When We Are At The Center of Horror: Evolving Queer Horror

Horror is the one genre where fear speaks by challenging its characters in facing monsters both human and inhuman. This genre has amplified and evolve on Tv, videogames, comic books, podcast, books, movies, etc. In the 2010s, new voices emerge and keep continuing in bringing new perspectives for the horror genre as well as any genre. Queer Horror is one of those voices that focuses around LGBTQ themes presented in the horror genre by introducing LGBTQ characters and/or presenting social issues that reflect them directly or indirectly to any horror scenario. Nowadays, more LGBTQ people including myself who are horror fans examined our issues when we see a horror movie that reflects it explicitly or not. In the 20th century, the portrayal of LGBTQ was very limited and often censored in the media or portrayed negatively. However, many horror filmmakers expressed LGBTQ issues as subtext in several of their horror films intentionally or unintentionally such as Carrie, Hellraiser, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, and many more. Thankfully, in this evolving era of entertainment that many are calling it a renaissance, there are filmmakers who are including LGBTQ themes and characters at the forefront of horror films. These films might not be mainstream but are expanding it in the indie and foreign movie industries. However, there have been LGBTQ characters who have being portrayed in mainstream horror movies, but the progress is slowly. As such, for this year’s Pride Month, I want to dedicate this piece in watching and analyzing the following queer horror movies of this decade:

The Perfection (2019)

The Perfection is a horror thriller by director Richard Shepard and written by Richard Shepard, Eric C. Charmelo and Nicole Snyder. The film is divided in four acts: Mission, Detour, Home, and Duet that details the revenge tale of former cello student, Charlotte (Allison Williams) and Elizabeth (Logan Browning) against their cello teacher, Anton (Steven Weber). In Mission, Charlotte is recovering from a decade period of music absence after taking care of her mother. Charlotte contacts her former Cello teacher to travel to a cello competition in Shanghai, China. Once there, Charlotte reunites with Anton and meets his new prodigy, Elizabeth. Both women great each and make several charms during the competition which they serve as judges. Elizabeth asks Charlotte to play a duet with her which they do so; then, they both party and have sex at a hotel. On Detour, Elizabeth suffers a headache and Charlotte gives some pills and drinks to alleviate her pain. Elizabeth’s condition worsens when she begins to hallucinate, have nausea and diarrhea, and feel dehydrated. While in a country trip, Charlotte tries to alleviate Elizabeth’s pain but doesn’t work causing both to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Charlotte tells Elizabeth that she has bugs inside her arm which Elizabeth sees it. Charlotte shows a butcher knife to Elizabeth telling that she knows what to do. In her desperation, Elizabeth takes the knife and amputates her right arm. The horrifying event takes a twist when it is revealed that Charlotte poisoned Elizabeth by giving her mother’s pills mixing it with alcohol thus causing Elizabeth’s symptoms. Charlotte also took a butcher knife from a local restaurant while Elizabeth was eating. Charlotte also told Elizabeth that she had bugs inside her body, increasing her hallucinations. In Home, Elizabeth returns to Anton’s Cello academy in Boston after three weeks vanished. Anton and his partner, Paloma (Alaina Huffman)are shocked by Elizabeth’s return and her revelations. They temporary helped her except they inform that due to her missing right arm, Elizabeth has lost her music skills and must be moved outside of the academy. Devastated by the betrayal of her music instructors, Elizabeth decides to find and confront Charlotte. In Minnesota, Charlotte is preparing to cook when she hears loud noises and it is later attacked by Elizabeth. Elizabeth kidnaps Charlotte and takes her to Anton’s academy where Charlotte awakens. Anton talks to Charlotte about the situation and it is this moment where Charlotte confesses that she saved Elizabeth from the manipulative and abusive Anton. She reveals that Anton and other teachers abused his prodigy cellists after they make a mistake during practice; thus, not reaching the perfection of the cellist music. Madly, Anton takes Charlotte to his music theater with Elizabeth. Charlotte fights back but is knocked down by Anton. Later, Charlotte is chained with cello at her side while Anton, Paloma, Elizabeth and the other teachers welcome the next prodigy, a young Chinese student to witness Charlotte play a special cello piece. Fearing for the new student safety, Charlotte offers Anton that she will play and suffer the consequences if she doesn’t reach the perfection which it later happens. Failing it, Charlotte is tied up and braces for the consequence as Elizabeth and the other music professors are preparing to abuse Charlotte. The horror is prevented when the music professors fell down to their deaths revealing that Elizabeth poisoned them; therefore, revealing that Charlotte revealed her trauma and plan to Elizabeth in Shanghai and Elizabeth forging an alliance to Charlotte after she was attacked at her home. Finally, in duet, Charlotte and Elizabeth lock up the mansion and murder Paloma. They initiate a bloody knife fight with Anton that ends with Charlotte losing her left arm and Elizabeth knocking down Anton. The film ends with Anton severely amputated in his four extremities while Charlotte and Elizabeth play a duet combining their only arms left.

This movie was a surprised since it resembles the historical korean film, The Handmaiden. The importance of The Perfection is that it tackles systematic abuse of women and children due to the strict order and terrifying ideology of powerful people (men) who wants to achieve status at the cost of sacrificing innocent lives. Thus, mental health is very detailed here by Charlotte’s ten year trauma of living in exile with her mother and as she explained, going to psychiatric hospitals and submitting herself through invasive therapy programs. Charlotte’s revenge is developed but also tries to save and prevent more abused students at Anton’s institution. Elizabeth is also another character who has repressed her abuse by playing perfectly at music events since losing her skills means losing her life. Charlotte and Elizabeth’s relationship starts as a simple flirt when they meet in Shanghai and then turns to lust. Charlotte even says to Elizabeth that she was the first person whom she had a sexual relationship; adding more clues to the long decade of social isolation that Charlotte endured in taking care of herself and her mother. Charlotte cares for Elizabeth and thus saves her under brutal circumstances. Elizabeth also does it when Charlotte is chained and tied up in Anton’s music theater; therefore, she murders Anton’s teacher, saves Charlotte and kisses her. Their relationship might be sexual but as the plot unfolds, they connect and love to protect themselves. Finally, when both women played a duet using their undamaged arms, it displays their love but also their revenge justified in taking down the system. I was interested and surprised by the twists and parallels the film took. As a fan of revenge movies especially in the horror genre, this film gratefully did it like in The Handmaiden when it details the exploitation of two women who fell in love and take revenge against their adversaries. The Perfection as well as The Handmaiden are two female, queer, revenge, thrillers destined on taking down systems and thus saving your authentic self from being destroyed.

Thelma (2017)

Thelma is a psychological drama by director Joachim Trier and written by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt. The film is available on Hulu. The movie takes place in Norway on the isolated life of college freshman, Thelma (Eili Harboe) who’s trying to live an independent life while being semi-supervised by her religious parents, Trond (Henrik Rafaelsen) and Unni (Ellen Dorrit Petersen). As Thelma navigates her college experience after being raised in a strict home, she meets Anja (Kaya Wilkins); thus, beginning a series of troubling events. Thelma starts having seizures and hallucinations being caused by a psychic ability that she’s developing. Thelma is under constant stress due to her frustration on her parents and her feelings towards Anja. Anja and Thelma begin a tender relationship that keeps building up and eventually they kiss after inviting her to a theater performance. This causes mild seizures and telekinesis on Thelma. Thelma is scared by affecting her relationship with Anja and decides to investigate her seizures by undergoing a brain tomography. In this moment, Thelma’s stress and psychic ability reaches a spike that causes her to accidentally disappear Anja from the world. Thelma’s doctors inform her that Thelma is experimenting with non-epileptic seizures that are caused by traumas which they inform her that her grandmother experienced the same condition. Surprised by this revelation, Thelma investigates her condition while visiting her grandmother at a hospital. Thelma visits her grandmother in a vegetative state while being told that her grandmother said that she made her husband vanish and felt guilty; thus, Trond hospitalized her by putting her on long-term treatments that damaged her body. Still surprised and now terrified to not receive any update from Anja, Thelma goes to her dorm room and encounters a clue that explains that Anja also vanished. Devastated, Thelma calls her parents and inform them about the incident while pleading to come home. Trond and Unna tell Thelma to go home and help her. Once there, Thelma is chatting with her parents except that she’s drugged to being put to sleep by Trond. Trond and Unna reveals to Thelma that she began exhibiting her powers when she was 6 years old. As a child, Thelma had a baby brother, Mattias whom vanished from home and appeared beneath a frozen lake. Trond explains to Thelma that her abilities are used when someone desires for something to happen even if it is unintentional. This tragedy caused Trond and Unna to suppress Thelma’s abilities to prevent more incidents by making her pray and take medicines. Thelma realizes that if she doesn’t get her powers under control she will be killed. While asleep, Thelma burns her father alive while he’s on the lake and dies by drowning. Thelma awakens and goes to the lake when she realizes her mistake. Thelma swims deeper into the lake and transports herself to the swimming pool of her college where she meets Anja. They both kiss causing the scenario to close and Thelma awakens on the shore. Thelma has realized that she made reappear Anja and has manage to control her abilities. As Thelma packs her bags, Unna confronts her making Thelma to heal and cure her paralysis. Shocked, Unna tries to talk to Thelma, but Thelma leaves her home to reunite with Anja. The movie ends with Thelma accepting her gift from God and being with the person she loves, Anja.

Thelma is my favorite movie centered on the realm of queer horror; even though, is more a psychological drama. The movie represents greatly the internal battles of spirituality of Thelma when she questions God about her abilities. It also acts as a coming of age movie due to Thelma try to adapt to a new life being an adolescent and escape from her comfort zone. Any teenager especially queer people can relate to this in more explicit ways compared to any other queer movie or queer subtext movie. Thelma’s internal repression by her and her parents activate her psychic abilities. Religion and Science play an important role in explaining the unexplained phenomena of existentialism that Thelma navigates while discovering her abilities. The chemistry between Thelma and Anja is beautifully develop by questioning their love and desire amid the chaos they are involve which is essential for queer people to see this couple navigate an issue that everyone relates. Finally, Thelma is the explicit queer sister of Stephen King’s Carrie since both tackle outcast teens who are developing psychic abilities. However, Carrie confronts bullying and family abuse that ends in classic revenge gone wrong whereas Thelma, doesn’t focus on revenge but discovering and accepting yourself and form a new path in their life. I was so glad to finally watch this masterpiece since many queer horror fans always look up for Carrie as their subtext representation of LGBTQ internal struggles which is great; however, Thelma goes further in explicitly exploring a queer person navigate that same situation with her partner and family which surprisingly ends with a good ending.

Women Who Kill (2016)

Women Who Kill is a full-length horror thriller written and directed by Ingrid Jungermann. The movie is currently available on Amazon Prime Video. The film centers on the life of true crime podcaster, Morgan (Ingrid Jungermann) who alongside her ex-girlfriend, Jean (Ann Carr) suspect that Morgan’s new girlfriend, Simone (Sheila Vand) is a serial killer. The film remarkably explores the relationship between Morgan, Jean, and Sheila as they grapple with the changes of their relationships. Also, it explores a little insight the interesting world of True Crime Podcasts which nowadays is getting a lot of entertainment. Morgan and Jean’s podcast, Women Who Kill focuses on analyzing the life and mind of female serial killers. This influences Morgan and Jean when they suspect Simone’s strange behavior. As Morgan and Jean move on with their new relationship, Morgan encounters Simone in her second job, an assistant of an environmental organization. Morgan is attracted by Simone’s mysterious behavior such as spacing out in time, less talking, and admiration towards her. Simone is more mysterious since she’s introverted and tries to fit with Morgan’s friends. On the other hand, Morgan’s friends don’t like Simone’s behavior even as they try to communicate and respect her as a request by Morgan. Jean, who’s navigating a new life still wants to protect Morgan and starts suspecting on Simone when an employee at Morgan’s second job dies while Simone was on her shift. Jean gives signals to Morgan about Simone’s murderous behavior as the potential evidence that she might be the daughter of her mother who was a convicted serial killer that both Jean and Morgan interviewed a long time ago. Morgan is in denial towards Jean and her friends, but the events take a different turn when Morgan encounters a box filled with sharp weapons and mini-boxes of victims from her mother. This clue sent Morgan on a paranoia odyssey as she tries to prove and protect her friends from Simone, but the tables are turned. Jean and her friends find some clues that might exonerate Simone and try to reason with Morgan. Morgan is disappointed by making her paranoid towards Simone. Unfortunately, the events reach a breaking point when Morgan is informed that Jean went with Morgan at her job causing Morgan to rush for her. Morgan encounters an unconscious Jean at the rooftop of the job building with Simone near her. Morgan believes that Simone killed her since the weapon box was displayed there and Simone talks Morgan about thinking if she believes that she’s a murdered. Simone tries to talk to Morgan, but Morgan in self-defense kills Simone. However, the final twist occurs when Jean wakes up and asks Morgan, “what did she do?”. Realizing the mistake of thinking and killing that Simone might be the killer, Morgan exits the building and walks around the city with her bloody clothes while feeling guilty. The movie ends with Morgan hearing a podcast episode of Women Who Kill in a shop about the complexity of self-defense.

