Podcasts
The Dark Double of Sexual Repression in ‘Black Swan’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Lezzy Wet Dream.
After a February spent looking at Mitchell Lichtenstein’s horror comedy Teeth (listen), one of the “good” Amityville entries – that would be Amityville 1992: It’s About Time (listen) – and Robert Weine’s classic silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), we’re kicking off a themed month of ‘Doppelgängers and Deception’ with a fresh look at Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010).
P.S. We previously covered the film as part of our editorial series. Read the article here.
In the film, sexually repressed ballet dancer Nina (an Oscar winning Natalie Portman) struggles to convince company director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) that she can handle the emotional complexity of playing the dual lead roles in a new production of Swan Lake.
Her overprotective mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) worries about Nina’s ability to handle the stress, which isn’t helped by the arrival of a new rival named Lily (Mila Kunis) who embodies all of the sexy confidence that Nina doesn’t have.
As Nina’s vivid hallucinations escalate and opening night fast approaches, will the novice be able to deliver the perfect performance she dreams of? Or is she doomed to end up like maligned and cast aside just her predecessor Beth (Winona Ryder)?
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Episode 324: Black Swan (2010)
Break in your ballet shoes and for God’s sake, let this girl climax (!) because we are talking about Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan.
From Natalie Portman’s Oscar winning performance to this stacked cast to its immersive handheld camera, Black Swan is a big fave, even if Nina’s passivity can be frustrating to watch.
Plus: debate about Thomas’ sexual assault, lauding Ryder’s profane Beth, sheet cake meltdowns, the desire for perfection, and exquisite mirror work.
Cross out Black Swan!
Coming up on Wednesday: Our second entry in the series intersects with sex work as we check out Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber’s technology-inspired Cam (2018).
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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.