A look at how queer horror films have evolved over time, asssg more than 50 films that span the gay ghosts of the early 20th century to The Babadook.
Contents:
* queer horror film *
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. Here was Whale, a gay man, buildg horror his own image and havg astoundg box office succs as some groups were lobbyg Hollywood to censor queerns out of existence. Now we n choose om a lbian domtic drama volvg a baby werewolf Good Manners, a transfemist vampire movie B, or a French slasher set a gay porn muny wh Knife + Heart.
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. This is particularly due to s solate settg on a gay cisg beach and the e of shadow by cematography matra Claire Mathon. 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.
The spookit, and gayt, time of year is here! * queer horror film *
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. Given that homosexualy was nsired eher a physil or psychologil malady the early 20th century, the effectively legislated any limed queer prence out of existence. While homosexualy was not explicly banned the Hays’ text, was mandated that “no picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see .
It also doubl as a timele of the evolutn of queer horror: How LGBTQA them and characters went om hidg between the l movi wh “gay sensibili” the 1930s to breakg out as Pri mem almost a century later — gog om visible (lbian ghosts! Benshoff explas his book Monsters the Closet: Homosexualy the Horror Film, “Immediately before and durg the years of World War II, Universal Stud’s horror films began to employ a more humanistic pictn of their monsters, ” and the films of Val Lewton, like Cat People, reflected “a growg awarens of homosexualy, homosexual muni, and the dynamics of homosexual opprsn as was played out society and the ary.
The Old Dark Hoe (1932)It should e as no surprise that a known gay director, Jam Whale, brought to life some of the most inic Universal Monsters durg their peak the 1930s. Whale imbued his movi, often about the ultimate outsirs, wh a gay sensibily: In Dark Hoe, five people are brought together when they’re forced off the road by a storm and end up takg shelter the same isolated home.