Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadul Things (1971) Dir. Thomas Casey

By Cory C, November 14, 2025

"I'm afraid that Stanley is a little shy around girls"

Every once and awhile you see a movie that genuinely and properly blows your mind. SOMETIMES AUNT MARTHA DOES DREADFUL THINGS (1971), perhaps the first ever live action toxic yaoi film, blew my mind. I'm talking a cross dressing maternal figure ties up his surrogate son, strips him to his underwear, writes "Slut" on his forehead with lipstick, and then chokes him with a pearl necklace levels of bonkers toxic yaoi. This movie really fucking goes for it. It is a reminder movies can do anything and should be less mundane.

The premise: two hardened criminals, Stanley and Paul, are holed up following a jewelry heist. In order to disguise themselves, Paul wears drag and pretends to be "Aunt Martha," Stanley's aunt. They increasingly slip into the roles of Paul as an overbearing maternal figure and Stanley as a rebellious teen. They fight over familiar domestic drama as Paul gets frustrated that Stanley stands with the fridge door open, is growing out his hair too long, and is hanging out with his dirtbag friends. But mostly they fight about Stanley bringing girls home. This infuriates Paul and is the central conflict of the movie. Paul has to kill these women to protect Stanley.

Don't jump to conclusions that this is simply another generic cross-dresser is evil movie. Perish the thought! This is absolutely a yoai movie. Stanley is obviously a repressed gay man who keeps almost hooking up with women then completely freaking out when they try to actually have sex with him. Paul is obviously protective of him against women who are actually trying to force themselves on him. Though his protectiveness feels driven by jealousy more than protectiveness. They are both delightful little lunatics. Imagine Psycho if Norman Bates and Norman Bate's crossdressing as his mother were in a psychosexual kink relationship.

This one is extremely fun. It is like a mash up of PSYCHO (1960), a queer drama, a crime movie, a drive-in exploitation film, and a parody 1960s anti-drug melodramas. It pulls almost all of this off with shocking skill. This one is a gem in the truest sense. Everyone here is having a blast and the pieces work together so much better than they should. The sets, design, filmmaking, and performances all punch above their weight. It's a regional drive in movie from Florida in the 70s so don't expect a high class drama. But do expect to have a great time.

I think this film actually has something interesting to say about compulsory heterosexuality, the phenomenon where many queer people feel social pressure to perform heterosexuality despite their true sexual orientation. Stanley loves to party with friends and do drugs with them. Girls desire him and he even enjoys being desired. But the moment things escalate sexually he becomes repulsed. At one point a woman nearly forces sex onto him in a reversal of the standard grindhouse sexploitation that has the genders of the aggressive and unwilling partners reversed. Unfortunately the filmmakers, despite being remarkably transgressive, seem aware that to make a queer crime drama palletable for the 1970s Florida audience they have to offer up a lot of TnA (and no hog or man butt). Ironically, this reality of the market mirrors the compulsory heteronomativity that seems to be a theme in the movie itself.

All told this is a bizzare and wonderful film. When you see such a strange and potent combination of ideas it reminds you that films and stories can do more, be bolder and weirder and more transgressive. When they let their freak flags fly, movies are more entertaining. This one is a must see.