Podcasts
The Gender-Bending Antics of William Castle’s ‘Homicidal’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
After winding down June with discussions of Ben Stiller’s genre-adjacent black comedy The Cable Guy (listen) and Emerald Fennell’s divisive sophomore effort Saltburn (listen), we’re covering our very first William Castle film with a look at his Psycho homage Homicidal (1961).
In the exposition-heavy film, homicidal Emily (Joan Marshall, credited as Jean Arless) murders a prominent justice of the peace before retreating to the home of her lover Warren, acting as nurse to his mute former caretaker Helga (Eugenie Leontovich). After witnessing the abuse that Emily subjects Helga to, Warren’s half-sister Miriam (Patricia Breslin) becomes suspicious that Emily is not who she claims she to be. Her investigation into Emily’s past sets the stage for one of William Castle’s most outrageous films with an even more outrageous ending.
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Episode 392: Homicidal (1961)
Grab your favorite surgical knife and call your mobile knife sharpener because we’re discussing our very first William Castle film in his 1961 Psycho homage (or rip-off…you decide) Homicidal!
Join us as we discuss the origins of William Castle, aka “The Gimmick Guy”, before diving into a film that has a fantastic first and last 15 minutes, but also a middle hour filled with obscene amounts of exposition. And don’t forget about the Fright Break!
Plus: Alyssa Edwards chatter, humans drinking bowls of warm milk, all the praise for Jean Arless’ (aka Joan Marshall’s) dual performance, and a primer on Christine Jorgensen, the first person to become widely known in the United States for having gender reassignment surgery.
Cross out Homicidal!
Coming Up Next: We’re celebrating Independence Day in style with a look at queer writer/director Roland Emmerich’s decade-defining alien invasion film Independence Day!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 500 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.
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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