Vagina Boxes.
Trace and I are still making our way through Pride Month! After kicking things off with the evolution of the gay slasher with Hellbent/Killer Unicorn and a tribute to trailblazer Clive Barker and his final directorial effort Lord of Illusions, things take a timely turn this week. We’re tackling little-seen Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (aka Night Warning), a rare queer positive slasher that also has a lot to say about the relationship between the police and the queer community.
In director William Asher‘s 1981 video nasty, Aunt Cheryl (Susan Tyrell) has a possessive obsession with her nephew Billy (Jimmy McNichol). Their unhealthy relationship becomes even more problematic when Cheryl murders a man and Billy becomes the prime suspect in the eyes of homophobic Detective Carlson (Bo Svenson), who fixates on the teenager. Will Billy and his indestructible “girlfriend” Julie (Julia Duffy) survive both the relentless cop and his serial killer Aunt Cheryl?
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Episode 78 – Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker aka Night Warning (1981)
Pride month continues with the most queer positive slasher film most people have never seen!
We’re joined by fellow queer podcasters Andrew and Matty, aka FriGay the 13th, to unpack the delirious madness of Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (aka Night Warning). This exploitation/video nasty tends to make waves for Susan Tyell’s incestuous relationship with her twinky son, but the real topic here is the film’s true villain: the homophobic cop who hates gays.
In addition to its bombastic Final Destination 2-like opening car crash and William Asher’s workmanlike direction, the group debates Tyrell’s artistic choices, sports in slashers, and twinks vs daddies. Plus: Andrew is obsessed with Julie the indestructible girlfriend, and Trace wonders who has a machete lying around the house? Also: do vaginas have flaps like boxes?
Finally, and most significantly, a serious talk about how Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker reflects real life tensions between the queer community and the police and how the film’s odd double release pattern put it on opposite sides of the AIDS epidemic.
Cross out Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re closing out Pride Month by calling the corners with quintessential teen girl/outsider film, The Craft!
– Joe & Trace
P.S. Check out last month’s article on 1986’s extremely upsetting In a Glass Cage. You can find all of the old articles here.
P.P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon to access bonus episodes! June is Creature Features month, so we have new episodes on Deep Rising and Arachnophobia, as well as an audio commentary on Snakes on a Plane!
source https://bloody-disgusting.com/podcasts/3620323/horror-queers-podcast-cop-vs-gays-queer-positive-slasher-butcher-baker-nightmare-maker/
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