Podcasts
Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Death Proof’ Is a High-Octane Slasher Fueled By Fiery Females [The Lady Killers Podcast]
“Fuck that shit! Let’s kill this bastard.”
Slashers are a staple of the horror genre. When we think about this lovably formulaic narrative trope we imagine masked killers, sharp knives, and final girls who find empowerment by picking up the killer’s weapon and refuse to play a part in someone else’s story. What we don’t often think about is cars. Typical slasher villains are more likely to be seen hiding in bushes or lurking on the edges of a placid lake than behind the wheel of a tricked out stunt car. But not in Quentin Tarantino’s world. The unique director takes his own crack at the slasher with Death Proof, a thrilling action/horror blend with intoxicating hangout vibes and a group of ferocious female friends.
Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) is excited for a night out on the town in sweaty Austin, Texas when a stranger in an Icy Hot jacket approaches her group at the local dive bar. Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) is a smooth-talking nacho-eater who selflessly offers to drive another patron home after receiving a lap dance from the semi-reluctant Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito). No sooner have they hit the road than Mike’s car appears out of nowhere and smashes them to gory pieces. It turns out he is a devious serial killer who uses his “death proof” car to run victims down. Fourteen months later, Mike is back on the road and hunting for another group of “girlfriends” to kill. But the women he targets are full of surprises. Abernathy (Rosario Dawson), Zoë (Zoë Bell), and Kim (Tracie Thoms) fight for their lives in a harrowing car chase through the back roads of Lebanon, TN. But who will come out on top of the dashboard and has Stuntman Mike finally met his match?
The Lady Killers continue Hot Girl Summer with Tarantino’s vibe-heavy twist on the slasher sub-genre. Co-hosts Jenn Adams, Sammie Kuykendall, Rocco Thompson, and Mae Shults will chat about southern locales, insufferable poetry, cheerleader collateral, and the ethics of lap dancing. Which group of ladies would they choose to join? Is Ship’s Mast too dangerous to actually play? Is it ever ok to give yourself a nickname and is there anything Kurt Russell could do to turn us off? Hop onto the hood and cruise through the country for a high-octane episode on this unexpected gem.
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
It’s been a busy month on Murder Made Fiction podcast. In addition to introducing a new co-host (Perfectly Good Moment‘s Amanda Jane Stern), we spent Pride Month tackling a wide variety of Leopold and Loeb fictional adaptations.
In 1924 Chicago, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb plotted to commit the perfect murder when they abducted and killed 14-year-old Bobby Franks. As Amanda outlines in her primer on the case, the men were caught almost immediately and the media circus that followed was billed “the trial of the century”.
Listen to Leopold and Loeb mini primer.
The fallout has reverberated throughout the last century as countless books, plays, musicals, and films have drawn on the case for inspiration. Some are more faithful than others, such as Richard Fleischer‘s 1959 drama Compulsion, which stars a young Dean Stockwell as Leopold and Orson Welles as the boys’ lawyer, John Darrow (named Jonathan Wilk in the film).
Listen to Leopold and Loeb: Compulsion (1959).
Then there are the texts that use the idea of queer-coded killers as a jumping off point, but confuse (or flat-out disregard) the details of the real life case in favour of jumbled fiction. That’s what happens in Barbet Schroeder‘s Murder by Numbers, which awkwardly introduces a tortured backstory for lead actress (and executive producer) Sandra Bullock. The result is an uneven film that misunderstands which of its two competing storylines are actually interesting (hint: it’s the Leopold and Loeb stuff with Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt).
Listen to Leopold and Loeb: Murder by Numbers (2002).
We ended up discussing other (often more successful) titles on Patreon, including 1992’s Swoon (a New Queer Cinema art-house take on the crime), Michael Haneke‘s 2007 Funny Games remake, and gay screenwriter Kevin Williamson‘s Scream, which proved to be a much more reverent and sly interpretation of L&L than we anticipated.
We wrapped up the month with a final summary episode about our favorite adaptations before chatting with author and archivist Erik Rebain, who literally wrote the book on Leopold (Arrested Adolescence) and maintains one of the foremost websites on the crime.
Watch our discussion on YouTube below (or listen here):
Next month: For July, we’re turning our attention to the Boston Strangler, with a look at films from 1964 and 1968, as well as the most contemporary version from 2023, starring Kiera Knightley and Carrie Coon.
Want even more true crime adaptations and Murder Made Fiction? Support the show on Patreon to listen to the aforementioned episodes, as well as a full-length primer on the case and 160+ hours of bonus content.
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