Podcasts
Best Friend “Roommates” in Albert Ray’s ‘The Thirteenth Guest’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Pre-Code Problems.
After wrapping up October with Robert Zemeckis’ hilarious dark comedy Death Becomes Her (listen), we kicked off November with a look back at Wes Craven’s classic slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street (listen). Now, we’re traveling all the way back to the ’30s to discuss Albert Ray‘s 1932 murder mystery comedy The Thirteenth Guest!
In The Thirteenth Guest, Marie Morgan (Ginger Rogers) has just turned 21 and can now accept the inheritance that her father left her when he died at a dinner party 13 years prior. That dinner party was supposed to have 13 guests in attendance, but only 12 showed up.
While Marie tries to figure out the identity of the mysteriously absent thirteenth guest, a psychopath has started killing off the other attendees of that fated dinner party, with the dead bodies being left at the table in the same seats they had originally occupied all those years ago.
As the bodies start piling up, private investigator Phil Winston (Lyle Talbot) is called in to solve the mystery, but can he find the killer before it’s too late?
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Episode 308: The Thirteenth Guest (1932)
Prepare to get “potted” because we’re discussing not just any murder, but a good murder in Albert Ray‘s confusing as all get-out 1932 murder mystery comedy The Thirteenth Guest! Tagging in for the conversation is Amanda Jane Stern, the co-writer/star of the new psychosexual thriller Perfectly Good Moment.
Join us as we try to figure out just what the hell is going on in this convoluted little film, which features an early Ginger Rogers performance (in a dual role, no less!). From electrified telephones to mysterious rooms without trap doors, there’s just too much crammed into this film’s extremely brief 69-minute runtime for it to make any kind of sense.
Plus: an absolutely horrifying colorized version of the film, a brother and his “roommate,” and souls that look like the inside of vinegar bottles. Oh, and who in the hell is the titular thirteenth guest???
Cross out The Thirteenth Guest!
Coming up on Wednesday: To celebrate the premiere of The Creep Tapes on Shudder (review), we’re taking a look at the better-than-the-original sequel Creep 2!
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After winding down June with discussions of our vey first William Castle film Homicidal (listen) and queer director Roland Emmerich’s summer tentpole Independence Day (listen), we’re heading back to 1981 to check out Joe Dante‘s seminal werewolf film The Howling.
The Howling sees television journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace) attend a psychiatric retreat with her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) after being attacked and traumatized by local serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). It isn’t long before Karen realizes that the retreat is actually a secret cult of werewolves, and they’ve already got their sights set on Bill.
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 394: The Howling (1981)
Make note of that smiley face sticker and snag that conveniently-placed jar of acid because we’re talking Joe Dante’s stealth werewolf classic The Howling (1981)!
Join us as we discuss the film’s deviations from its source material before doing a deep dive into this very tongue-in-cheek, self-aware horror film. It honestly feels like a precursor to Scream, in many ways!
Plus: Roger Corman (again!) those incredible special effects, differentiating “color movies” from “movies in color,” and why queer icon Elisabeth Brooks has us going “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!”
Cross out The Howling!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling our very first Ken Russell film with a look at his controversial 1984 erotic thriller Crimes of Passion!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 508 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Forbidden Fruits, Saccharine, Evil Dead Burn, an audio commentary on Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (aka Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch), and the conclusion of our coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat on the Requel Tier.