(upbeat music) - We're gonna carry on and plan the sequel 'cause they're facing, baby, these days. You gotta have the sequel. (swooshing) (upbeat music) - And welcome back to Microqueers. It's our queer horror movie Roundup, and I'm Joe. - And I'm Trace, and we are discussing Jim Garards. I'm gonna say like way better than it has any right to be sleigh. - Yeah. This is one that we definitely had on our radar. It dropped unexpectedly on Tooby because we love Tooby, not who they're owned by, but also whoever runs their fucking marketing and advertising sucks balls because they never tell us these things are coming more than a week in advance. So, hi, we're programming this now. - Well, I gotta say though, so I got like the press email for this, you know, that week it came out. And I was like, okay, like it's a Tooby original wish. I mean, apparently by all like things I've heard, Tooby, originals are actually like doing okay, like quality-wise. - Yeah, we've watched a bunch of them that we've either liked to love as a strong word, but we have liked a number of them. - Yeah, and again, I think we were a little sort of the most terra-trained movies, but I did like terra-trained too. - Okay. - Dude, like the number two. - Right, yes, I got that. (laughing) - Also, terra-trained also. - Also, terra-trained also, but no, I saw the posters kind of like, okay, like this doesn't look like it has the best production values. And truthfully, it doesn't, but it doesn't matter 'cause the movie leans into it with such a knowing wink that I, you know, I think it gets off to a bit of a rough start and I think you feel similarly in that regard, but I really liked this. I laughed consistently the whole way through. - Yes, I went in hoping for chuckles or thinking that it was just fun to see drag queens that we recognize because of course, I do think the big selling factor in this is that we've got folks like Heidi in Closet, Trinity, The Tuck, Crystal Method, and Caramel, whom, you know, the movie definitely acknowledges that these are the stars, that this is the reason why we are all initially coming to this text. So I think it's very sage in that way, but then yeah, you're right, there were a number of sequences where I thought if this had a bigger budget, if it was actually being released theatrically, we would have done it differently. But because we knew that we had limited resources and probably limited time and so on, the production acknowledges that, leans into it, embraces it, dare I say. So like, there was one moment where I thought, oh, they're not gonna show us and they're just gonna have characters comment on it and that is so fucking smart. - Joe, I was literally meant to say like the one sequence that I was, okay, I'm fully won over by this movie. It's where they are narrating what's happening because they can't show us because their budget is so low. - Yeah, yeah, it's just, it's very clever, it's very savvy. And I've seen a couple of things that Gerard has worked on because I was actually a big fan of Motherland, which was a genre TV show about witches. It actually had the main girl from that incident in a ghostland. - Yes, it was Taylor Hickson. - Yes, so it actually had Taylor Hickson in it and I liked that show, it was also very queer. So ladies who like ladies or folks who like watching ladies like ladies, that's a pretty good show for you. But all things considered, you know, I was also surprised by this. I was pleasantly agreeable to it and even in the parts where I felt like it stumbled a little bit, it picked itself up so quickly, it never felt like it dragged. - Yeah, I think there were a couple of moments where I thought it was starting to drag, but then yeah, it immediately picked itself up because, okay, there is another version of this movie that could have easily felt like an excruciatingly long, bad RuPaul's Drag Race sketch. - A hundred percent, yeah. - And that's not what this is. And I think though it is the commitment of these four stars and a really wonderful cast of supporting players that just really sells the whole thing for me. - Yeah, okay, so what I'm hearing is that you are recommending this. - Oh, yes, and I will remember this because I'm going to show it to a lot of people. Like this will enter my show visitors, like rotation. - Mm-hmm, it's a fun one where I could see even just throwing it on in the background because it's kind of fun and colorful in that regard. But yeah, this movie would-- - I was gonna just play. - This movie would slay with an audience. I mean, it's another one of these casualties of watching things at home, but I could definitely imagine inviting friends over, having a couple of drinks and just popping this on, and it would be a good time. - Yeah, and everyone, if you don't know what this is about, actually, it's basically, I mean, the easy log line is, it's from Dust Tildon, Meets to Wong Fu, or Priscilla Quinn of the desert. - Yes, that camper, it's Priscilla. - It's definitely Priscilla, but it's also American. That's what they mean. - Wow, yes. But yeah, okay, well, why don't we go see some of these plot beats, Joe? - Yeah, so the rockiest part of the film, I would say, is actually the opening, and I couldn't figure out if it was the film trying to figure out its tone or me adjusting to the film's tone. But this opening scene where we watch Rufus, who is a produce delivery man, and the eventual antagonist of the film, he's played by Shane