Podcasts
‘Interview with the Vampire’ Creates One of Horror’s Most Surprising Killers [The Lady Killers Podcast]
“I want some more.”
When we think of Neil Jordan’s lush adaptation of the classic Anne Rice novel, we remember Tom Cruise’s surprisingly magnetic performance, the implied romance between Lestat (Cruise) and Louis (Brad Pitt), and a cast filled with ’90s heartthrobs. This genre-bending film is all this and more, but what we often forget is the story of one of horror’s most heartbreaking villains.
Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) is a little girl still cuddling her mother’s corpse and lingering close to death herself when she meets the vampire who will become her father. Struggling with demons of his own, Louis drains her blood and leaves her to die before Lestat swoops in to bestow the gift of immortal life. While this does mend their tenuous relationship, the new fathers have created a time bomb of inevitable pain. Eventually, Claudia will begin to long for the adult body she has no hope of ever possessing.
In the latest episode of Bloody FM’s The Lady Killers Podcast, co-hosts Jenn Adams, Rachel Reeves, Sammie Roffman, and Shelby Novak discuss one of the genre’s most surprising killers. Why does Lestat create Claudia? Why does Claudia hate Lestat? Why can’t Lestat find his way out of the swamp, and why is Louis always so sad? They’ll answer these questions and more as Gothic Horror Month continues.
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
Podcasts
Shakespearean Education in the Vincent Price-Starring ‘Theater of Blood’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Butch knows best…
After concluding May with discussions of the disaster “slasher” The Poseidon Adventure (listen) and Michael Biehn’s demon twink in the messy-but-watchable The Fan (listen), we’re heading back to the ’70s to discuss our very first Vincent Price film in Douglas Hickox‘s horror comedy Theater of Blood (1973).
In Theater of Blood, Vincent Price stars as Edward Lionheart, a disgraced Shakespearean actor who begins targeting the critics who shamed him. The gimmick? He’s taking inspiration from the death scenes in William Shakespeare’s plays! Aiding him is his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), who acts as the honeypot for her father’s macabre scheme.
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Episode 388: Theater of Blood (1973)
Brush up on your Shakespeare and protect those poodles because we’re covering our very first Vincent Price film in Douglas Hickox’s horror comedy Theater of Blood (1973), a personal favorite of both Price and Diana Rigg.
Join us as we go all in on this somewhat episodic (but also educational!) proto-slasher, wondering if we’re supposed to know that’s Diana Rigg in hippie drag, and cackling at some of these murder set pieces.
Plus, “Handsy Dickman,” narcissistic gravestones, antisemitic stage makeup, and the ultimate debate: is it theatER or theatRE?
C/W: Attempted suicide, off-screen dog murder.
Cross out Theater of Blood!
Coming Up Next: We’re celebrating the premiere of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat with a look at the much-maligned 2002 adaptation Queen of the Damned!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 492 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.