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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Game Loop.
Trace and I inadvertently bookended our April discussions of John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London (listen) and Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) with Jude Law films. At the start of the month, we tackled Matt Damon’s Italian grifter in The Talented Mr. Ripley (listen) and now we’re closing out April with David Cronenberg‘s eXistenZ (1999).
The unofficial sequel to Videodrome (listen) and precursor to Crimes of the Future, eXistenZ takes place in the world of virtual reality and simulation. Game goddess Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is forced to go on the run with PR nerd Ted Pikul (Jude Law) through the Canadian backwoods when ‘Realist’ terrorists declare open season on her life.
Featuring no shortage of strange encounters and oddball characters, including Willem Dafoe‘s queer-coded Gas and Canadian film royalty like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley, Allegra and Ted must travel between the real world and the game world, all the while keeping track of who is friendly…and who is foe.
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 279: eXistenZ (1999) feat Vannah Taylor
Lube up your industry standard bio-port because we’re playing David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) with someone friendly: Vannah Taylor!
David Cronenberg’s meditation on the dangers of gaming and simulation is the middle entry of an unofficial trilogy. It’s also a film that gets real confusing, real fast, so good luck figuring out if we’re still in the game!
Plus: criticisms of a “bland” game world, praise for Jennifer Jason Leigh, Canadian royalty, comparisons to Serenity, disgusting gristle guns, and Pikul getting his back blown out (several times!)
Cross out eXistenZ!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re continuing our celebration of 1999 films with a look at Stephen Sommers’ bisexual awakening, action adventure film, The Mummy (1999).
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 306 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal S01E04, Late Night with the Devil, The First Omen, Femme, Abigail and a brand new audio commentary on the original The Omen (1976).
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