Krueger. He's attacked by this vamp, and the makeup effects on this vamp looks really bad, very low budget, and this is where I said, oh no. - Yeah, this is, I think we're trying to do, like, Buffy season one, the master, but it looks like a mask. Like, it doesn't look like a makeup job. Yeah, so this is a little rough, but again, I think kind of clues you into, because there's a lot of CGI blood in this movie. And, which I, again, for this kind of thing, I don't really care, but there's also a lot of shots where like, okay, like, someone's getting bit or attacked, and there's CGI blood, but then like, there's no actual wound on the person's body. - Yeah, so you just gotta let it go, because we're not doing that? - Yeah, absolutely not. But it's fine, yeah. So then we're introduced to our queens. And I don't know if I have an MVP, but I will say I was pleasantly, nope, not pleasantly surprised. I know these are all very talented queens. I was worried at first about Crystal Method, who plays Bella DuBois. She was one of my favorite drag queens on her season of drag race, but I felt like there was just something off with her performance, and then I realized, oh, because this character's just in her own world, like, completely, like, she's not even, like, her timing seems off, but then I realized, oh, that's very intentional for her humor. - Right, yeah. Very different character from all the rest of them who do seem more present. I guess the thing that surprised me, too, was that each of the queens are playing a proper character, and that's not necessarily one that you would immediately associate with their background. Like, you know, a Heidi is kind, and that, to me, was always one of her hallmarks on her season. Trinity is a little bit more strict, rigid, authoritarian. That was a little bit more of who she was. But, like, they're not playing themselves, which I felt would have been the easiest way to go with this. And I wound up being really, really glad, because it does offer them an opportunity to build an actual character, instead of just saying, oh, well, you know who I am because you watch Drag Race. - Yeah, yeah, 'cause they actually, like, acted, and I'm going to act in this movie, and I think all of them are really, really, really successful. Heidi and Closet really surprised me, because I really like Heidi as well, but I've never really seen her do something like this before. Trinity, I mean, we know Trinity has to sing herself. - Yes, yeah. Trinity and Caramel felt like the sherbet's going in. I wasn't sure about Crystal Methan. I agree with you. It did take a moment to kind of adjust to Bella, but once you understand that she's the dimwit, she's probably always high. She's just a little bit tuned out, and, yeah, living in her own world, that made the character a lot of fun. And it felt like the movie really understood how to use each of the characters and their different personalities to advance the plot, to introduce conflict, and so on. - Well, one of the biggest last for me was when they were like, "Oh, well, wait for Dawn to clear them out," and Crystal Methan Bella is like, "Who's Dawn? "And why is it going to take her so long to clear them out?" (laughing) It's so stupid. - Yeah, so there is some inner conflict among these queens. They are hustling to get to a variety of small town gigs. Robin is the one who does all the bookings, and she keeps booking them in the wrong club, so that's how we end up going to, oh my god, what is it called? - It's the bold book. - But it was supposed to be the bold tuck, yes. So, of course, this is more of a small town red-neck-y dive, and it would have also been very easy to do, ooh, big city drag queens meets local yokels who are all Hicks, so I did love that we actually have a couple of fans, that we actually have a bartender who is gruff, but compassionate and has a secret history with drag, a lot of really smart narrative decisions being made with these supporting characters. - Yeah, so it would be so easy to make these characters and just be making fun of these country folk, and again, the movie makes characters out of them, and we have the kind of not actual villain, but still a villain of the piece, Travis, played by Daniel Janks. I did warm to his storyline because he has a journey. He wasn't completely changed by the films in, but he was at least a little bit more - Total more open-minded. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I appreciated that he wasn't like, "Oh my God, I love drag now." - Yeah. - You know, that was not his journey because that would have been so facetious. - Right, "Lighting Guy Earl" Warwick Greer, very sweet, has also the saddest death in the film, I think. - Oh my God, I was so upset. - That's how I knew that the movie was really working because when he and who is this lady? - Oh my God, Sheila. - Sheila, played by Robin Scott. Those two were just like, if anything happens to these characters, we ride it on. - Sheila, outside of the dragway and Sheila was my MVP, she was so funny, although Dusty, so this is the bar owner Dusty played by Neil Sandalands and his journey, I loved where this went by the end of the film. - Oh yeah, and that drag reveal, it's really good. Like I wondered if they cast someone who already looked good in drag, is that how we did this? Or did we say you're the best actor and then we're going to make you look good in drag? - 'Cause if this felt like one of those RuPaul's Dragways