Podcasts
Julia Cotton of ‘Hellraiser’ Is Our Valentine’s Day Queen [The Lady Killers Podcast]
“Please. I’ll do anything you want. Anything.”
Who among us hasn’t fallen for a bad boy once or twice? Maybe he’s the cute senior trying to cheat off of us in Algebra. Maybe he jumped our car when the battery died outside the mall. Or maybe he’s our fiancé’s hot brother knocking on our door in the middle of a rainstorm just desperate for a towel. Whatever the case, we all know what it’s like to get pulled into an illicit, but ill-advised affair. Sure it seems exciting at first, but it rapidly spirals into the further regions of hell.
Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins) finds herself in a similar situation in Clive Barker’s decadent masterpiece Hellraiser. When she hooks up with her future brother-in-law Frank (Sean Chapman) just days before the wedding, she allows herself to taste the sinful pleasures not available in a relationship with the stable and kind, but slightly boring Larry (Andrew Robinson). Catching up with Frank years later, she’s surprised to find him a goopy mess of bones and flesh hiding in the attic of his family home. Frightened at first, Julia vows to help Frank rebuild by bringing hapless men back to the attic and killing them with a hammer. This sparks a stylish murder spree that leads Julia to find power and excitement for the first time in years.
The Lady Killers continue Bad Romance Month with a special Valentine’s Day episode celebrating this seductive murderess who won their hearts with her wicked stepmother vibes, deliciously ’80s hair, and the look of satisfaction on her face when she realizes she just might enjoy killing men. What is Barker saying about the connection between pleasure and pain? Does Julia actually love Larry? Why is the Hell Priest so attractive and why doesn’t the Female Cenobite get a name of her own? Would they kill for skinless Frank and what’s the name of Kirsty’s (Ashley Laurence) boyfriend again? Together, Jenn Adams, Mae Shults, Rocco T. Thompson, and Sammie Kuykendall will venture into the attic and explore the further regions of experience as they pledge their undying love for their Valentine’s Day Queen.
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
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.