Podcasts
‘Full Dark, No Stars’: Stephen King’s ‘Big Driver’ Hits the Gas With a Complex Revenge Story [The Losers’ Club Podcast]
“How many unsuspected selves could a person have, hidden deep inside? She was beginning to think the number might be infinite.”
As the temperatures continue to drop and the autumn leaves begin to fall, there’s nothing more pleasant than a long, leisurely drive down a picturesque country road. Unless, the driver is Stephen King. Any road trip navigated by the Master of Horror is bound to twist and turn through the darkest recesses of the human heart. After traveling back to the year 1922, The Losers’ Club continues their coverage of King’s disturbing collection Full Dark, No Stars by shining a light on the rape-revenge tale Big Driver.
Tess Thorne loves to drive. After delivering a lunchtime lecture in Chicopee, Massachusetts, the cozy mystery writer avoids the turnpike in favor of a rural detour and uncovers a hellish trap worse than anything within the pages of her Knitting Society novels. Armed with a GPS she affectionately calls Tom, Tess embarks on a harrowing journey of revenge that will cause her to embrace the dark versions of herself she never knew existed.
Like King’s novella, this episode is not for the faint of heart. Join Jenn Adams, Randall Colburn, and Justin Gerber as they dive into the world of rape-revenge storytelling, including the subject’s controversial nature and classic examples of the subgenre both old and new. Together, they discuss King’s treatment of female characters, the healing power of community, and the story’s beautifully upsetting prose that helps normalize an all-too-familiar experience. Sometimes, the worst monsters are the ones we encounter on the sunniest of days.
Stream the episode below and return next week as the Losers dive head-first into October. Continue cruising through the club’s extensive catalogs via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of content in The Barrens (Patreon) — including their latest book episode on Holly.
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.
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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.