13 Gay Horror Films & TV Shows to Stream This Halloween

Contents:

• M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN’S KNOCK AT THE CAB TRAILER HAS TIED UP GAYS — BUT NOT LIKE THAT
• ‘HALLOWEEN KILLS’: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FRANCHISE’S FIRST GAY CHARACTERS

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN’S KNOCK AT THE CAB TRAILER HAS TIED UP GAYS — BUT NOT LIKE THAT

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.

‘HALLOWEEN KILLS’: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FRANCHISE’S FIRST GAY CHARACTERS

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. Historilly, horror films haven’t always been kd to lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people, though many members of the muny mata a wonrfully unique relatnship wh the genre.

Thankfully, the non of queer horror tl has been slowly buildg over the past several s, aid by a number of recent die films that prrize cln and twist some of the character trop followed strictly more mastream there are many to choose om, here are 11 queer horror films to put toward the top of your watchlist for "Gay Christmas" — otherwise known as Halloween.

Sprkle a ltle David Bowie on the top, and you’ve got a thoroughly enjoyable, albe light on plot, queer vampire Sk I Live In (2011)Sony PicturFamed gay director, screenwrer and producer Pedro Almodóvar elevat the body terror genre wh a tale that chronicl the weird dynamic between a plastic surgeon, played by Anton Banras, and the woman he keeps locked away his lavish mansn. 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. Claire Bloom, who played the chic character the 1963 film, later told the Motn Picture Archive that Theo was “very obvly gay” a scene om the script that was cut out. While some earlier films do clu overtly gay them, thgs went unrground durg the Hays Co era, and the reverberatns of that subversive queerns rema uful to this day.

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.