, written entirely by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis).
In the film, Lestat (Stuart Townsend) awakens from slumber to reinvent himself as a leather-pant-wearing rocker. Lestat’s very public vampire persona attracts the attention of Talamasca novice Jesse (Marguerite Moreau), as well as the vampire’s maker Marius (Vincent Perez). But the nu-metal has the greatest impact on Akasha (Aaliyah), who awakens and promises to take over the world if her old foe Maharet (Lena Olin) doesn’t stop her.
Whose side will Lestat join? Will Marius help his fledgling or abandon him to public sacrifice? And does anyone actually care about Jesse? (Please note: that last question is rhetorical.)
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 389: Queen of the Damned (2002)
Practice your Egyptian accent and bare that midriff because we are talking the troubled “adaptation” of Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned (2002).
Directed by Australian Michael Rymer, this one was doomed by the suits before it was even greenlit (which happened AFTER all of the songs were written by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis). It’s a bit of a clusterfuck.
Plus: praising everything Aaliyah (RIP); critiquing everything Stuart Townsend (aside from his abs and leather pants); a soft queer reading of Marius; and bemoaning boring protagonist/audience surrogate JESSE.
Cross out Queen of the Damned!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling Ben Stiller’s horror-adjacent dark comedy The Cable Guy (1996), in anticipation of its 30th anniversary!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 495 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal Season 3 Episodes 5 & 6, Backrooms, Passenger, Leviticus, an audio commentary on the original Scary Movie (2000), and the return of our Requel Tier as we begin our episode coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat.