By Eric Weber
There was once a time, not so long ago, when gay horror fans didn’t have very many film characters or plotlines to relate to. There were exceptions, of course. For example, who could forget poor mistreated Carrie White in Brian DePalma's Carrie? And what gay teen couldn’t relate to the idea of an outcast who was mercilessly teased and tormented for being different?
On the other end of the spectrum, there were some incredibly campy and over-the-top characters who appealed to our inner bitch — characters like Betsy Palmer's Mrs. Voorhees from Friday the 13th. Memorable, demented lines such as, “Kill her, mommy!” have been delighting gay fans for almost 30 years. Not to mention Mrs. Voorhees’ shabby-chic blue sweater, knowingly paired with black leather boots and a hunting knife. As Paris Hilton would say, that’s hot! Personally, I'll take Betsy's axe-wielding mommy over Faye Dunaway's Mommie Dearest any day of the week.
During the mid-1980s, horror films slowly began integrating more overtly gay themes into films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, The Hunger, and Sleepaway Camp. But when you consider the fact that anywhere from 10-20 percent of people are gay or bisexual, the horror and science fiction/fantasy genres seem woefully underrepresented on the big screen. When films did manage to feature an LGBT character, it was usually to play a cliché best friend role or some other stereotype such as a sexually deviant psychopath or a murder victim.
During the past five years, however, there’s been a huge new influx of horror and science fiction films that either cater to a gay audience or feature prominent gay characters. One of the first to appear was 2004's Hellbent, a psycho-killer horror flick that was promoted as the “first gay slasher movie”. In 2005, the here! Network began airing Dante's Cove, a gay-themed soap opera with supernatural and horror elements. It appeared that “queer horror” was suddenly in vogue.
One of the biggest distributors of queer horror films is the multifaceted TLA Releasing - a distribution group that specializes in promoting foreign, art house, and gay/lesbian cinema. Over the past few months, TLA has unleashed a steady stream of offbeat titles - two of which clearly pay homage to the horror boom of the 1970s and 1980s.
The first new film from TLA, Socket, is a David Cronenberg-esque, sci-fi thriller that mixes elements from both Videodrome and Rabid. After being struck by lightning, one unlucky gay man discovers that he craves electricity and begins meeting with a support group of other electricity “addicts”. Obsession, body modification and murder soon follow. The second title, In the Blood, combines traditional slasher film conventions with the psychic horror angle reminiscent of films like The Eyes of Laura Mars and The Fury. A killer is murdering co-eds on a college campus and a young, sexually confused student begins seeing visions whenever aroused — visions of his blood-soaked sister. Could she be the killer's next victim?
With several sites devoted to queer horror — including Camp Blood and Queer Horror, it looks like gay horror isn't going away anytime soon. Dante's Cove recently finished its third successful season. And later this year, The Lair — a series that revolves around a sex club run by gay vampires — will begin its second season on the here! Network.
When asked about the future of queer horror, Socket director Sean Abley responded, “I would love for there to be a queer Scream - a film that changes the direction of the genre in a big way and that just happens to have LGBT lead characters. As a filmmaker, that's my goal — to make films that are fun, but also smart.” In the Blood director Lou Peterson shares similar high hopes for upcoming films and filmmakers and says, “As the gay market grows and splinters into genres, I definitely think horror will remain the most popular. It has built-in gay appeal — elaborate costumes, intense drama, creative imagery — and I think other filmmakers will pick up on this and take it to exciting new levels. I can even picture a time when the gay horror market will be so well developed that sub-genres will start to emerge — such as lesbian vampire, twink slasher, tranny witchcraft, and bear zombie.”
Perhaps this is just the beginning. If more gay filmmakers continue to embrace more than just romantic comedy for their films, maybe someday we'll see a gay Dirty Harry, a gay James Bond, or a gay Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
