This Ends at Prom

"Don't dream it. Be it." 50 years ago, a midnight movie was unleashed on the American masses that changed the lives of outsider teenagers forever. The Wives Colangelo would not be the people we are today without THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, and neither would Chelsey Weber-Smith of the American Hysteria podcast. For the final episode of the Halloween season 2025, let's all do the time warp, give...

"That's the whole point. I'm going to marry the Prince." THE UGLY STEPSISTER is Emilie Blichfeldt's first feature, and it is unfathomable that a first-time feature filmmaker was given the space (and budget) to make such a biting, daring, and monstrous creative swing. The reason Cinderella is a fairy tale is that to be a woman so pure and beautiful that a rich prince takes you away from your terrib...

"The girls will wake up ... when they are hungry." Is Hausu secretly the most honest coming-of-age teen girl horror movie ever made? This week, The Wives Colangelo are diving into the wild, weird, and wonderful world of Nobuhiko Obayashi's 1977 masterpiece, HOUSE. Hell truly is a teenage girl, and this week the show is discussing seven young women who were eaten before adulthood had the chance to...

"We're made to be monsters, so let's be monsters. Let's be gods." BIT is the intersectional, trans-inclusive, vampire girl gang movie of your dreams, and The Wives Colangelo are here to talk about it for the most wonderful month of the year. How do you exist in a world that makes you out to be a monster just for existing, and what do you do when you're given the kind of power that cis straight whi...

"Please, Lord, make me the biggest star the world has ever known so that I may get far, far away from this place. Amen." The Wives Colangelo are kicking off the Halloween season by discussing a young woman who will not accept a life she does not deserve, the titular PEARL. Discussions include the liberating excitement of seeing an adult film for the first time, the weird ways repression can manife...

"Fate! There is such a thing as fate, but it only takes you so far. Then it's up to you to make it happen." Everyone loves that one last house party after high school before everything changes, especially when it has a banger soundtrack, introduces the next generation of Hollywood superstardom, and gives us all a reason to believe in fate. This week, the Wives Colangelo are finally tackling CAN'T...

"If it's a man's world, God wouldn't have made me." This week, The Wives Colangelo are championing the young women who were ever called a "bad influence" and celebrating the rural queer kids fighting for a chance to exist in a world that tries to literally straighten them out by talking about DIRTY GIRL. This criminally underrated and underseen road trip comedy is the exact kind of subversive come...

"Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you are born to stand out?" This week, The Wives Colangelo are hopping the pond and showing up to merry ol' England to find their long-lost rich dads and talk about the Amanda Bynes classic, WHAT A GIRL WANTS. Discussions include dissecting why so many movies post-9/11 were overseas adventures, the glory of Colin Firth in leather pants, and why the statem...

“That’s the funny thing about hope. Nobody else gets to decide if you feel it. That choice belongs to you.” We're goin' up, up, up! It's our moment! You know together we're glowin'! KPOP DEMON HUNTERS has quickly become a phenomenon, and we are loving every second of it. This week, The Wives Colangelo are doing a deep dive into the world of K-pop with film journalist, culture critic, host, and K-p...

"UGH. AS IF!" Back in 2020, the recently married Wives Colangelo sat down in their Cleveland apartment to kill some time during quarantine and talk about teen girl movies. Now, five years later, in a different apartment in Los Angeles, they're returning to the movie that started it all and celebrating how it has changed culture in the last 30 years -- CLUELESS. A film this monumental deserved revi...

"My face looks like a Birkin bag that's been left out in the sun to rot!" The long-awaited sequel to 2003's FREAKY FRIDAY is finally here, and The Wives Colangelo are thrilled to finally have a movie in theaters that they can cover on the show. Is FREAKIER FRIDAY a worthy follow-up to the absolute best film in the franchise, or was it another cheap bid for nostalgia that no one needed? Is a four-w...

"As we grow older, it becomes difficult to just believe." In honor of the film's 30th anniversary, The Wives Colangelo are stuffing their bras with pudding, trying to find the truth about a tombstone, having an existential crisis about coming back to their hometowns, and falling in love all over again with the movie NOW AND THEN. Let's talk about the sapphic energy of Sam and Roberta, the chokehol...

"I've been kicked off the track team, and without track, my grades will be based on ...my grades." The world lost a wonderful woman this month with the passing of Margo Donohue. In honor of her life and legacy, we're re-releasing our episode with her on HEAVEN HELP US, the 1985 Catholic school boys film filmed in Brooklyn. At the time of the episode, Margo had just released the book FILMED IN BROO...

