by MATTHEW HAYS

New York stage vet Charles Busch has taken another stab at bringing his wondrous and elaborate drag acts to the big screen, with excellent results. His first time out, Psycho Beach Party, left me a bit cold; but with Die Mommie Die!, Busch, who writes and stars, has managed to make the transition smoothly - and with a great deal of laughs.

Certainly, it's a daunting task: Busch has known serious success on the stage, where his brand of camp is received very well by theatregoers in Greenwich Village. But that audience couldn't be further away from the one in Peoria, making the shift to cinema a brutal transition.

The fantastic thing is, Die Mommie Die! really had me laughing throughout a good deal of it. The filmmakers are sensibly trading a bit on Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven; this is almost like a campy sendup of that film. Busch plays a Hollywood housewife sick of her husband (Philip Baker Hall). Finally, she decides to off him. When other people begin to get knocked off as well, the film becomes a whodunit, with silly tips of the hat to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. Backing up Busch and Hall are Natasha Lyonne and Jason Priestley (who plays a switch-hitting out-of-work actor). It's a fine cast, and I got a very big kick out of much of this, especially the funeral scene in which Busch has some trouble containing her joy about the death of her husband. Die Mommie Die! screens this Sunday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Parisien as part of Image&Nation's final weekend.

In the Better Late Than Never Department, and also in a queer viewing vein, Degrassi: The Next Generation is airing two episodes concerning the plight of one of its students, the fictional Marco, who is coming out. It's about time, considering the two previous Degrassi incarnations barely touched on queer issues. But having said that, I was impressed with these episodes, which air this Wednesday, Oct. 8, and Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 8:30 p.m. on CTV. Marco finds his teen life turned upside down after he tells his best friend that he's gay, something his buddy just can't accept. The episodes even feature a dramatic gay bashing scene. I confess that, being a sucker for the soap genre, these episodes now have me hooked on the latest Degrassi serial. And hats off to Adamo Ruggiero, the young actor who brings Marco to life with such sensitivity. It's an undeniably powerful and evocative performance.

Finally, horror fans can't miss out on the Cinémathèque québécoise's latest series, an anthology of Czech horror and fantasy films. The series, which includes Jan Svankmajer's The Fall of the House of Usher and Juraj Herz's The Cremator, continues until Oct. 8. See rep listings for details.

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