Podcasts
The Horrors of Conformity in ‘Disturbing Behavior’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Fluid Boys & Peckerheads.
It seems like just yesterday that we were doing a themed month on Doppelgängers and deception (it was actually last month), and while we concluded March with discussions of classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (listen) and The Stepford Wives (listen), we took a break for a week to look at David Fincher’s Panic Room (listen). Now, we’re heading back into the world of doppelgängers with a look at David Nutter‘s teenybopper version of The Stepford Wives in 1998’s Disturbing Behavior.
In the film, Steve (James Marsden) has just moved to the small town of Cradle Bay with his parents and sister (Katharine Isabelle), quickly realizing that there’s something off with his peers. The preppy clique known as the Blue Ribbons are the eerie embodiment of academic excellence and clean living but, like the rest of the town, they’re a little too perfect.
When Steve’s misfit friend Gavin (Nick Stahl) mysteriously joins their ranks, Steve teams up with fellow misfit Rachel (Katie Holmes) to get to the bottom of the mystery and save the town’s youths before it’s too late.
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Episode 329: Disturbing Behavior (1998)
Self-mutilate this, fluid boy, because we’re talking Blue Ribbons and hack jobs in David Nutter‘s teenybopper version of The Stepford Wives in 1998’s Disturbing Behavior!
Join us as we go all in on this film’s extremely troubled production (seriously, it’s bad!) before diving into the plot of this extended episode of The X-Files.
Plus, mathematics vs. moments, peckerheads, some well-earned praise for Nick Stahl and test screening after test screening after test screening (after test screening).
Cross out Disturbing Behavior!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re checking out John Carpenter’s foray into the world of Stephen King with a look at 1983’s Christine!
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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!
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