challenges, they have every season you know where it's like, oh, like these kind of gruff straight men and like do them in a drag makeover and make them your new drag sister. So that's what this felt like to me, but nevertheless, challenge accepted and astonishing. - Yeah, yeah. - Chante, Dusty will stay. - Dusty will absolutely stay. I mean, I just, I get, I loved all of these characters so much. - Okay, so what did you think of the fans? So we have Stephen who was played by Gabriel Melts who ends up striking a cutesy relationship with Robin. And then we also have Jax who was played by Donia Cash and I think Jax identifies as female in the film and then Donia identifies as they, them in real life. - But this was very much the groovy section who are small town queers who have been waiting for someone to finally come and let them live an out lifestyle. - Yeah, so I thought Stephen was okay. I don't think, I think he kind of gets kind of the short end of the stick when it comes to the plots 'cause it kind of just boils down to, oh my God, like I love Robin Banks, played by Highlight in Closet. Jax, I was surprised. I was actually very whatever by Jax. Her desire to kill with forks was just, I think as soon as she was paired off with Bella, that's when I was kind of like, okay, like I see what we're doing with this two here. Like this worked for me. - Yeah, it was amusing when Mama Sue essentially says, okay, we need someone to look after the kids because these two cannot, they will not survive on their own. They need an adult to protect them. - Okay, and like the way this all plays out, I mean, again, I'm jumping ahead, like when we think Bella has died and we get that, I think a really good confrontation between Mama Sue and Olive, where it's like, oh no, I actually, like this isn't just a jokey thing anymore. Like I actually feel something for this. Like this does break my heart, not just because we think Bella has died at this point, but because of the rift between these two characters. - Yeah, because that's really the inciting conflict when we're on the camper initially, right? It's that Olive wants to break out and try some new things and Mama Sue is very steadfast. You know, no, we're not gonna change the playlist. No, we're not gonna change the choreography. It's very much my way or the highway. You know, she's the house mother for lack of a better term and Olive is bristling against this. And you understand implicitly where this is gonna go, right? Like, so when Olive walks off to try to get back to the camper after the vampires have walked them into the bar, it's not a surprise. Like it's the thing you absolutely anticipated who is going to happen, but then Bella dies. And you know, like, wait, this movie isn't, I mean, it's still funny. It's still cracking jokes all the time. But all of a sudden I thought, wait, are we actually playing with emotional stakes here? Because I thought the whole movie was just gonna be can't be fun. - Yeah, which it is, but yeah, there's a sincerity to it too that I think makes these emotional beats land even better. And so, yeah, when I really thought like spoiler alert, you know, Bella will be able to come back as a vampire because she was bit before she was quote unquote killed, which love it. But yeah, no, there was like real attention paid to this. I mean, the performances just have this sincerity that really make this whole thing sing. And also, I mean, I don't know what the budget was, but how are we having songs like wet ass pussy in this movie? (laughs) - You know what? If the entire production spent like half of their budget just to open with this Cardi B song, it was money well spent because I can't think of a better us versus them divide song than watching for super glamorous. Like, the queens look great in this movie, by the way. - Yeah. - Even though they're in horrendous bar lighting that only has a spotlight, but yeah, they come out and they're doing WAP and you're just watching, like we just keep getting cutaways to all of these different bar patrons who are, you know, slack-jawed, what the fuck is this? It's such a great way to really get that divide in. - I think it's all of who's like, I bet y'all thought that acronym's still for something else. (laughs) But yeah, so, you know, yeah, the vampires attack because our stock boy comes back and bites fat boy. (laughs) - Boy. - Yeah. And then we kind of, yeah, mayhem ensues. And I will say, like, this is a 98 minute movie, I think. So I'm surprised, I feel like on my surface, you would think this would be like an 80 minute movie. Tops. - Mm-hmm. - But yeah, this is like a full-length feature. - Yeah, because we end up creating a number of different set pieces. Initially, I thought it was just gonna be everybody hold up in the bar and the vampires attack a couple of times. But there's a certain amount of ingenuity in terms of how do we get the vampires back in? Like the secret bowling alley that's in the bottom of the club that's been closed off? - The extensive labyrinth of air vents that Bella has to crawl through, which I was like, where? Also, these are very clean for this bar, but where are we? (laughs) - Yeah, we've got a set piece with Jax in the bathroom where she ends up getting to use her forts to good effect. - Oh, I love it. - Like, it's very, again, I'm going to say, it's smart, creative, savvy filmmaking, where implicitly, we understand the confines that we're working within in