Podcasts
Worshipping at the Altar of Julia Cotton in ‘Hellbound: Hellraiser II’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
We’re here about a mattress…
After wrapping up 2023 with look at New French Extremity in Inside (listen), horror musicals in Anna and the Apocalypse (listen) and the Best Horror Films of 2023 (listen), we’re kicking off our first official episode of 2024 with a lengthy discussion of Tony Randel‘s better-than-it-has-any-right-to-be sequel Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), which just celebrated its 35th anniversary!
Hellbound: Hellraiser II picks up hours after the first film ended, seeing Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) confined to a mental hospital after she tells the authorities that her father was betrayed by his evil, adulterous wife, Julia (Clare Higgins), and is now being tormented in hell by sadomasochistic demons called Cenobites. Few believe Kirsty, except the thrill-seeking Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham), who is so intrigued by her frightening stories that he teams up with a newly resurrected Julia. When they open the gates to Hell and unleash the Cenobites, Kirsty and fellow patient Tiffany (Imogen Boorman) try to stop them.
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Episode 263: Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Put on your best white suit because we’ve got a date with a bloody mattress in Tony Randel’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). Tagging in for the discussion is our forever-Hellraiser guest: Bryan Christopher!
Join us as we heap all the deserve praise on Clare Higgins’ Julia Cotton, who finally gets her due in this spectacular sequel. Hellbound astounds with a bigger budget and more world building, but sometimes suffers from an unfocused kitchen sink approach that the first film wisely avoided.
Plus: humanizing the Cenobites, discussing what a “sex movie” is, Trace’s unlikely remake proposition, Ashley Laurence’s excellent “WTF” face and Julia’s America’s Next Top Model vortex challenge.
Cross out Hellbound: Hellraiser II!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re going to be discussing carnivorous contraceptives in Martin Walz’s 1996 horror comedy Killer Condom!
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After winding down June with discussions of our vey first William Castle film Homicidal (listen) and queer director Roland Emmerich’s summer tentpole Independence Day (listen), we’re heading back to 1981 to check out Joe Dante‘s seminal werewolf film The Howling.
The Howling sees television journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace) attend a psychiatric retreat with her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) after being attacked and traumatized by local serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). It isn’t long before Karen realizes that the retreat is actually a secret cult of werewolves, and they’ve already got their sights set on Bill.
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 394: The Howling (1981)
Make note of that smiley face sticker and snag that conveniently-placed jar of acid because we’re talking Joe Dante’s stealth werewolf classic The Howling (1981)!
Join us as we discuss the film’s deviations from its source material before doing a deep dive into this very tongue-in-cheek, self-aware horror film. It honestly feels like a precursor to Scream, in many ways!
Plus: Roger Corman (again!) those incredible special effects, differentiating “color movies” from “movies in color,” and why queer icon Elisabeth Brooks has us going “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!”
Cross out The Howling!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling our very first Ken Russell film with a look at his controversial 1984 erotic thriller Crimes of Passion!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 508 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 Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (aka Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch), and the conclusion of our coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat on the Requel Tier.