For many people, seeing the cult-film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” for the first time was a breakthrough.

I remember my first time in college hearing about this bizzare film experience where people threw food at the movie screen and re-enacted the entire film in costume and it had a murderous mad scientist transvestite named Dr. Frankenfurter. It was a celebration of sexuality, laughing at the ridiculousness of homophobia as we “gave ourselves over to absolute pleasure.”

One of my first experiences dressing up in drag was landing the part of a chorus member in the live musical production in Austin, Texas where we were required to wear vampish make-up, leather, lace and panty-hose. I was quite popular with the audience members, as I always found an excuse to sing the “Time Warp” song and land on some hunky audience member’s lap.

When Rocky Horror picture show was first released, it wasn’t well received despite the live musical version being a hit in London. Still some imaginative people saw gold in the celluloid and decided to embrace the film for it’s quirky campy self. The movie ignited the careers of actors Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick.

For Peaches Christ, every Midnight Mass movie event is a celebration of the queer experience in film. Every summer Peaches and her pals get together and camp it up before a sold-out crowd with their special brand of cult-film inspired mayhem. Peaches knows and loves these campy films like a momma knows the sound of her child’s voice.

On today’s show Peaches joins us to talk about some of the hottest and campiest sci-fi films every gay man must see.

Why is the film Flash Gordon so boring? It has everyting you could ask for, hunky football playing heroes, campy villians and a score by Queen. Yet somehow this film puts everyone to sleep, despite it’s decadent costume, plot and sets.

Is Starship Troopers the sequel to Showgirls? And why do gay people love blood, gore and guts with a sci-fi twist? Maybe it’s our shared experience in having to live a life outside of our own. Maybe we just like tacky movies and glittery things.

The film Xanadu, shot in the late 70s featured Olivia Newton-John playing Kira, a greek muse that inspires a struggling record company artist to quit his job and pursue his dreams. Gene Kelley joins in the fun as a big band orchestra leader-turned-construction mogul who decides to launch Xanadu, a decadent, post-modern futuristic nightclub which fused 1980s rock with 1940s swing jazz music.

The deliciously over-produced film gave us a vision of the 1980s from the vantage of the 1970s as a sexual, liberated time where people valued creativity and passion over money and responisbiloity. Boy were they off the mark!

Despite dealing a fatal blow to Olivia Newton-John’s film carreer, she married dancer/choreographer Matt Lattanzi who played a young Gene Kelly in the film (they divorced a decade later). Everyone was busy hooking up during the making of that movie!

The movie even inspired me to create my own medley for one of our past live shows.

A podcast where all your hopes survive, where all your hopes survive, they call it: Feast of Fools.

Check out our sponsor:

Steamworks Gym, Sauna and Baths.
Don’t miss the Ultimate IML Play Party event: RE-BOOT
featuring San Francisco DJ Sean Greene, Saturday May 25th 11:30PM-11AM. Check out the parties every day of IML /Bear Pride weekend May 22-26th. Visit Steamworks for details.

Featured Movies:
• Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Shock Treatment
• Barbarella: Queen Of The Galaxy
• Vegas In Space
• Night Of The Comet
• Plan 9 From Outer Space
• Flash Gordon
• Starship Troopers
• Re-Animator
• Gay N*ggers from Outerspace on Google Video.
• Pandemonium on YouTube

Featured Music:
Djola Branner – Mighty Real/A Tribute To Sylvester: iTunes | Amazon

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