"Music is all that matters. One hour on stage makes up for the other 23." The Wives Colangelo are heading back to the Midwest for a trip, so it's only fitting that they'd cover an underrated shot-in-Cleveland story starring Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox about a pair of musical siblings trying to find their places in the world. Directed by Paul Schrader and featuring music by Bruce Springsteen, LIGH...

"As far as I'm concerned, a swimsuit body is a body with a swimsuit on it." This week The Wives Colangelo are heading to Texas, signing up for a pageant to piss off our mothers, and learning from drag queens what it means to be a beauty queen with DUMPLIN'! It's time to discuss the insecurities our moms imprint on us, why seeking external validation while existing in a marginalized body is not ant...

"You're a girl that doesn't ask a guy what to do..." Surf's up, and we're remembering having very confusing feelings about watching all of these cool surfers! BLUE CRUSH is one of those seminal sleepover classics that caused quite a stir for millennials everywhere, but we're breaking down why it's so good, why Anne-Marie is so iconic, and why the hell a guy is hanging around our surfer sisterhood...

"Charlotte, I know you're planning a celibate life, but with half my chromosomes, I think that might be tough." We at This Ends at Prom firmly believe that we never stop coming-of-age, and this Cher/Winona Ryder/Christina Ricci/Bob Hoskins classic is proof positive of that! We're cutting our sandwiches into stars, co-opting Catholic guilt, yearning after people we shouldn't, moving across the coun...

"That's a shame, being that it's the 4th of July and all. Kids like you should be out having fun. Drinking, partying, running people over, getting away with murder... things like that!" Happy 4th of July to Helen Shivers, and only Helen Shivers. With a legacyquel on the way, it's time we finally talked about I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. BJ loves this movie and Harmony ... tolerates it, so for...

"Ever feel like reality is more twisted than dreams?" The Wives Colangelo are closing out Pride Month by introducing Harmony to the punk rock cinematic world of Gregg Araki and celebrating 30 years of THE DOOM GENERATION. Sometimes being a teenager feels like looking down the end of the world, and no one understands that feeling quite like Xavier Red, Jordan White, and Amy Blue. Let's talk about t...

"It's a first-year college party. Everyone's gay." This week The Wives Colangelo are joined by the ultra-hilarious D.J. Mausner to talk about their prom night comedy, PROM DATES! It's time to learn how this movie came to be, hear about the real-life inspirations behind the characters and absolutely wild scenarios these two best friends get themselves into, and honor the high school experiences of...

"Why would God make us all so different if he wanted us to be the same?" The incomparable Sarah Marshall makes her mighty return to discuss one of the best films of the 2000s, the religious satire SAVED! Together with The Wives Colangelo, the trio discusses repression, queerness, being filled with Christ's love, a perfectly written script, cool pastors, teenage pregnancy, and why we all wish we we...

"I love self-loathing complaint rock you can dance to." It's Harmony's birthday and whatever baby wants, baby gets, so we're upgrading Amy Heckerling's LOSER from the Sadie Hawkins Dance episodes on the Patreon and bringing Jason Biggs and co. to the main show! Let's talk about why so many people misunderstand the loveliness of this story, why Greg Kinnear should be in the villain hall-of-fame for...

"How do you measure a year in the life?" May-usical month comes to an end as The Wives Colangelo reflect on the film adaptation of Jonathan Larson's groundbreaking musical, RENT, 20 years later. What do we do with a show that was so important to a generation that hasn't quite held up to the hourglass of time? What do we do with a show that would probably benefit from some rewrites, but is untoucha...

"I sleep with women, but musicals make me feel gay!" It's BJ's birthday week so she's forcing Harmony to watch a horror musical, the CAMP meets FRIDAY THE 13TH theatre geek slasher comedy, STAGE FRIGHT (2014). The Wives Colangelo are here to discuss the weirdest interpretations of beloved musicals, Meat Loaf (the man), theater kid jokes that hit just as hard 11 years later, and why this film is cr...

"I may be a drape, but I love your granddaughter. And if that's a crime, I'll stand convicted, ma'am." John Waters returns to This Ends at Prom with the second of his unofficial teen trilogy and first true musical, the 1950s satire, CRY-BABY. This week The Wives Colangelo are discussing finding your path in a rigid world, why Waters' brand of "beautiful" is the way to be, stressing the importance...