My March Wrapup: Getting Back into Queer Cinema and a Series of Twists

So this has been a really interesting month. Lot of little serindepitious bullshit, lot of worrying about hours, and a lot of it pretty much working out. As always when I feel sad I just sit down and consume a ridicoulas amount of content. So this month we have a lot of fun stuff to get added to your radar. In non-media critic news, I've been playing Cyberpunk Red with my best friend and co-host TheSeaWeed so thats been a lot of fun. 

Here's a sneakpeak to our newest module. Also I'll give you a cookie if you can guess any of the like 5 different experimental films I referenced, (e.g blatently plagerized), in the video. I've been having a lot of fun editing these videos and just being a producer in general. Might have to be something I look into going forward. 

This Month saw me get a lot back into my queer movie watchlist, (at the time of writing I have 31 films left), this has been rather nice through I will say as I'm getting into the 60s and 70s the films go from being fun comedies with some lesbians in the background to like 2 and a Half Hour Grimdark Melodramas full of "subversive" elements, the fags included. It makes it a little harder to get down for queer movie night when each one is like 2 hours and sad. y'know. Even if its not homophobic. 

I also managed to watch a fuck ton of television this month, I'm starting to realize that I don't actually like watching a lot of TV but I'm trying to get back into it. Its like reading it feels like a chore unless you do it everyday. 

anyway enough chit chat lets get into 

The Good Stuff

The First Gay Kiss

This Month I managed to watch a lot of queer films and I've watched pretty much every film on my Internet Archive Watchlist, (surprising amount of films that maybe shouldn't be on there but shush its a library excuse you). Anyway here are the 16 I watched this Month. 

📽️ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

📽️ A Taste of Honey (1961)

📽️ First a Girl (1935)

📽️ Cat People (1942)

📽️ The Gay Decievers (1969)

📽️ Daughters of Darkness (1971)

📽️ The Wild One (1953)

📽️ Castle of Blood (1964)

📽️ Twelfth Night (1955)

📽️ Twelfth Night (1969)

📽️ Masculin Feminin(1966)

📽️ Caged! (1950)

📽️ Tea and Sympathy (1956)

📽️ The Strange One (1957)

📽️ Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)

📽️ Flesh (1968)

Its been a lot a lot of dramas, Tennessee Williams play and incredibly obnoxious art house films, (I'm mostly looking at Masculin Feminin here, small fuck you for Jean-Luc Godard), but overall I found some iconic films in this list. 

The Gay Decievers on its surface looks like a '60s version of I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry,  but manages to be a secretly tongue-in-cheek gay comedy about gay people just vibing. Still want to see a remake where Elliot comes out as bisexual but I know that hollywood would fuck it up. 

The Wild One, is one of the least gay films on this list but I thought it was important to see because its one of the reasons why the Gay Leather Movement happened, also Marlon Brando was like totes bisexual so I just wanted to applaud him for his contributions to queer culture. 

Caged! is also a film thats not very queer but is objectionaly a cool film to watch as a cinemaphile. Its basically the OG Women in Prison film and if you never seen it I could almost convince you its a lost episode of Orange is the New Black. Its honestly probably one of the better dramas I've seen in this list, (a running theme in this list is passion project becomes box office flop), and honestly needs to be part of a movie night. 

enough of this lets talk about everything else I watched this month. 

Podcast

Realm FEAR - Roanoke Falls

I honestly can't remember were I heard the advertisement for this podcast but I'm guessing it was on Attack of the Queer Wolf.

Like a few other podcasts that I've covered on this blog, (like The Penumbra Project, and Uncanny County), Realm's Fear is an anthology podcast of contained audio dramas, atm I believe they have three or four and I decided to treat myself to the first one last week. 

Roanoke Falls, is a folk horror story based on the lost colony of Roanoke. Now as they say in there own trailer this is a story that has been told time and time again but I mean that doesn't mean they can't take there own stab at it. 

It follows Agnes, a ministers wife who is struggling to adapt to the cold puritanical world of the colony. Also people think shes a witch, y'know for being barren and also being a strong independent women who doesn't submit to her wet blanket bitch of a husband. I mean theres also that thing were she touches her BAG OF CHARMS and whispers in a FOREIGN TONGUE. but thats like totally because her mom was french, (no like for real thats the reason). 

Let me just say I loved so much about this. Its giving like Young Goodman Brown and The Blood on Satan's Claw(1971) Energy. Its just an incredible strong audio drama and It was everything I wanted on my morning commute. Agnes is a folk horror icon and there was a lot of elements of the story that just really made it work for its setting. 

I haven't had a chance to listen to the other stories produced by Realm's Fear but I'll have to go back soon. Have a lot of commuting next month. 

