Queer Horror Cult

This week, Aria and Lori are joined by two long-time friends, Kris and Kelsey, for an appreciation round-table of a mutual favourite: the Evil Dead series! Starting with "The Evil Dead" (1981), through "Evil Dead II" (1987), "Army of Darkness" (1992), "Ash Vs. Evil Dead" (2015-2018), and ending with the remake, "Evil Dead" (2013).

Audio clip from "Ash Vs. Evil Dead" (2016).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Lori and Aria dive into the question of transphobia and representation in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), as well as what they like or dislike about the movie in general.

THIS EPISODE CONTAINS FRANK DISCUSSIONS OF TRANSPHOBIC RHETORIC.

Audio clip from "Clerks II" (2006).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As summer turns to fall, Aria and Lori turn to the simpler joys of life, focusing on what is really important--a stroll down the street with a loved one as the leaves change colour, an evening out with the squad, or an otherworldly abomination traversing dimensions to rip asunder our being from our mere flesh body as we move beyond the trappings of the mortal realm. That's right, this week we are looking at films based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft! Specifically, Stuart Gordon films starring Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs! Let's live, let's laugh, and let's Lovecraft* through discussions of "Re-Animator" (1985), "From Beyond" (1986), and "Castle Freak" (1995).

*Let's also never forget that Lovecraft was an intolerable racist and glossing over that fact because he wrote some spooky stories would be just about the worst idea.

Audio clip from "The Thing" (1982).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Lori and Aria are workin' up a sweat with some body-toning, weight-lifting, aerobicizing madness as they look at a handful of hardbody horror and cult movies, all featuring gyms and fitness at their core. Films discussed included "Death Spa" (1989), "Killer Workout" (1987), and "Flexing With Monty" (2010).

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE FILMS DISCUSSED.

Audio clip from "Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy" (1996).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Aria and Lori take a deep dive into respectability politics by looking at the most obligatory film for queer horror podcasts, William Friedkin's "Cruising" (1980). We analyze the film through a lens informed by our collective favourite academic paper, "Sex in Public" by Lauren Berlant and Michael Warner.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR "CRUISING" (1980).

Audio clip from "A Dirty Shame" (2004).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Lori and Aria are going down on the horror genre with some deep-sea aquatic horror! Movies discussed include "Leviathan" (1989), "Deep Rising" (1998), the Scooby Doo, Where Are You! episode "A Clue For Scooby Doo" (1969), and "The Rift" (1990).

Audio clip from "Sealab 2021"

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aria is absent this week, and so the remaining two-thirds of the Spank Bank Think Tank reunite to explore the horniest of houses. Join Lori and returning special guest Amy as they prepare to spend the night in the deliriously perverted manor in "Thundercrack!" (1975). Discussions include the golden-age of porn, midnight movies, porn parodies, rampant bisexuality, and the John Waters-ness of it all.

THIS EPISODE CONTAINS EXPLICIT DISCUSSION OF PORNOGRAPHY AND SEX.

THIS EPISODE CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR "THUNDERCRACK!" (1975).

Audio clip from "Thundercrack!" (1975).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Aria joins Lori in taking a deeper look at Lori's favourite film of 2018, "Mandy". Topics explored include what makes "Mandy" metal, literary notions of the sublime and the existential dread that brings, Abraxas and the Gnostic notion of Quantum Entanglement, and a feminist perspective on the cult and their crimes.

THIS EPISODE FEATURES MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE FILM "MANDY" (2018).

Audio clip from "Mandy" (2018).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Lori and Aria talk a stroll down New York's infamous sleaze street of decadence with a look at films that use 42nd street, during its heyday of New York exploitation, as a backdrop. Films discussed are "42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Block" (2015), "The Driller Killer" (1979), "Fleshpot on 42nd Street" (1973), and "The New York Ripper" (1982).

Audio clip from "42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Block" (2015).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lori and Aria are too busy with life stuff to record a new episode, so please enjoy the pilot for the yet-to-be launched Patreon exclusive horror podcast Gutter Flicks! Gutter Flicks is an examination of the most notorious, controversial, extreme, and just flat-out weird movies that genre film history has to offer. Lori, joined by Aria, kicks things off with a brief history of the Video Nasty moral panic from the UK in the mid-1980s, and then get into it with the first gore flick, "Blood Feast" (1963).

Audio clip from "Blood Feast" (1963).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.