Podcasts
The Bisexual Energy of the Cast of ‘The Mummy’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Romancing the Mummy.
After concluding April with discussions of Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen), a horror version of The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, and the pseudo-sequel to Videodrome in David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (listen), we’re kicking off May with a revisit to one of our favorite years for cinema: 1999! The film we’ve selected is Stephen Sommer‘s action-adventure-horror-romantic-comedy The Mummy!
In the film, adventurer Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with librarian Evelyn “Evy” Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her older brother Jonathan (John Hannah). While there, they accidentally awaken Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a cursed high priest-turned-invincible mummy, and must stop him before he sacrifices Evy in an attempt to resurrect his former lover (Patricia Velásquez).
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Episode 280: The Mummy (1999)
Don’t read from the Book of the Dead and definitely don’t pick up any of those Scarab jewels, because we’re discussing Stephen Sommers‘ masterful action-adventure-horror-romantic-comedy The Mummy (1999), just in time for its 25th anniversary! Tagging in for the conversation is Welsh singer-songwriter Rod Thomas, aka Bright Light Bright Light!
Join us as we go all in on this summer blockbuster spectacle. From the bisexual energy of a perfectly cast Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz to a rather wild and incredibly lengthy production history (Clive Barker was involved???), we’ve got you covered on all things The Mummy!
Plus: how Babe: Pig in the City almost ruined Universal, an educational conversation about Rotten Tomatoes, and one major disagreement over a drunk acting scene!
Cross out The Mummy!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re headed back in time to check in with a blind Audrey Hepburn in the 1967 classic Wait Until Dark.
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Aaliyah Innocent.
May was a busy subgenre-switching month. After kicking things off with disaster “slasher” The Poseidon Adventure (listen), we watched American Giallo The Fan (listen), then wrapped things up with Vincent Price’s horror comedy Theater of Blood (listen).
Now, in honor of Pride Month and the return of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire (renamed The Vampire Lestat for S03), Trace and I had to check out the straight-washed second attempt to bring Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles to life.
Back in 2002, director Michael Rymer pitched Hollywood on his vision for Rice’s second Chronicle book, The Vampire Lestat. Instead, the suits opted to adapt the third book, Queen of the Damned (likely due to the ancillary opportunities of the soundtrack, written entirely by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis).
In the film, Lestat (Stuart Townsend) awakens from slumber to reinvent himself as a leather-pant-wearing rocker. Lestat’s very public vampire persona attracts the attention of Talamasca novice Jesse (Marguerite Moreau), as well as the vampire’s maker Marius (Vincent Perez). But the nu-metal has the greatest impact on Akasha (Aaliyah), who awakens and promises to take over the world if her old foe Maharet (Lena Olin) doesn’t stop her.
Whose side will Lestat join? Will Marius help his fledgling or abandon him to public sacrifice? And does anyone actually care about Jesse? (Please note: that last question is rhetorical.)
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 389: Queen of the Damned (2002)
Practice your Egyptian accent and bare that midriff because we are talking the troubled “adaptation” of Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned (2002).
Directed by Australian Michael Rymer, this one was doomed by the suits before it was even greenlit (which happened AFTER all of the songs were written by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis). It’s a bit of a clusterfuck.
Plus: praising everything Aaliyah (RIP); critiquing everything Stuart Townsend (aside from his abs and leather pants); a soft queer reading of Marius; and bemoaning boring protagonist/audience surrogate JESSE.
Cross out Queen of the Damned!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling Ben Stiller’s horror-adjacent dark comedy The Cable Guy (1996), in anticipation of its 30th anniversary!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 495 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.