Podcasts
The Family-Friendly Antics of ‘Critters’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Kill Krites.
After kicking off August with discussions of Paul Morrissey’s Udo Kier-starring vehicle Blood for Dracula (listen) and Julia Ducournau’s confronting Raw follow-up Titane (listen), we’re dialing things back a bit with a comfort watch of Stephen Herek‘s 1986 cult classic (and franchise originator) Critters!
Critters sees an fuzzy alien race known as the Krites flee a prison asteroid and land next to a farm in the small town of Grover’s Bend. Kansas. The farm belongs to the Brown family — Jay (Billy Green Bush), Helen (Dee Wallace), their daughter, April (Nadine Van Der Velde), and their son, Brad (Scott Grimes) — and they must fend off the malevolent little critters with the help of two alien bounty hunters with superhuman abilities.
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 297: Critters (1986)
Hop out of that toilet and repair that slingshot because we’re headed to the cozy little town of Grover’s Bend, Kansas to meet up with some Krites in Stephen Herek‘s 1986 horror comedy Critters (can you believe it’s Joe’s first time???).
Join us as we go deep into the production of this film that’s absolutely not a ripoff of Gremlins (seriously!) before diving into the hilarious antics of the titular toothy furballs and the adventures of the Brown family.
Plus: a discussion of “toned films,” not-so-bratty-Brad (Scott Grimes), bowling alley shenanigans and one absolutely hilarious use of subtitles.
Cross out Critters!
Coming up on Wednesday: Just in time for the 36-years-later sequel, we’re taking a look at Tim Burton’s original classic Beetlejuice!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 330 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal Season 1 Episode 9, Blink Twice, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the American remake of Speak No Evil and, finally, our brand new audio commentary on Beck & Woods’ Haunt for its 5th anniversary.
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.