Games

Snake Pass

Snake Pass is a Arcade Game by Sumo Digital that takes 3D platformers to the next level with a fun gimmick. Snake Psychics. By which I mean that you have to do a bunch of platforming while controlling a realistic snake body. The controls are complicated and the gameplay is incredible challenging. 

To give you some context, this took me 10 hours to beat and It only has like 15 levels, thats an average of 40 minutes a level. 

So if you like extremly punishing arcade games with cutesy graphics, (am I just describing mario?), then this ones for you. 

TV Shows

Oof So I watched a lot of television this month so lets get into it. 

Red Rose (2022)

First up Red Rose, a 2022 British Horror Show. Basically imagine if Grady Hendrix made a techo-horror story and thats basically what you have. We follow a bunch of lower-class british kids who call there friend group "The Dickheads", (yeah everyone wants to be IT but you know what I still like the trope), who are investigating the death of there friend Rochelle, who downloaded a mysterious app known as RED ROSE. 

Theres some elements of this that I like, the cast is diverse and a lot of fun, the plot while not horrible original, (to avoid spoilers its a bit like the Blue Whale Urban Legend), is servicable, and also there is a really fun soundtrack. I won't tell you the context but theres a choral version of I'm a Barbie Girl by Aqua. For a Weekend Binge you could watch worse. 

 NEXT IN FASHION SEASON 2. (2023)

I was a big fan of the original Next in Fashion when It came out and they finally released the second season on Netflix a couple months back. I'm finally getting into it. 

I'm very picky about the type of contest shows I watch mostly because I watched a season of Iron Chef when I was in high school and got burnt on how much petty bullshit there was in that. Through thats most contest shows, (looking at the Aja/Trixie Mattel drama from AS3). What I'm saying is that producers want there reality television to be messy and everyone has there messyness tolerance. 

NIF on that note is pretty non-messy, I will say that the producers definetly edit it a bit to add drama or imply emotion but we don't have contestents whos mission it is to be a bitch. The contestants are really wholesome and the show keeps the forced sentimentality and drama to a minimum. 

I will say that this season feels a little less strong then the original. They cut out the intermission segments that were fantastic, Tan and Gigi's banter can be a bit much sometimes, and the fact that we didn't start with teams of fashion designers meant that we lost a lot of the original chemistry of the first season. 

Thats not to say this season is bad, theres a lot of really great contestants, some of these fits are beyond iconic and I've had a lovely time with it. Still have to see the finale so don't tell me who wins. 

Carole and Tuesday (2019)

Carole and Tuesday is a musical anime and the brainchild of the guy who did Cowboy BeBop. Its one of those shows thats painfully earnest, (think Violet Evergarden but like 500% less sad). What I mean about that is there are characters talking about how important the power of music is to them. It can come off as sappy sometimes but you know what I love sappyness. I'm a moe bitch ok thats my bias. 

This show manages to throw a lot of stuff at the wall in the background and while the plot and occasionaly the in-betweens can get a little messy. I still like this show. Its a feel good time with a bitching soundtrack and it was exactly the type of light feel-good anime vibes that I need this month. So thank you Carole and Tuesday for being space mumford and sons. 

Re:Mind (2017)

Re:Mind, a Japanese Mystery Thriller cast almost entirely by a humougous idol group, has been on my watchlist since literally high school. The main concept is that 12 cute girls wake up chained to a dining room table with no memory of how they got there. As the night goes on more and more of the girls dissapear as they all try to uncover the reason why there there and how it connects with the dissaperance of a mutural friend that they all shared. 

This was such a fun show and let me just say there were so many twists in this shit were I'm going "holy shit what!". The plot does get a little overly complicated and muddled but with any mystery thriller the important thing to rememeber is to relax live in the moment, and watch this shit get messy. oh and its gets messy. Not to spoil it but theres bullying, stalking, medical neglect, cheating, accusations of teacher misconduct, and real life lesbains. 

Nah for real, theres some really wholesome LGBT representation in this and can I just say that like thank you. Japan is fun fact, a little homophobic sometimes so the fact that the writers of this show was so consistant with the fact that two of the girls, (its a spoiler which two), were in fact Secret Lesbian Lovers is honestly refreshing. 

This shows also ends with a like a slice-of-life comedy episode, which is a little bizarre but considering that this is a random project done by a literally pop idol group, I mean its pretty fun fan-service. Maybe I need to get into J-Pop. 