My reaction to this movie is great since I gain knowledge about the world of True Crime podcasting and I was happy to see the portrayal and development of lesbian relationships. This movie tackles complicated themes surrounding True Crime podcasts, paranoia, relationship issues, and analysis of a serial killer. I loved the way that Morgan’s paranoia took a lot of twists by applying her knowledge of serial killers based on her podcasts, Simone’s mysterious behavior, and her friends sending mixed signals along the way. Morgan becomes a very complex character who’s trying to manage her new relationship with Simone while trying to forget Jean. However, she also deals with the denials and revelations of Simone that sends her into paranoia; thus, Morgan becomes the real victim in this movie. To add, Simone acts like a potential threat to everyone due to her fragile behavior and issues with Morgan as they handle their relationship. Simone might be the serial killer due to her blending skills with Morgan’s friends, her weapon and victim box, and the circumstances of the first victim at Morgan’s job. Therefore, it is possible that she might have contribute in making Morgan paranoid by indirectly allying with Morgan’s friends. But it is also possible that everything was mere accidents with lots of coincidences that played into the fears of True Crime podcasters who are engage in their field work and thus experiences a similar situation was a moral lesson. No matter the outcome, this movie is a great psychological thriller that placed these characters in exploring their behavior towards real crime situations that ended in creating one for themselves.

Pyotr495 (2016)

Pyotr495 is a horror short film which is a segment from the gay anthology movie series, Boys on Film 16: Possessions. Plus, it is available on YouTube. Written and Directed by Blake Mawson, the story takes place in Russia 2014 where Pyotr (Alex Ozerov) is cruising at night with a strange man he communicates on the gay focused app, Hornet. The encounter between Pyotr and the strange man, Sergei leads to a horrifying situation where Pyotr is attacked and humiliated by a homophobic mob who preys on LGBTQ people using social media. Pyotr is first asked personal sexual preferences which Pyotr responds comfortably to Sergei. Then the conversation shifts when Sergei states the immoral acts of gay people by using derogatory slurs and other comments. Pyotr realizes something is wrong until Sergei invites two more people (a man and a woman). The trio ties Pyotr and puts him in a bathtub where he is being recorded while the trio laughs and humiliates him. Terrified and crying, Pyotr suddenly starts to convulse and transform into a terrifying demon. The trio is shocked and soon realized that the tables are turned for them. In a demon form, Pyotr murders Sergei and his two friends. Sergei’s heart is removed from his body, his male friend is left knock down on the floor and the female friend is stabbed by a flagpole. Finished his revenge, Pyotr he hears a sound coming from the door of a closet. Opening it, Pyotr discovers another victim of the trio and both survivors escape the wretched place.

This short film is inspired by the horrors that LGBTQ people face in Russia as well as in Eastern European countries where the government installs anti-LGBT propaganda and encourages purges or cleansing against LGBTQ people. The atrocities committed against LGBTQ people is explained in the HBO documentary, Hunted: The War Against Gays in Russia. As I watch the film, I understood the horrifying reality that still happens and was very relieved by the revenge twist that unfolded. The story transforms the tragedy into hope when it gave our naïve hero, Pyotr into becoming a survivor and helping the other victim who suffer the same horrors before him. Pyotr is a complex character being introverted and try to navigate his relationship even though he lives in a country that goes against his sexual orientation. Pyotr might know the hatred that’s happening but doesn’t know how it has expanded when he realizes that his latest tool to be informed and express himself has been turned against himself. Pyotr’s transformation was accidental since he was complete defenseless when he was attacked, and he didn’t transform earlier. His transformation began when he was pushed further, and his inner demon came out. So, Pyotr doesn’t fully control his demon shape-shifting, but given the circumstances, he can. For me, Pyotr became the hero in the realm of queer horror since he came face to face and survive with the real evil of humanity.

Tonight It’s You (2016)

Tonight It’s You is a horror short film directed by Dominic Haxton and written by Dominic Haxton, David Davin, and Jake Robbins. It is also available on YouTube. The story takes place in a small American town where CJ (Jake Robbins) responds to a late-night hook-up with a guy named Tonight It’s You which he wants to come to his home. CJ travels to the man’s farm without thinking otherwise. Once arrived, CJ is texted to go to a shed cabin where CJ encounters bizarre demonic symbols, but he’s interrupted by Hunter (Ian Lerch) as the man he met online. Hunter reacts very strange to CJ like it is his first time to engage in a cruising encounter. Both men engage share their sexual experience and after that, Hunter’s father starts yelling for his son. CJ is shocked while Hunter decides to talk to his father. However, a priest and his wife arrived to meet with Hunter and his father. The group enters the house while CJ tries to get out of the place but is heard by Hunter’s father. CJ manages to enter a room via a window and is shocked to encounter a tied Hunter in a bed inside a religious covered room. Hunter’s dad, the priest and his wife enter the room and CJ hides in a closet. CJ witnesses an exorcism on Hunter that eventually ends wrong. Hunter unties himself and strangles his father then kills the priest’s wife. CJ hears the bangs and punches around the room. After everything is calm, CJ witnesses the dead bodies as well as Hunter. Hunter attacks CJ and vomits on his face, but CJ eventually escapes the house and watches the priest trying to warn him. CJ leaves the area while Hunter has finished killing the priest off-screen. CJ arrives home and takes a shower to clean out the mess that Hunter left him. The film ends the following morning with CJ in a pool witnessing Hunter staring at him.

