Horror Queers

Prep your photo wall and cancel the room service because we're talking Mark Romanek's One Hour Photo (2002). C/W: Childhood sexual abuse

Starring Robin Williams, this combination character study/thriller finds the comedian playing against type as an awkward photo technician who fantasizes about the perfect life of one particular family.

Plus: Detective Photographer; 2000s hairdos; early influencer horror; and plenty of debate about when and how the "twist" is used (with comparisons to other texts like Psycho and Mysterious Skin)

CORRECTION: We mistakenly state that Nine Inch Nails covered Johnny Cash's "Hurt", when it's very much the other way around. Oops!

Questions? Comments? Snark? Connect with the boys on BlueSky, Instagram, Youtube, Letterboxd, or join the Horror Queers Discord to get in touch with other listeners.

> Trace: @tracedthurman (BlueSky)/ @tracedthurman (Instagram)

> Joe: @joelipsett (BlueSky) / @bstolemyremote (Instagram) 

Be sure to support the boys on Patreon!  

Show Art: Travis Falligant  / Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here's a sneak peek at our all new full-length Patreon episode on Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026), otherwise known as Evil Dead Rise: The Egyptian Redux. 

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

Show Art: Travis Falligant / Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Prepare for a colossal culling and try to stay ahead of the wind because we're discussing M. Night Shyamalan's much-maligned film The Happening (2008) in celebration of Earth Day! Tagging in for the conversation is Pajiba senior critic Lindsay Traves.

Join us as we offer up not a defense of the film, but rather a desire to see a paradigm shift in the way people view it (meaning: we want you to dislike it for the "right" reasons). This is Shyamalan's self-proclaimed "best B-movie you’ve ever seen" and, as uneven as it is, the comedy is all intentional! Or most of it is, anyway...

Plus: math vs. statistics, declaring Shyamalan the king of the nonsense newscast, so many comparisons to Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds and debating whether or not Zooey Deschanel's character is stealthily trying to kill that little girl for the whole movie.

Questions? Comments? Snark? Connect with the boys on BlueSky, Instagram, Youtube, Letterboxd, or join the Horror Queers Discord to get in touch with other listeners.

> Trace: @tracedthurman (BlueSky)/ @tracedthurman (Instagram)

> Joe: @joelipsett (BlueSky) / @bstolemyremote (Instagram) 

> Lindsay: Author Page (Pajiba) / @smashtraves (Instagram)

Be sure to support the boys on Patreon!  

Show Art: Travis Falligant  / Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Don't open that sarcophagus and prepare the fainting couch because we're discussing Karl Freund's The Mummy (1932).

Continuing the tradition of Universal Monster films, this Boris Karloff chiller is short and sweet, but we think it has one of the best female characters in Zita Johann's Helen/Princess Anck-es-en-Amon.

Plus: hating on David Manners' Frank; comparisons to Stephen Sommers and Tom Cruise's remakes; Karloff's painful (but great) make-up effects; and a queer reading about hiding who you are to pass in society.

Reference: Jonathon Greenall. "Coming Out of the Casket: Queer Themes in The Mummy (1932)." Nighttide Magazine.

Questions? Comments? Snark? Connect with the boys on BlueSky, Instagram, Youtube, Letterboxd, or join the Horror Queers Discord to get in touch with other listeners.

> Trace: @tracedthurman (BlueSky)/ @tracedthurman (Instagram)

> Joe: @joelipsett (BlueSky) / @bstolemyremote (Instagram) 

Be sure to support the boys on Patreon!  

Show Art: Travis Falligant  / Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada   

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here's a sneak peek at our all new full-length Patreon episode on Kirill Sokolov's (Why Don't You Just Die!) hyper-stylized English-language debut They Will Kill You (2026)!

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

Show Art: Travis Falligant / Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.