But as a champion of softcore gay horror, he’s worth celebrating. And, no, DeCoteau’s House of Usher is no Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death (a masterpiece). In fact, DeCoteau was poached by Corman in the 1980s, getting his start as a production assistant at Corman’s New World Pictures. While the artistic integrity of both-especially in later decades-remains up for debate (and, yes, Corman is considerably more influential), it’s worth recontextualizing DeCoteau as a contemporary queer icon. It all seems quite silly (at one point, a teddy bear, uh, growls at a naked man), but there’s an innate charm to it, not to mention the notable legacy of DeCoteau.ĭeCoteau, like Corman, has his strongest hits rooted in Poe. Mostly, however, in lieu of iciness, a sinking, or even a sickening of the heart there are instead stripteases, bulges, and semi-nude hunks hiding their erections behind some conveniently placed set decoration. There’s a change when Jaimyse Haft arrives in the second act as Madeline Usher, Roderick’s similarly ill sister, gamely assuring some oft-ignored horror bisexual representation. Sure, the sexiness subsides in Act 3 (other than a very serious discussion between Victor and a shirtless gardener), and there’s some death and a twist ending, but that’s never really the point.Īlso Read: And We Who Walk Here Walk Alone: The 60-Year Queer Gothic Legacy of ‘The Haunting ‘ Despite a reported $1,000,000 budget, its preeminent focus is titillation, not coherence. House of Usher regularly eschews its own mood for over-saturated lighting and late-night Cinemax wow-wow music. The opening scene, with its blue lights and Hitchcock-lite score, has trace elements of Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace, and the odd establishing shot of the manor’s interior and exteriors-spooky statues, black candelabras-satisfies the genre quotient. Exclusively white men with washboard abs arrive, strip down, passionately kiss others, and amble through the barest bones horror story. The duration of House of Usher is mostly that. Upon arriving, they reconnect, though in a matter of minutes, their shirts are off and their chiseled Abercrombie bodies are entwined on the floor. Michael Cardelle’s Victor Reynolds is urgently summoned to his friend Roderick Usher’s (Frank Mentier) house.
Ian Shaw narrates some choice Poe lines with classic Hammer intonation, deep and baroque, and the broad outline remains the same. It’s firmly R-rated, however, so House of Usher never penetrates carnal desire deeper than a steamy make-out session. House of Usher is softcore gay Poe-rn masquerading as gothic horror. Also Read: The Ten Best Queer Relationships In Horror After watching the trailer, I was even more curious. Often, I filtered this list to horror, and upon spotting House of Usher, I was curious.
There, sorted from A-Z, was a list of titles-some old, some new-with trailers available.
Usher good kisser youtube movie#
Before cell phones were ubiquitous and households, if they were lucky, shared a single desktop computer, I had to watch movie trailers on Comcast’s On Demand trailer channel. I stumbled upon the movie in middle school.
0 kommentar(er)
