Podcasts
‘The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole’ Presaged Stephen King’s Drift Towards Crime Fiction [The Losers’ Club Podcast]
In 2009, Stephen King asked his fans what they’d rather get first — a sequel to The Shining or a new Dark Tower book. They voted for Shining sequel, but the Dark Tower book came first anyway. That book? The Wind Through the Keyhole, a (relatively) trim tale that revisits our favorite gunslinger and his ka-tet in between the events of Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla. In it, Roland spins an eerie tale from his youth over a roaring fire as a starkblast rages outside. As far as Dark Tower stories go, it’s a cozy one.
Join The Losers’ Club‘s Randall Colburn, Dan Caffrey, and Dan Pfleegor as they palaver about its nesting story structure, fairy tale detour, and emotional peek at a young gunslinger in the throes of grief. More importantly, was this book the one that best presaged King’s drift towards crime fiction? Yes, absolutely, 100%.
Stream the discussion below and stay tuned next week when the Losers return with their first book episode of 2024 with Joyland. For further adventures, join the Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of content in The Barrens (Patreon), including more Lobstrosities like this episode.
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Podcasts
Ableism, Representation, and Perverse Sexuality in ‘Wait Until Dark’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
After concluding April with discussions of Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) and David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (listen), we kicked off May with a revisit of Stephen Sommers’ delightful 1999 film, The Mummy (listen).
Now we’re headed into the past with Terence Young‘s adaptation of Frederick Knott‘s “disabled woman in danger” play, Wait Until Dark (1967).
In the film, recently blind Susy (Audrey Hepburn) is menaced by a trio of strange men, including sexually perverse ring leader Roat (Alan Arkin), “nice guy” Talman (Richard Crenna) and portly Carlino (Jack Weston). The men are looking for a doll full of heroin, which is located somewhere in her apartment, but she doesn’t know where!
Can Susy figure out the scam with the help of upstairs neighbor girl Gloria (Julie Herrod) or will she wind up hanging in the closet like Roat’s poor accomplice Lisa (Samantha Jones)?
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, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 281: Wait Until Dark (1967) feat. Ariel Baska
Smash all the lights and strike a match because we’re talking about disability horror, Audrey Hepburn and Wait Until Dark (1967).
Joining us for the conversation is disability documentary filmmaker Ariel Baska, who has a love/hate relationship with the film and its contribution to “cripping up.”
Plus: that famous jump scare, accusations of misogyny and ableism, the gross history of “Ugly Laws,” and the return of Trace’s recurring joke about Charade.
Cross out Wait Until Dark!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re going into genre-adjacent territory with a look at Gregg Araki’s horrifying adaptation of Scott Heim’s novel, Mysterious Skin.
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 308 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal Season 1 Episode 5, a double feature of Sting and Infested, Tarot and The Strangers: Chapter One. And our audio commentary for the month will be on Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell, just in time for its 15th anniversary!
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