28 Days Haunted (2022)

28 Days Haunted, is a "paranormal experiement" testing a hypothesis held by none other then Ed and Lorraine Warren. Now obviously this is the not the first piece of media that has used The Warrens experiences. However I will say that the other movies and media made from there case files were either, 1. Horror Stories loosely based on newspaper coverage or memoirs, or 2. in the case of the Conjuring Films made with the express permission and input of Lorraine Warren herself. I am rather a fan of the Conjuringverse and its not hard to read the films as a self-mytholigizing of her life and relationship with her husband. 

Ghost Hunting Shows by definetition or at least practise tend to be, how to put this nicely, messy charlatans shitting themselves for views. At your best you have shows that want to tell you a ghost story and talk about paradolia, and on the other hand you have ZAK FUCKING BAGANS. God I hate him. 

So when I see in a trailer were there waving around oracle boxs and using a dead womans name for clout I just knew I had to watch this messy messy show. 

and I am 100% correct. This show is trash. We're talking hyperventalating, we're talking messy true crime, we're talking the absolute gimmicky ghost hunting equipment, (once again Oracle Boxes which are one of the biggest pieces of psuedo-science outside of ZAK FUCKING BAGANS, using a xbox kinect to experience paradolia for him), and of course we have people getting into the messiest arguments over completely reasonable stances. For instance one of the female mediums didn't want to do mirror scyring because she found it to attract dark spirits it was a hard limit and the guys with her were being little bitches because she didn't want to infest herself with demons for a shitty tv show. Honestly based. 

but yeah if you like trashy nonsense ghost hunting shows this is great. But if you don't like trash then this show is bad. Its split between three different "haunted" locations, it feels really staged, and they don't spend a lot of time really getting you into the ghost stories. Its hard to follow the plot in this. theres a lot of petty drama and the hosts do that annoying reality tv thing were they look at like nonsense and be like OMG WE TOTALLY PROVED THAT GHOSTS ARE SUPER REAL AND ALSO VALID. 

trash television folks. 

Devil in Ohio (2022)

Devil in Ohio, is a Netlix Thriller that shifts between a few different genres. Crime Procedural, Folk Horror, Psychological Thriller, and even Teen Drama in places. At its core its the story of a Psycologist, (played by Emily Deschenal), who becomes attached to a cult survivor named Mae. Is Mae an innocent victim or will this culture shock and vengeful community reek havoc on this small midwest family. 

This show was alright for the most part, the acting was good, but dear lord did they shit the bed with the ending. I don't really feel like getting into detail with this show so just go check out my Letterboxd Review.

The Staircase (2004 - 2018)

The Staircase is a crime docu-series following the trial of Michael Peterson whose been convicted of murdering his wife. The series is incredible long features a very in-depth process of his criminal trial and defense, as well as explorations of an amazing amount of legal misconduct in his case it never truly answers the question of his guilt. I also wrote quite a bit on the subject on Letterboxd when I first finished this but in general I wouldn't recommend it unless you are really into true crime docs and you need something to fill the void for the next 14 hours. 

Cunk on Earth (2022)

Philomena Cunk, an improv character of Diane Morgan, was first featured on Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe. What is that? No Idea I think its some kind of like political satire show I don't watch british television. Cunk, and you may have seem clips of this show online, is basically just the dumbest fucking person, and she asked the most insane questions to smart people who know things like, "What is the Soviet Onion" (Note: she does NOT mean the Soviet Union). Its honestly just really great improv comedy and the show has a delightful time just yukking it up while poking fun at self-seriously  Nat Geo style Documentaries. Also since threes a charm I also wrote a Letterboxd Review for this show. 

Movies

I didn't manage to watch a lot of movies outside my queer watchlist. However I did manage to watch a few. 

The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), is one of the earliest Folk Horror movies, (I mean theres like Haxan and stuff but I'm talking about the modern popular genre), and it is fantastic. Very hammer horror in its style and just fantastic gothic styling. Theres a lot of blood and tits and witchcraft. Iconic. 

The Toll of the Sea (1922) is a Technocolor film staring Anna May Wong, one of the first asian-american actresses. Its ultimately a retelling of the very popular, (at the time), Madame Butterfly and I had a lot of fun with it. Need to watch more silent film. 

Also Watched Desire Lines and Life Without Dreams, both super cool experiemental short films showcased on Le Cinema Club. 

Lets see there was also House on Haunted Hill (1959), a horriblely fun Vincent Price vehicle that is definetly a shoe-in for group movie night and Free Guy (2021) which I watched on a date and realized that maybe if this is someones favorite movie that we have very different tastes. Its a fun popcorn flick but lets be fair. Favorite Film thats a hard thing to swallow. 

Anyway folks thank you for listening to me go on and on about what I watched this month. I'm going to be working a lot more next month so we'll see how it goes.