Horror Queers

Ride that hippo and stay off the floor because we are talking about Bryan Fuller's feature directorial debut, Dust Bunny (2025).

Starring a perfectly cast Sophie Sloan as a young girl who hires a nameless hitman (Mads Mikkelsen) to kill the monster under her bed, this is a throwback to classic gateway horror films from the Amblin era.

Plus: Sigourney Weaver (and her gun heels), praise for balancing so many genres/tones, homages aplen...

Grab those dice, Sonny Jim! Roll with the punches and and pray they read 5 or 8 because we're talking Joe Johnston's original gateway horror creature feature Jumanji (1995) for its 30th anniversary, or as it could also be called: 'Daddy Issues: The Movie'.

Join us as we go all in on the film that made Trace a fan of creature features to begin with. From its dark tone (especially when compared to the newer Jumanji films) to its scary...

Touch that alien rock and film yourself doing *everything* because we are talking about Josh Trank's superhero (villain?) film, Chronicle (2012).

This found footage film features strong performances by Dane DeHaan and a charismatic Michael B. Jordan, as well as a clever explanation for the usual "why/how are they filming everything" issue.    

Plus: shitty teen boys, aborted sequels, and Trace's worst performance on a game to date!

Qu...

In this episode, we chat with writer/director Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me) about his feature directorial debut: the R-rated gateway horror film Dust Bunny. 

Topics include our bafflement at that R rating, discovering the origins of the project and diving into Fuller's maximalist style (which he attributes to his "untethered f****try").

But wait! There's more! We also get updates on his planned fourth season ...

Get ready for a bunch of all-star cameos (Christopher Walken! Jeff Goldblum! Beverly D'Angelo! John Carradine! Ava Gardner!) and one truly bonkers climax because we're discussing Michael Winner's 1977 chiller The Sentinel!

Join us as we go all in on this messy little film, albeit one with a lot of great ideas. It's one of the rare times you'll hear us say that a movie is too short, because it seems like there are full scenes missing...

Squirrel away those pills and burn that manuscript because we're talking about Rob Reiner's adaptation of Stephen King's Misery (1990).

Joining us for the discussion is comedian Roz Hernandez, who has begun (but maybe never finished?) every King novel.

We're talking Kathy Bates' Academy award winning performance as Annie Wilkes, a horny Sheriff & Deputy combo, and multiple fiery manuscripts.

Plus: toxic (queer) fandom, Lauren Bacall's...

Wipe that shit-eating grin off your face and heed all of the content warnings (seriously), because we're discussing Pier Paolo Pasolini's notorious anti-fascist 1975 film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Tagging in for the conversation is Zoë Rose Smith, the co-host of the Tainted Love podcast!

Join us as we do a very deep dive into this controversial film, beginning with a Pasolini primer before parsing through the film's graphic de...

Arachnophobes beware: we're discussing writer/director Mathieu Morel's 44 minute film Anapidae (Call Me), which is about an unusual graveyard caretaker who befriends the grieving widow of his dead lover.

Oh, and he also has a pet tarantula that appears to be growing larger (metaphor alert!)

Plus: what we like and dislike about this "novella", a Yann Gonzalez (Knife + Heart) connection, and making heads and tales of the dream-like seq...

Lay down a line of protective brick dust and scream "I don't believe!" because we are discussing Iain Softley's 2005 Southern Gothic thriller, The Skeleton Key.

Starring Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands, this Ehren Kruger joint has a great twist (or is it a reveal?) that may or may not have dicey racial implications.

Plus: not trusting Peter Sarsgaard, Black character exposition, the difference between hoodoo and voodoo, and the ending ...

Toss that girl in the pond and break out the good champagne because we're discussing James Whale's seminal horror film Frankenstein (1931) to celebrate the release of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (2025)!

Join us as we discuss how Frankenstein's success (along with that same year's Dracula), helped kickstart a series of Universal monster films. We also discuss what made this film so terrifying for audiences in 1931, despite the ...

After contributing to The Pod and the Pendulum's 300th episode on the 25 best horror films of the 21st century, we decided to run through our individual lists for listeners.

How did we each approach the task? (hint: thank god for Letterboxd) Which film(s) appear on both lists? And what movies will top our individual lists?! Don't scroll if you don't wanna know!

Joe’s Top 25 Horror Films of the Century (Ranked)

1. The Invitation (2015...

Spit out that cherry pit and get ready to meet a horny little devil because we're discussing George Miller's 1987 adaptation of John Updike's satirical feminist(?) novel The Witches of Eastwick!

Join us as we go all in on the production troubles this film had. From the studio putting the pressure on Miller to some casting snafus with Susan Sarandon and Cher, it's a wonder this thing turned out as well as it did! 

Plus: Jack Nicholson...

Here's a sneak peek at our all new Patreon episode on Scott Derrickson's sequel Black Phone 2, a film that confounded us almost as much as it bored us.

*Correction: We refer to the stylistic choice during Gwen's dream sequences as 16mm when it's actually Super 8. Our apologies!

Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/horrorqueers and become a Patron for more than 400 hours of exclusive bonus content today!

Theme Music: Ale...

Don your mask for the treasure hunt because we're discussing J.A. Bayona's The Orphanage (2007) along with Spanish horror scholar (and returning guest) Shelagh Rowan-Legg.

Join us as we praise Belén Rueda's lead performance, the film's unsettling set pieces, its curious lack of Spanish cultural signifiers, and speculate on the film's use of HIV in the plot.

Plus: the film's obsession with jaws, Joe's suspicions of Carlos' infidelity,...

We're headed to the cottage for some R'n'R (that would be rape/revenge) with screenwriter Stuart Morse and director Steven R. Monroe's 2010 remake of I Spit on Your Grave for its 15th anniversary.

Beyond asking who is this for and why are there no female creatives involved (!), we're digging into the revenge, questioning the gaze, and talking about queer actor Daniel Franzese dropping his voice to play redneck. 

Questions? Comments? ...

Wipe that popcorn off your jacket and take the longest shower ever because we're discussing the queer-leaning throuple at the center of Stephen Chiodo's cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)! Tagging in for the conversation is Dead Ringers Podcast co-host Paul Farrell!

Join us as we dive into this plot-lite gem of a film, thanks to some impressively resourceful practical effects and set design, courtesy of the Chiodo Br...