Drag Race RuCap: “One Night Only”

So many queens! Too many?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: The most popular drag contest on television (sorry Dragula) may not be called RuPaul's Best Friends Race, but writing for The Film Experience sometimes feels like it. I've met fantastic people over the few years I've been writing for the site, and some have become close pals. Indeed, it's rare that a day goes by without me chatting the house down with the fabulously-haired Nick Taylor. But, of course, when Drag Race's on the air, those conversations devolve into jokey recaps (rucaps!), so it seemed fitting to fuel that enthusiasm back into the site that made us friends in the first place. Though our usual TFE write-ups may lean serious-minded and long-winded, we can be fun and tight. That said, please don't hold us to that promise – we'll try, and that's good enough…right, Nathaniel?

Without further ado, let's dive into the supersized Season 15 premiere...

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Dragula: Titans S1. E3 "Science Fiction (Horror) Double Feature"

by Nick Taylor

Alaska, Dracmorda, Swanthula, and David Dastmalchian on the judge's panel
Dragula: Titans gives us the first of the series’ traditional floorshows, allowing its creatures to strut their stuff on the main stage with smoke and strobe lights dancing in their ears as the horror-techno score plays on. Asking the queens for their interpretation of science fiction horror results is a wildly broad prompt, and the results range from cosmic horror to space aliens to robot monstrosities. There’s no lip syncing, no acting, no other requirement but owning that stage the way only they can. And boy, did they deliver...

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Dragula: Titans S1.E2 "Revenge of the Witch"

by Nathaniel R

Just give us dark beauty, right?

Challenges on competition reality shows are planned out in advance but sometimes it's fun to imagine they aren't but instead, forced by the previous episode. Last week, when Dragula Titan's competitors were asked to reinterpret a classic horror type for a Halloween party, nobody chose a witch, surely the most common costume of all. So for episode two, witches are the whole theme. Revenge! 

For those of you who need a little cinematic referencing in your TV (oh, maybe that's just me?) the guest judges were the "Demon Nun" herself Bonnie Aarons (The Conjuring 2, The Nun, Mulholland Drive) and director Darren Stein (Jawbreaker, GBF)...

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Ranking "Dragula: Titans" S1.E1 (and learning to love Horror)

by Nathaniel R

The Boulet Brothers, hosts of Dragula

Do any of you readers watch the Shudder drag competition Dragula? Though horror has never been the most natural fit for yours truly, other members of Team Experience are much more into the genre. That said I have grown more fond of the spooky stuff over the years, largely due to recommendations from my teammates. There's also the not so small matter of my own actressexuality that has converted me; It's hard to stay averse to Horror when great actresses keep delivering in transcendent ways within the genre. In the past ten years alone the Film Bitch Awards right here (my own annual prizes) have thrown three medals to such performances: Toni Collette in Hereditary and Lupita Nyong'o in Us both won Gold and Essie Davis took silver for The Babadook. Through careful exposure therapy (ha) I've learned which kinds of horror films are absolutely not for me without having to risk visual trauma. So the rest I can sample freely and enjoy!

So it was that last year I subscribed to Shudder where I ended up watching season four of the drag competition Dragula.  This week the new sidebar season (essentially "All Stars") Dragula Titans began. All drag or lipsynch competitions will of course be endlessly compared to the phenomenally successful  RuPaul's Drag Race. That's unavoidable...

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A queer-leaning Venice Critics Week

by Nathaniel R

Three Nights a Week

The titles have been announced for one of the exciting sidebars at Venice. Critics Week is for feature debuts for emerging filmmakers. That means they're eligible for the Lion of the Future prize, determined by a jury from all debuts across the festival. What's more at least three of these titles are queer films so maybe the Queer Lion will be competitive this year, too! As with the Lion of the Future prize, all sections of the festival counts so a special jury chooses The Queer Lion after screening the qualifying films (in this case anything LGBTQ themed). Venice runs August 31st through September 10th, 2022. Once again this year Elisa Giudici will be covering Venice for us...

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