terms of budget, but also saying, how do we maximize and stretch that so that we can get a bunch of different places? We've got enough space and opportunity to mix and match the characters up in unexpected ways. So, you know, the fact that Mama Sue ends up having to go off with Travis is very expected 'cause they're the two biggest personalities, but then we don't only have them and then everybody else. It's like we're following four different lines of action. - Oh yeah, I mean, you know, we have this poor Sheila who's constantly supposed to be barricading a window, but never does. (laughs) - Because she's so hungry. - She's so, she really wanted wings tonight. That's what it is, she's just really up. I love that she shoots that one vampire just because he's the reason she didn't get her wings. (laughs) Also, the garlic bread stuff. I thought it was really, really, really funny. We're playing with vampire lore in a fun way. And again, in an unexpected way because, I mean, you know, spoiler alert, they can go out in the daylight. - Yeah, they can go out in the daylight and that's completely fine. I will say we're cracking a few too many jokes about twilight. Like, we're definitely referencing some other vampire films as well. - Right. - I think at one point we say, "Is this Bram Stoker's vampires or Twilight vampires?" And that was enough for me, but we kept making sparkly vampire jokes or Edward Cullen stuff. Like, I think there was about four, and that was a little too much, but I did like that, yeah, it was okay. Garlic, yes, daylight, no, no mention of crosses at all in this movie trace. - Well, no, so there was one though, because someone tried to use a cross and someone was like, "It didn't work!" And then I think it's a jack that goes, "Oh, the church lied!" (laughing) - Okay, okay. I guess the reason I thought it was interesting is because we do ultimately end up hammering home this message, and I will say this was the other big moment. We'll circle back to Bella's death and some other things in a moment, but for me, the moment that the film truly hit, like, when I knew that this was a properly good film and it didn't have an asterisk or a concession, you know, ooh, it's a two-year original, or like, oh, but it's starring drag queens, it was just a good fucking film, was when we hit that plot beat about all of coming back, getting really mad at everybody and saying, "Why do queer people stay in a place like this?" You're not gonna change somebody like Travis's mind, why don't you just leave? Because things will never get any better here and people pushed back on it. I love that the film was willing to have that kind of conversation, because that is a relevant queer conversation in 2024. - That's what I'm saying. Like, there's like meaningful commentary in this script and it doesn't ring hollow, you know? - No, and I'm not gonna pretend like, oh, this is so groundbreaking or something, it's not like we haven't done this before, but for the film to A, be willing to do that, and B, do it successfully in a way that doesn't feel either hokey or like, we're shoehorning in a message or a moral, you know, it feels organic to the text, but I really appreciated it because it would have been easy to just say, no, it's just Try Queens versus vampires. - But at the same time, it doesn't feel too preachy, you know? Like, it feels very organic and just like natural. It doesn't feel like they're on a soapbox, like talking to the audience through this movie. - Well, I don't think either side is wrong. Like, Olive isn't right. We implicitly understand that she has a point, but also she's kind of wrong. And then we've got Jackson Stephen, where you think you could be having a better life if you left this hickish town. And yet, when they say somebody's got to stay here, I just thought, fuck, yeah, I know, I know, my eyes got all misty. - It was genuinely heartfelt. - Wait, what did you wind up giving this movie on a score? - I ended up giving it, I think, a three and a half. - That's what I did too, yeah? I was really torn between a three and a half and a four. I don't think it's quite there at a four, but again, like well worth everyone's time. - Yeah. - Okay, so what about this Bella's death, which I gotta say though, I love her running gag of always doing a costume change with the each act break. - Yes, I definitely had a good cackle while Bella is trying to squeeze through the vents and the dominatrix costume just keeps squeaking. - Oh my God, and the hair, the hair is so long. - There's the one point where she's actually trying to hide from the vampire who's going after her, and her hair is so high that it's over top of the counter and the vampire just immediately sees her. - Very funny. I liked how Bella's death ultimately ends up changing another of the rules of vampirism that we thought we knew. So yeah, we discovered that they can go out in the daylight from the initial attack on Rufus, but then when Bella comes back and she elects not to hurt anybody because who you are as a vampire reflects your character as a human being. And then it's like, oh, Earl is also good. Oh, Sheila is also good. - Yeah, so if you're an asshole person, then you're an asshole vampire, but no, yeah, 'cause I think she converges to like, oh, I really want to eat this like really sugary thing, but I don't eat it 'cause I have self control. - Well, she also says, "Dixon blood, it's all about consent." (both laughing) - I will