how to get attention
by
Douglas Messerli
Frank
Meli (screenwriter and director) Dragula / 2014 [25 minutes]
Charles
(August Roads) is the second eldest son of the Freeman family, the youngest
receiving his mother’s parenting instructions, and the eldest, Spencer, as a
sports hero who coach has told him that he should get an agent for placement on
major university teams, receiving nearly all of his father’s (Bob Riggle’s)
attention. Charlie is basically ignored, even at school where is appears to be
a mediocre student in Mr. Newton’s (Cheyenne Jackson) speech class.
When
he suggests he might try out for the student talent show, even his best friends
Ben (Josh Brodis) and Phyllis (Allison Page) suggest that the idea is
ridiculous since Charles has no talent. But they do end up asking him to join
them at a gay club named The End to celebrate Ben’s birthday.
How such a gay / lesbian bar just happens
to be in their town, which Phyllis suggests isn’t ready for radical sexual
behavior, is not explained. But the important thing is that it is there the
high school boy discovers the drag performer Dragula (Barry Bostwick) who
dances and sings, enticing his audience to “Follow me to another land, where
the kings are queens who understand,” and arguing how he will help people “turn
away from humanity and give in to your insanity” joined by four young
dancing boys.
Since he and his classmates are reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula in
Mr. Newton’s speech class, the performance truly hits home for Charles, who
perhaps for the first time in his life, seems transfixed by something that is
completely new to him. It is as if a new door has opened, much in the way that
he does for the young gay boy in Michael Beddoes’ 2019 short English film, Sequins.
But, in this case, this high school student may not even be gay; he simply
loves the drag performance, stopping by after to introduce himself to Dragula.
Before we know it, Charles has announced
to his friends that he does intend to perform at the high school talent show: they
are shocked. Will he even get away with it in their small town. But they do
promise to help him in any way possible.
Soon after they teach him how to walk in
heels, and Charlie stops in a Victoria’s Secret-like shop to buy himself a black
nightie that, as he puts it, “pops.” In his room he begins dancing and singing
while dressed up in drag.
His mother (Missi Pyle), without
knocking, enters his room to observe. “Is there something you want to tell me,
Charlie?” she shyly asks; “We need to have a talk.” Fortunately, she is the
local Avon Lady and you can blink she is showing him how to do his eyes,
lipstick, and cheeks.
Charles returns to The End club,
waiting outside this time to ask Dragula’s help, declaring that he wants to
become a performer. “Why ever you would want to become that?” he asks, the boy
meekly responding that he no longer wants to be ignored. After briefly coaching
him on his sense of self-worth, the elderly queen takes him under his wing and
clearly does teach him the art.
And yes, Charles does give an absolutely delightful drag performance
proclaiming “the best parts of me where just hidden you” and finally insisting
upon his own specialness within the legion of drag performers, singing—dancing,
and swinging his torso in the manner of a Broadway Gypsy Rose Lee. True it is
still an amateur performance, but a truly enjoyable one, so much better than
the female dance group that has appeared just before him, where one of the “chicks”
has caught the eye of Spencer and his father both.
The hometown crowd goes wild for Charlie’s
performance, as Dragula, now out of drag, cheers him on in the background. Even
his father and brother must applaud, although afterwards, they still admit to
trying to assimilate his sudden alteration.
If not much of this really makes sense,
it doesn’t matter, since both Bostwick’s and Road’s performances are remarkably
invigorating, funny, and just splendidly gay.
Los
Angeles, July 28, 2026
Reprinted
from My Queer Cinema blog (July 2026).
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