Closing Out Queer Horror

It's been something of a wild ride, making my way through such an eclectic group of films as those I chose for this horror exploration (see my introduction and list here). The quality varied, the highs were high, the lows were low. I found this group of queer films to be difficult to get through for that reason. The most rewarding aspect of the experience was tracing the attitudes about and inclusion of queer folks in horror cinema through time, from the earliest film on my list The Old Dark House to the latest B&B.

Queerness on screen wasn't always embraced in the same way it is today. Jordan Crucchiola's Vulture article from 2018 was really helpful in guiding me through the history of queer horror film. I recommend anyone interested in a broad overview to check it out. From the Hays Code to the multi-dimensional queer characters we get in contemporary horror films like Lyle and Stranger by the Lake, Queer film has come a long way. However, newer films like IT Chapter Two are still sparking debate about what positive representation really looks like.

All that said, I don't personally recommend watching many of the films on this list, unless you really want to deep dive into queer horror films. I purposefully chose films that may have flown under the radar of the average horror fan, and most of them I had also never seen before. Here are a few must-sees (for all horror fans) from the list: Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Haunting (1963), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), Heavenly Creatures (1994), Stranger by the Lake (2013), Lyle (2014), and B&B (2017).

Of course, these films aren't representative of queer horror generally, especially in the mainstream. I left off so many of the most well-known queer horror films out there such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Babadook, Sleepaway Camp, Let the Right one in, Jennifer’s Body, Silence of the Lambs, or Seed of Chucky.

Hopefully, I've inspired at least a few people to check out some horror films that they may never have thought about before. That was really the goal here, to get more eyes on queer horror films and to get people thinking about film history generally and how it hasn't always reflected (or positively reflected) the queer community.

For more on queer film, I recommend the podcast space where you can find folks like Horror Queers, Queer Horror Cult, Gaylords of Darkness, Queer Movie Podcast, ScreamQueenz, and Attack of the Queerwolf to name just a few. Also, a very exciting queer horror documentary from Shudder will be released next year.