They/Them Film Review: Sharp Script Giv Be to Gay-Conversn-Camp Horror Story

Contents:

• GAY HORROR MOVI BY TLE
• ‘THEY/THEM’ FILM REVIEW: SHARP SCRIPT GIV BE TO GAY-CONVERSN CAMP HORROR STORY
• THE HISTORY OF HORROR IS GAY

GAY HORROR MOVI BY TLE

Before homosexualy was formally legislated out of existence Hollywood by the Productn Co — monly referred to as the Hays Co, which tablished mandat for “moral standards” motn pictur and banned pictns of “sexual perversy” — the legendary filmmaker Jam Whale was buildg the foundatn for Amerin genre cema wh films like Frankenste, The Old Dark Hoe, and The Invisible Man. A rare slasher film wh a group of entirely openly gay characters, Hellbent is an outlier of s time that’s also a fe example of a story wh queer protagonists that go beyond the tradnal “g-out” narrative. Mdy beg openly queer is a ls fg character tra, which is admirable and mak Scream an antidote to the e of homosexualy as a punchle s precsor, where the character Robbie Mercer blurts that he’s gay jt to avoid Ghostface’s wrath.

More fixated on his pannship wh his male partner and antagonizg a society uneasy by his mere prence, Griff is a figure wh his own queer unrcurrent like the monster Frankenste, another horror masterpiece om openly gay director Jam Whale. But as wh so much of Hchck, ’s hard to say that this is an outright homophobic visn, pecially when the script has the souciance of Osr Wil: “Before this day is out I fear we’ll hear that terribly old-fashned but que exprsive term ‘foul play, ’” Sanrs says, all while munchg on a chicken leg. ” The remarkable thg about all this is that Hchck mak you intify wh Perks (who was gay and closeted real life) as much as he did Marn Crane herself, to the pot that, as Hchck often did at his perverse bt, you’re kda rootg for him.

‘THEY/THEM’ FILM REVIEW: SHARP SCRIPT GIV BE TO GAY-CONVERSN CAMP HORROR STORY

A prolific and succsful horror fictn wrer who began directg to adapt his work himself, out gay filmmaker Clive Barker is rponsible for two of the films on this list, “Nightbreed” and “Hellraiser. Takg the token gay iend to his rightfully sensual ends, her roommate Adrien luxuriat his sexualy, brgg boys home and flntg the pleasur of the flh that seem so out of reach to the raveno Jte. For 2019’s “Midnight Kiss, ” a sexy gay slasher set amongst a group of LA gay iends on New Year’s Eve, Blumhoe tapped out gay talent — wrer Erlgur Thoroddsen and director Carter Smh, who also hired all queer actors for the queer rol.

Horror films have moved om the subtly d lbian 1963’s “The Hntg” to the then-reer-skg gayns of 1985’s “Nightmare on Elm Street, to the wholehearted embrace of Sam and Deena’s relatnship Netflix’s “Fear Street” cred: MGM“The Hntg” (1963). While the character of Theo the 2018 Netflix limed seri “The Hntg of Hill Hoe” was openly gay, almost all the referenc to her beg a lbian were removed om Robert Wise’s still-effective classic about a psychic vtigatn to the notorly hnted Hill Hoe.

We are what society fears, but we are also what society is fascated by, and horror ris at that paful tersectn, simultaneoly sistg that the monster mt be sla to mata the social orr while remag fixated on to the very last ame.Legendary wrer Clive Barker, himself an openly gay man, ptured this tensn well when he scribed the “reactnary” unrcurrent of much horror fictn. — Samantha AllenClick here to jump to a : 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s.1930sThe Old Dark Hoe (1932)One of the first openly gay filmmakers any genre, horror or otherwise, Jam Whale directed several spooky stori have been reterpreted through a queer lens.

THE HISTORY OF HORROR IS GAY

(Fellas, is gay to n off wh another guy and obss over the man you created on your weddg night?) While Frankenste and Pretori’ charged relatnship speaks for self, ’s the Monster (Boris Karloff) who bt enpsulat the film’s pulsg queer unrton.

While many of the lbian vampire films of old ed the predatory lbian and “bury your gays” trop, this 1936 horror film is an trospective piece that leans to the experience of ternalized homophobia. Dorian may be a typil Evil Gay (and arguably the origal Murr Twk), but society helped force his hand: Had he not had to hi his te self, he might not have gotten so good at hidg his actual crim.

Screenwrg and theater legend Arthur Lrents — who was gay real life and romantilly volved wh the film’s -star, Farley Granger — claimed later life that he liberately wrote the film so the dience would realize the characters were gay, whout explicly sayg so due to Hays Co censorship and ntemporaneo attus. But his greatt gay baddie is the famo Bno (Robert Walker) Strangers on a Tra — a vilishly charmg chap who, like so many other homosexuals, has a penchant for plans and schem. From the moment the director’s mera began panng through the real gay leather bars of downtown New York, the queer muny, already a prer social posn, unrstandably objected to the film’s nflatn of BDSM practic wh real-world vlence.