The Gutter’s own Michelle Kisner joins Mike White and Kyler Fey to discuss Bertrand Mandico’s The Wild Boys.

“A fever dream of transgression and transformation, the film follows five privileged boys who rape and murder their literature teacher—then are spirited away by a mysterious sea captain to the strange and sensual Dress Island, where nature itself begins to reshape them.

The trio explores the film’s roots in transgressive literary tradition, its place within a rich lineage of queer underground filmmaking—from Jean Genet and Kenneth Anger to Guy Maddin—and Mandico’s bold formal choices: tactile black-and-white cinematography, analog practical effects, and the provocative decision to cast women as the “wild boys,” destabilizing gender from the very first frame.”

Listen here. (CG Editor Emeritus Keith Allison wrote about William S. Burroughs’ Wild Boys and Russell Mulcahy’s Duran Duran music video “Wild Boys” here).