say, I don't disagree that there are too many twilight jokes, but kind of to me, I feel like almost all of them come from Bella, and it works to me. - A character literally called Bella? - Right, absolutely, but it only worked for me though, because I was like, of course, Bella's gonna be the one that only knows Twilight is her reference for vampires. - Right, Bella, not the brightest bulb in the shed. - Not at all, but yeah, I also loved the number of like faceless extras that keep popping up in the movie only to be killed and turned into vampires. - Yeah, there's a female biker who at one point just becomes a huge adversary that it takes three people to get rid of, and I just thought, have we seen that character before? Has she been here the whole time? - No, no, so many people have not been, they came in for the day to shoot their fights in, and then they left, because like, every time we were like splitting up, or like we were grouping everyone up, I was like, "There are new people in this building." (both laughing) - Well, one of the funny recurring gags that isn't really played for comedy, and I was surprised, is that more people just keep showing up at the bar and getting killed, because it's a bar in a small town. There's nothing else to do, but the movie doesn't hit us over the head with it. I just like the fact that at the end of the film, when we kind of think, all right, we might be able to take Rufus and these other people, all of a sudden, like two truck fulls of shitty looking 20-something bros turned up, and just immediately get slaughtered, and you think, "Ah, fuck, okay, never mind." (both laughing) - Oh, they also have super hearing, 'cause Bella and Sheila can hear all of them outside. Again, we lose Earl, which is just a real, real sad thing. - Yeah. - What about Sheila's breast implant saving her from staking? Which I, thank God, because if Sheila would have died, I don't know what I would have done. - I know, right? And at that point, Earl has already died, I think only moments before, so we realize, "Oh, the film is definitely willing to kill a favorite." - Yeah. - So I appreciated that Garard knew that we obviously would have latched onto both Earl and Sheila, and by killing Earl, we would be so fucking scared for Sheila, and then we get, you know, "Oh, yeah, never mind, "I've got a false boom. "I've got a new plant." - I also think too, I mean, again, this is where the editing really helps with the comedy, and the only thing that's jumping out to me right away is when Sheila's drinking on the hand, whenever they're all saying they're goodbyes, but we have those immediate cutaway reaction shots to Steven and Jack, 'cause we're like, "Whoa!" - Yeah. - Like three times. - So gross. (laughing) - But yeah, I mean, this was better than, again, it has any right to be, which may seem like a backhanded combo, but that's how I mean it. I just like, I'm genuinely surprised at how genuinely good this movie is. - Say genuinely again. - I know, right? (laughing) I'm sincerely surprised at how genuinely good this is. (laughing) - No, I am in full agreement with you. I mean, the benefit of having a bunch of people watch this before us is that we kind of should have known. I mean, I thought that people were going a little bit easier on it because it had our favorite drag queens in it. So it was a really pleasant surprise to learn, "Oh no, okay, we're not being gaslit by our community." This actually is a really enjoyable endeavor, and I'm thinking maybe one more of these to be originals, and I might have to stop saying, "Oh, it's a to be original," because they do keep putting out good shit. - I agree, and I really, honestly, I hope we get a sequel to this. I would love to see this group back together again, bringing in some more queens, or honestly just leave it with these four and do some more good side characters. - I agree, yeah, nothing else. It's like, okay, adopt the were-here model and just take them to a new small town, and then swap it out. Don't do vampires, do wear-wolves, or maybe not wear-wolves, 'cause you might not have a budget, but-- - They mentioned zombies in one of the scenes, and so I was like, "Oh, I wanted to do zombies next." Now, honestly, they could do the make-up for the zombies themselves, 'cause they're drag queens, so. (laughing) - There you go. Yeah, I would happily and automatically watch a sequel to this. - Yeah, absolutely. Well, okay, everyone, well, yeah. Please, if you have not seen "Slay," please go watch it. It is streaming exclusively on 2B and shit. Have some fun with it. (laughing) - Absolutely. - But until next time, we can cross out "Slay." - Indeed. - And cross out "Microqueers." (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
What do you get when you cross From Dusk 'Til Dawn with To Wong Foo... or Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? Apparently you get Jem Garrard's better-than-it-should-be drag queen vs vampires Tubi film, Slay (2024). Spoiler: We both highly recommend this.
This is just fun! From four great RPDR queens playing actual characters, to beloved locals, to heartfelt (but not soap box-y) messaging, it's wild how well Slay works.
Plus: Adjusting to Crystal Methyd's Bella, ride or dying for Earl and Sheila, paying out for WAP, and our hopes for a sequel.
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> Trace: @tracedthurman
> Joe: @bstolemyremote
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