31 Gay Horror Movi: ‘Raw,’ ‘Nightmare on Elm Street 2,’ and More – IndieWire

Contents:

• SEARCH ALL 259 GAY HORROR MOVI LGBT HORROR MOVI
• SHUDR’S GAY HORROR SERI ‘QUEER FOR FEAR’ PROV WE’VE BEEN HERE ALL ALONG
• GAY L.A.? ACRDG TO THIS MOVIE, ’S MURR

SEARCH ALL 259 GAY HORROR MOVI LGBT HORROR MOVI

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. If you're the mood for somethg spooky and sry this year, we've got some great -- and gay AF -- clive horror films and seri for you.

Chucky was created by Don Manci, a gay man, and several of the films feature queer characters and them, cludg Chucky's child Glen. Not only is the ncept of body-swappg herently queer, but Freaky also featur Josh, the ma character's gay bt iend as a rehg take on what is often an old archetype. This 2016 horror film follows a young gay man who travels wh his iends back to his fay farm Michigan to e out to his nservative fay.

SHUDR’S GAY HORROR SERI ‘QUEER FOR FEAR’ PROV WE’VE BEEN HERE ALL ALONG

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.

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.

GAY L.A.? ACRDG TO THIS MOVIE, ’S MURR

A tan of classic horror, gay filmmaker Jam Whale wove queerns to most of his films, which clu the origal “Frankenste” and “The Invisible Man. 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.

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. Though didn’t spawn any sequels, “Nightbreed” was more crilly embraced than “Hellraiser” and is nsired a direct metaphor for gay activism. “In many ways, ‘Interview’ is the most mercially succsful gay film of all time, and most dienc didn’t even realize they were seeg a gay film.

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.