Screaming Queenz

Episode 64 - Hostel, Part 2

In the second part of our Hostel takeover we're looking at - you guessed it - Hostel, part 2! With cameos by Edwige Fenech and Ruggero Deodato not to mention a cast of characters you could actually sympathise with, Eli Roth upped his game the second time round. Hear our take on the sequel that improved on the original, which characters we rooted for, and how this film references Return To Oz!

Light some candles, grab your scythe and get ready to writhe in your bloodbath as the Screaming Queenz take on torture porn a second time...

NAZISPLOITATION! Ilsa She Wolf of the SS

Brace yourselves and check your moral compass at the door - we're taking on Nazisploitation! A gratuitous and tasteless mix of sex and swastikas, Nazisploitation was a new low for exploitation and horror. And their poster girl, the big-breasted ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS, has become an icon for genre fans. Serving up titilation and torture porn in a concentration camp is about as horrid as it sounds. This episode looks at the genre as a whole and in amongst the shocked laughs and filthy jokes we scratch the surface and looks closer at the motivation behind trivialising the holocaust, the limits of artistic freedom, and how to tackle such subjects in the post-Twitter, politically correct climate we live in now.

Expect near-the-knuckle humour and a lot of spoilers!

Episode 62 - Terrifying The Strangers with Ghost Stories in a Quiet Place

The Screaming Queenz have been taking a look at the current crop of horror movies making waves. Terrifier, The Strangers 2, Ghost Stories and A Quiet Place get our undivided attention - but do they do divide the room? Which film do we think is vastly over-rated? Which do we think is a classic already? Is The Strangers just more of the same? Is Art the Clown scarier than Pennywise? Am I the only person in the horror community who actually likes the movie Signs?

And just how would you fit an 8 month old in a microwave? You'll get that reference when you listen to our rather tasteless but insightful rundown of these four new horrors.

Warning - there be spoilers.

Episode 61 - Hostel, Part 1

In the first of our two-part special looking at Eli Roth's HOSTEL movies, we're giving our uncensored queer views on Hostel (2005). Always an interesting watch for a queer horror fan with its toxic protagonists throwing the word 'fag' around with gay abandon whilst they fuck their way around Eastern Europe like ill-conceived throwbacks to the Porkys era, Hostel is easily written off as shallow macho trash. But we're digging deeper into the layers of Hostel (yes - there are layers!) and looking at the social and political influences on this film and the torture porn explosion in general. 

Is the film offensive for anything other than being a bit banal given the hype that surrounded it on its release? Is it a critique of American patriarchy riding rough-shod over 'poor backwards Eastern Europe'? And most importantly, will Eli Roth ever succumb to my embarrassing advances? 

Spark up a doobie, spitroast a hooker and indulge in some heavy-handed bro-talk with us. If you don't? You're so gay.

Episode 60 - Dream Home

How far would you go for that perfect view? In controversial Hong Kong slasher Dream Home, Josie Ho plays Sheung, who watches as the apartment of her dreams slips through her grasp as the rich get richer and the poor get to live in relative poverty. At the end of her tether, Sheung goes to extreme lengths to bring the price of her dream home down. What follows is a grisly, disturbing and surprisingly moving slasher flick that pushes the boundaries and even left US horrified!

Hear our take on this 2010 horror complete with the usual gutter humour and spoilers aplenty!

Episode 59 - ROPE - Swooning for Leopold&Loeb

We're taking a long hard look at Hitchcock's queer classic 'Rope' where Farley Granger and John Dall thumb their handsome noses at the Hayes code and play a queer couple who murder for kicks. OK so they couldn't kiss, touch or tap dance to Judy Garland, but almost every scene in this play-on-film crackles with queer sexual tension between the two... and that's before their mentor Jimmy Stewart shows up... But where did the inspiration come for these twisted queens?

Enter Leopold and Loeb - socialite bright young things who in 1924 killed a young boy for kicks and thought they were above the law. They weren't. But their twisted romance and horrific crime meant the pair went down in history. Not only did they inspire a play by Patrick Hamilton and the movie by Hitch but they inspired Swoon, a 90s avant garde queer art film. We look at both, we celebrate the genius of Hitch (again) but we also have a right old laugh about butt plugs, flip-flopping tops and bottoms, and reveal which queer heart throb COULD have played opposite Farley Granger... if he hadn't been so painfully closeted.

Spoilers, bad puns and frankly disgusting humour ahoy!

Episode 58 - Silence of the Lambs

Bridging the gap between thriller and horror, Silence of the Lambs has earned its status as a classic in the eyes of mainstream movie lovers and horror freaks alike. Pushing the fiendish horror icon Hannibal the Cannibal into the Oscar race, Silence made a big splash on its release and continues to be a firm favourite to this day. So what makes it so good? And why does it have such a chequered history with its LGBT audience? Grab yourself a nice chianti and watch out for flying jizz. This episode is rude, lewd and dangerous to know.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Episode 57 - My Bloody Valentine Original v Remake

It's our Valentine's special which means we're all feeling extra filthy as we take on Harry Warden and his big hard pick-axe! My Bloody Valentine (1981) is a Canadian slasher classic, neutered for years by the MPAA before finally being unleashed in all its skin-boiling, heart-ripping glory. It was then remade in 3D with added insipid TV stars and CGI in 2009 - some of us loved it, some of us hated it! But why? And which film comes out on top, the original or the remake? Settle down, shut off your social media and escape the onslaught of Capitalist monsters Clinton Cards and Hallmark and indulge yourself in a rude, funny and utterly terrifying ride through a subversive slash-a-thon. Not only do we take on a slasher giant but I'm dishing the dirt on what connects MBV to gay porn icon Jeff Stryker, Stephen confesses to why he ended up topless being stroked on Snapchat, Martin talks about that time his period was in sync with everyone else in his office, and Jonathan B gives us a fascinating insight into the world of non-female submarines...

SPOILERS ahead

Episode 56 - SCREAM

Mainstream horror took a nosedive in the mid 90s until the popcorn-munching masses had their spines tingled and egos massaged by Kevin Williamson's knowing script for a little movie called SCREAM. Horror legend Wes Craven directed this self-referential juggernaut that breathed life back into the multiplex-friendly scary movie genre. Whilst poking fun at the tropes of classic slashers it also used them to its advantage, terrifying everyone with that first 10 minutes before giving them a laugh for the remainder of the film. Are you a fan of Scream? Are we?? Stephen definitely is, whereas I've got my reservations. Hear all about it in our new episode which comes with a healthy dose of bad taste and spoilers!

Episode 55 - The Birds

"Get that seagull some tofu!" 

We're taking on the Hitchcock classic 'The Birds' which has gone down in history as one of the best nature vs humanity horrors, and also has a place in the hearts of anyone who likes their horror served up with a massive dollop of camp. Tippi Hedren is a legend - drag queens love her, gays love her, straights love her. But can she act? And most importantly just what do you call the shade of green she wears throughout the film? We look at the role of women in film in 1963 - and how revolutionary Tippi actually was. We also revel in the sheer brilliance of Hitchcock and his cast. Plug up your fireplace and turn all the lights out - you're gonna love this one!