This film portrays another example of gay hook-up gone wrong but in America. An interesting take is that maybe Hunter is an incubus demon who wants to have sexual relationships with men, but he is controlled by his religious father. Even though, the exorcism was portrayed against exorcising demons its parallel centers also on LGBTQ people since religious extremists consider LGBTQ people as also being possessed by demons and thus must be cured through exorcism or conversion therapy. In America, there have been cases where LGBTQ youngsters have died by the practice of exorcism. This also happens in other countries where religion is portrayed incorrectly as the salvation (eradication) of LGBTQ people as viewed by religious zealots. A note I also want to present is that at the beginning of the film, CJ is watching Night of the Living Dead setting the horror atmosphere of what will come. CJ is also another naïve person who might think that he’s lucky to have hook ups with strange men via social apps. Luckily for now, he survives the terror of this fatal encounter with Hunter. Hunter is also another interesting character since he’s portrayed as the repressed introverted guy trying to find a relationship. However, his case presents another layer as a demon who might be an incubus (demon who preys on people for lust) and uses CJ as his gateway to escape his area. Hunter also gets connected with CJ after vomiting at him establishing his possession on CJ in a Conjure style take. In the open ending, Hunter gain the upper hand with leaving the possibility to not murder CJ but experiment on his new body for his own agenda.

To conclude, these films aren’t the only ones I’ve choose to watch, there are plenty of other movies I’ve watched and some that I want to see. But, for this article which is a first volume shows a new perspective that some might know but others don’t. Nevertheless, the LGBTQ community began as a limited role in the horror genre. It was portrayed as being incapable of surviving or even existing in horror films, but our long and expanding history proves it wrong. Times are changing with the worldwide emergence of new voices bent on bringing more representation and unite queer with horror. The same goes in every entertainment art form that is doing the same. Queer horror fans are blessed to watch this evolution, but it doesn’t end there. Everyone can make art and tackle several issues with it like me; so, for horror fans (queer or not) have the ability and self-permission to create more content that explores it in movies, TV shows, comic books, podcasts, videogames, literature, etc. I’m also working on this because it is important for me to show something that hasn’t been done before and stop waiting for someone else to bringing it when I can do the same. In other words, don’t stop being part of the audience when you can be part of the creation of art. Like the amazing director Ava Duvernay said, “I’m not going to continue knocking that old door that doesn’t open for me. I’m going to create my own door and walk through that.” In my odyssey as a writer, it is exactly what I’m doing because someday, I may make a lasting contribution not just for horror, not just for art, not just for the LGBTQ community, but for the world that we live in and keep changing it for the better.

References:

North, R. A. (2014). The Importance Of The Horror Genre And Why We Love It . Retrieved from We Got This Covered: https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/horror-movies-types/

Simpson, S. (2017, October 14). The Unlikely Role of True Crime Podcasts in Criminal Justice Reform. Retrieved from Quartz: https://qz.com/1101889/the-unlikely-role-of-true-crime-podcasts-in-criminal-justice-reform/

Tipograph, R. (2017, May 8). Queer Horror Is Having A Moment Right Now. Retrieved from The Fader: http://www.thefader.com/2017/05/08/queer-horror-movies-get-out-raw-personal-shopper

Author’s Notes:

This article is a continuous topic that I’m currently working since I’m researching these LGBTQ centric horror films that are increasing. As such, I’m informed about upcoming movies that are related to this research which leads me to further publish future articles of analyzing explicitly queer horror movies.

Even though I don’t know them, I want to congratulate these filmmakers as well as every other filmmaker who understands and try their best to make horror films with LGBTQ characters and LGBTQ themes. I feel empathy for their hard work and success they’ve made in doing this.

Finally, thank you readers whom you take the time to read this and I hope that you like it and felt inspired especially in this month.