Podcasts
Queer Overtones and Showy Psychos in ‘Murder By Numbers’ [Horror Queers]
Bullock’s Badly Behaved Baboon.
After kicking off our month-long theme on toxic masculinity with difficult watches like Funny Games (listen) and Deadgirl (listen), we’re slowing things down a bit this week with Barbet Schroeder‘s 2002 Leopold and Loeb adaptation (of sorts) Murder By Numbers.
In Murder By Numbers, two gifted high school students named Richard and Justin (Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt, respectively) execute a “perfect” murder – then become engaged in an intellectual contest with seasoned homicide detective Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock). The only problem for them is that Cassie has a dark past that she’s been hiding, and it will help her solve the case.
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Episode 256: Murder By Numbers (2002)
Let’s derange the world because the profile doesn’t fit the profile, which means that we’re covering Barbet Schroeder’s 2002 film Murder By Numbers. Tagging in for this lively conversation are Patrick and Gena of the Kill By Kill podcast.
Join us as we go all in on this “thriller” that’s filled to the brim with queer overtones (courtesy of a baby Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt), while trying to figure out which of the two main storylines is the more interesting one. Bullock is innocent, though!
Plus: one very random baboon attack, absinthe etiquette, Claire Redfield’s jacket, showy psychos, curtain bangs and a mind-bogglingly huge $50 million budget.
Cross out Murder By Numbers!
Coming up on Wednesday: We conclude our look at toxic masculinity with a discussion of David Slade’s Hard Candy.
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After kicking off July with discussions of Joe Dante’s seminal werewolf film The Howling (listen) and Ken Russell’s controversial erotic thriller Crimes of Passion (listen), we’re heading to Maine to dissect one of Stephen King‘s most misguided adaptations in Lawrence Kasdan‘s 2003 misfire Dreamcatcher!
Dreamcatcher sees friends Henry (Thomas Jane), Jonesy (Damian Lewis), Pete (Timothy Olyphant) and Beaver (Jason Lee) reunite for their annual hunting trip in Maine. Their reunion is cut short when they find themselves caught in the middle of a war between a hostile race of farty-farty aliens and an elite US military unit led by Colonel Abraham Curtis (Morgan Freeman), who has been driven mad after spending decades tracking the extraterrestrials. When Jonesy is possessed by one of the aliens, the remaining friends seek out their disabled childhood friend Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg), who they believe has powers that can save Jonesy…and the world.
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 396: Dreamcatcher (2003)
Watch out for “ister gay” (oof), take some Gas-X and bite our bags because we’re talking Lawrence Kasdan’s baffling 2003 adaptation of Stephen King’s equally baffling novel Dreamcatcher.
Join us as we go all in on the farty-farty aliens populating this hilarious misfire that often feels like a bad Kevin Smith script. It’s a film filled with characters who get a single defining trait (if they’re lucky), played by respectable actors who are here for the paycheck (looking at you, Morgan Freeman).
Plus: blown-out assholes, using guns as telephones, pitying poor Donnie Wahlberg, and wondering why the hell this movie is called Dreamcatcher.
Cross out Dreamcatcher!
Coming Up Next: We’re going to be lounging around a posh Greenwich Village apartment as we check in on Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954).
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