The Literal Battle of Gender Identity in ‘Der Samurai’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

Draw Two.

After getting fancy (and super duper queer) with Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, we entered the gooey world of David Cronenberg in his masterpiece The Fly and we unpacked the white privilege in Bernard Rose’s Candyman. Now, we’re wielding our katanas and visiting the small German village at the center of Till Kleinert’s psychosexual thriller Der Samurai.

Set in a small German village, Der Samurai sees a bloody game of cat-and-mouse ensue between a young, straight-shooting police officer (Michel Diercks) and a villain (Pit Bukowski) who wears a dress, wields a large sword and has a predilection for beheadings.

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Episode 141 – Der Samurai (2014)

Grab your katana and white dress because we’re heading over to a small German town to discuss the internal struggle of the queer cop at the center of Till Kleinert’s surreal film Der Samurai. Joining us for the discussion is Transploitation co-creator Ten Backe!

Come along for the ride as we wade through the film’s dream logic to interpret what this film is trying to say. We’ve got a look at small town queer life, coming out via baptism, questions surrounding gender identity and one very erect penis.

Plus, attacking queer culture through pink flamingos, decapitations galore, a town literally covered in blood, more Freeway plugs and our beefs with James Woods and Isaiah Washington.

Cross out Der Samurai!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re finally tackling a top request from listeners: David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows.

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for tons of additional content! This month, we’ll have episodes on Nia DaCosta’s Candyman, James Wan’s Malignant, Netflix’s series Brand New Cherry Flavor, as well as an audio commentary on 30 Days  of Night and a minisode on weird horror films.