A Tense Escape Room, a 90s Horror Tribute and More in November’s Horror Bytes [Safe Room Podcast]

WAPP WAPP WAPP

With October firmly in the rearview mirror, it’s bizarre to reflect on what a wild month it turned out to be. Not only did Trace and I celebrate our 200th Main Feed episode with Karyn Kusama’s perfect film, The Invitation (2015), we revisited David Gordon Green’s divisive Halloween Kills, and even managed to get Don Mancini and RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon on as guests (The Chucky Extravaganza and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark respectively).

We’re kicking off November with a decidedly quieter and more obscure film: Jennifer Reeder‘s Knives and Skin (2019). I reviewed the film upon its initial release, so I was happy to revisit it with fresh eyes, helped in no small part by our great guest, Princess Weekes.

In the film noir and musical-adjacent film, small-town band girl Carolyn Harper (Raven Whitley) goes missing, leaving confusion and concern in her wake. As her mother (Marika Engelhardt) unravels, Carolyn’s childhood acquaintances Charlotte (Ireon Roach), Joanna (J.G. Smith), and Laurel (Kayla Carter) try to cope, even as they each struggle with their own secret lives and family drama (much of it involving their own mothers).

This one’s a candy-colored fever dream, y’all!

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Episode 202 – Knives and Skin (2019) feat. Princess Weekes

Prep your 80s New Wave acapella and your dead girl tropes because we’re talking Jennifer Reeder’s Knives and Skin (2019). Helping us search for the body is The Mary Sue’s Princess Weekes, who offers invaluable insight into the costuming of WOC in this female-centric text. This is an unconventional episode for an unconventional film, which is much more of a vibe than a straightforward murder mystery.

Plus: why Mrs. Harper is so empathetic, messy clown sex, Reeder’s interest in female agency, wet ass pussy papers, admiring a film even if you struggle with it, and smelling teen boys’ t-shirts.

Cross out Knives and Skin!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re doing a hard 180 pivot to discuss masculine aggression, fascism and war in Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers (1997), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary!

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 210 hours of additional content! This month, we’ve got episodes on the morals and ethics of True Crime, Fall’s box office smash Smile, the absolutely wild Barbarian, Anya Taylor-Joy’s culinary thriller The Menu, and an audio commentary on the sequel that’s better than the original, The Collection (2010), just in time for its 10th anniversary!