Podcasts
‘The Frighteners’ Scares Up a Sexy Killer Couple [The Ladykillers Podcast]
“We’re in the mood for a little vivisection.”
We’ve all heard the saying “less is more.” Marie Kondo championed this minimalist sentiment when convincing us to rid our homes of unwanted items and Coco Chanel lived by the rule of taking one accessory off before leaving the house. We’re not sure Peter Jackson has ever heard this saying as his films tend to be extravaganzas filled with lavish plotting, eccentric characters, and over-the-top effects. And we’re not mad about it. Years before he wowed the world with expansive adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and a mammoth remake of the 1933 classic King Kong, Jackson honed his delightful excesses in the horror genre culminating in the 1996 splatstick comedy The Frighteners.
Michael J. Fox stars as Frank Bannister, a widower blessed – or cursed – with the ability to see the dead. When he runs afoul of a ghostly killer and his surprising accomplice, Frank must team up with his ghoulish buddies and a crush-worthy doctor to stop the numeric killing spree before the body count grows any higher. With perplexing roles by horror royalty and a cartoonish approach to the world of the dead, The Frighteners charms with its 90s nostalgia, perplexes with indulgent characterization, and wins us over with its stunning and sexy female killer.
In a new episode of The Lady Killers, co-hosts Jenn Adams, Sammie Kuykendall, Mae Shults, and Rocco T. Thompson dust off their Ouija boards and rush their ashes to the chapel as they discuss aspirational crones, creepy manors, supernatural kink, and off-putting sidekicks. Is Patricia a villain or the victim of an older man? Why are we so attracted to a murderous Jake Busey? What’s going on in that opening scene and what movie does Jeffrey Combs think he’s in? They’ll count off each of these questions and more as they carve numbers into their foreheads and hop on the express bus to hell in a “more is more” episode on a smokin’ hot killer couple.
Stream the episode below or subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
Podcasts
Shakespearean Education in the Vincent Price-Starring ‘Theater of Blood’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Butch knows best…
After concluding May with discussions of the disaster “slasher” The Poseidon Adventure (listen) and Michael Biehn’s demon twink in the messy-but-watchable The Fan (listen), we’re heading back to the ’70s to discuss our very first Vincent Price film in Douglas Hickox‘s horror comedy Theater of Blood (1973).
In Theater of Blood, Vincent Price stars as Edward Lionheart, a disgraced Shakespearean actor who begins targeting the critics who shamed him. The gimmick? He’s taking inspiration from the death scenes in William Shakespeare’s plays! Aiding him is his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), who acts as the honeypot for her father’s macabre scheme.
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 388: Theater of Blood (1973)
Brush up on your Shakespeare and protect those poodles because we’re covering our very first Vincent Price film in Douglas Hickox’s horror comedy Theater of Blood (1973), a personal favorite of both Price and Diana Rigg.
Join us as we go all in on this somewhat episodic (but also educational!) proto-slasher, wondering if we’re supposed to know that’s Diana Rigg in hippie drag, and cackling at some of these murder set pieces.
Plus, “Handsy Dickman,” narcissistic gravestones, antisemitic stage makeup, and the ultimate debate: is it theatER or theatRE?
C/W: Attempted suicide, off-screen dog murder.
Cross out Theater of Blood!
Coming Up Next: We’re celebrating the premiere of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat with a look at the much-maligned 2002 adaptation Queen of the Damned!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 492 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.