Podcasts
‘Cat’s Eye’ at 40: Exploring Lewis Teague’s Other Stephen King Creature Feature [The Losers’ Club Podcast]
Two things were hot in 1980s horror: formulaic slashers and Stephen King. The mega success of Brian De Palma’s Carrie in 1976 followed by Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece The Shining, turned the unpolished Maine writer into a household name and left studios clamoring to secure rights to his next terrifying tale. By 1985, the trend was in full swing with multiple adaptations filling theaters and more rushing their way into production. After the success of his 1983 adaptation of Cujo, director Lewis Teague took inspiration from another household pet with the 1985 film Cat’s Eye. This anthology film sees King adapt two of his own stories from the 1978 collection Night Shift while penning an original story to tie them together. Starring the Firestarter herself, Drew Barrymore, the film is an 80s curio filled with maniacal mobsters, mythical creatures, and an intrepid cat determined to save the day.
In the latest episode of Bloody FM’s The Losers’ Club podcast, co-hosts Jenn Adams, Rachel Reeves, and Dan Pfleegor revisit this charming anthology film and its place near the peak of the 80s King trend. From rocky financing and narrative changes to mixed reactions from critics and fans, they’ll follow the General on a long walk through this delightful oddity in King’s cinematic cannon. Which of the film’s three chapters are their favorites and do any feel slightly out of place? Did Alan Silvestri use this score to work out motifs later heard in Back to the Future? How did Teague capture such strong performances from his feline actors and do we need Barrymore to appear in every vignette? From paranoid ex-smokers and reckless gamblers to a tiny monster trying to steal a child’s breath, the Losers explore this delightful anthology and perhaps the best easter egg sequence ever committed to film.
Stream the episode below and stay tuned for more King chaos in the weeks to come – including a much-needed news episode. For further adventures, join the Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of content in The Barrens (Patreon).
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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