5 New Queer Horror/Thriller Movies to Watch This Halloween Season
By Anne Gregg
I Saw The TV Glow
If you watch nothing else from this list you should watch I Saw The TV Glow. Written and directed by transfemme storyteller Jane Schoenbrun, the film is a metaphor for the “egg crack” moment in a trans person’s life. The story begins in the late 1990s with Owen (Justice Smith) and his lifelong obsession with the fictional horror show The Pink Opaque — think Buffy The Vampire Slayer if it were on Nickelodeon in the 90s. Owen befriends Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a lesbian loner who is a few grades older than Owen. Maddy goes missing, only leaving behind a burning TV in her backyard. Years later, she returns to the town and informs Owen that she has been living in The Pink Opaque. The cinematography of I Saw The TV Glow is excellent. The dreamlike otherworld created by light and color is breathtaking, especially when juxtaposed with the rundown world Owen lives in. I Saw The Tv Glow depicts the horror of the what if– what if there is some other life I was meant to live? The what if can only be actualized through action and the death of the you now. Schoenbrun’s script brilliantly embodies how scary it can be to accept your identity, how impossible it can feel. The story is also a wonderful exploration of how queer people interact with media. Through the TV screen the protagonists are able to project themselves onto characters that match their desired presentation. The TV world becomes a better reflection than a mirror ever could be. It shows you the possibilities of self.
I Saw The TV Glow is an excellent horror film. While it does have some creepy imagery, its horror is psychological and thought-provoking. It’s a movie that you will turn around in your head for a long time after you’ve watched it.
Femme
A Drag Queen Revenge Story? It’s complicated. Femme, written and directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, was released in the US in March 2024. Femme is a UK Indie movie that follows Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) a drag performer who is violently attacked after one of his shows. The attack leaves Jules shaken, depressed, and unable to return to drag. While out of drag, Jules runs into his attacker, Preston (George MacKay) at a gay bathhouse. He decides to seduce Preston and post a sex tape of them online as revenge for the attack. Jules needs to gain Preston’s trust to film him and the two begin to build a strangely genuine relationship and bond with each other as they become more intimate. The film strikes a fine balance of exploring Preston’s psyche without condoning his actions. Unfortunately, bad people are not cartoon villains that are easy to hate. But they are also not people who need nor deserve redemption arcs. They exist with the weight of every incongruent piece of themselves.
Unlike the rest of the films on this list, Femme is not speculative fiction; it’s committed to realism. But it is, perhaps, the most terror-inducing of the bunch. There was not a moment watching this where I wasn’t anxious, afraid, and absolutely glued to my screen. Femme is a fascinating character study driven home by a stunning performance by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett who seamlessly weaves all of Jules’s contradictions together into a compelling main character.
While Femme is not a film with easy answers, it’s fast-paced, thought-provoking thriller that you need to add to your watchlist
Love Lies Bleeding
Love Lies Bleeding is probably the most well known of these films. The film was produced by A24 and co-written and directed by Rose Glass. Love Lies Bleeding follows Jackie (Katy O’Brian) , a poor body-builder who is training to win a body-building contest in Las Vegas. She meets Lou (Kristen Stewart) at a gym and the two hook up. Lou invites Jackie to live with her (a comically lesbian move). In her quest to win the body-building competition, Jackie becomes addicted to steroids provided to her by Lou. Jackie’s addiction manifests in monstrous hallucinations and uncontrollable rage. As Jackie struggles to cope, Lou’s father is being investigated by the FBI. Lou and Jackie’s troubles intersect as they navigate their budding relationship.
Love Lies Bleeding is sexy, dirty, and tense. Jackie and Lou are messy, violent, and may be a little toxic. However you end up rooting for them in the end. Love Lies Bleeding is literally and figuratively sweaty. There are scenes that will leave you gripping the arm of your chair while yelling at your screen. At its heart, Love Lies Bleeding is a unique and gripping story about learning how to love and how to trust. If you’re a Kristen Stewart fan, love thrillers, or just want to watch a good story, Love Lies Bleeding is the perfect film to watch.
Slay
To put it bluntly, Slay slays. The campy B-movie is BACK with this vampire horror-comedy. The film stars RuPaul’s Drag Race alums Trinity The Tuck, Heidi N Closet, and Cara Melle as a Drag Family that accidentally books a show at a country dive bar in a conservative town. But their troubles don’t end there. During their show, a vampire attacks one of the townies and traps the survivors in the bar. The queens must work with the unwilling bar patrons to secure the bar from the outside vampiric threat and survive the night. The acting may not always be stellar and some of the jokes don’t land, but there is never a dull moment in this movie. It is the perfect popcorn watch with your friends. Despite the comedy, the stakes — pun intended — feel real. The drama between the queens is simple but effective. For example, Olive Wood (Cara Melle) has to learn what it means to be part of a drag family and put others before herself. The movie also understands that queer people often do live in small conservative towns. There’s an unexpected poignant scene where Olive asks the town’s two out queer residents why they haven’t left. In addition to the financial burden that everybody faces when it comes to moving to big cities, the residents reply that someone has to stay. Slay is not a deep film, but the notion that queer people live in this small town is important. We live everywhere. We should belong everywhere too.
While there is a little gore, Slay is the perfect movie if you want to watch something queer and spooky without being scared or too grossed out.
Ganymede
While it is rough around the edges and a little melodramatic, Ganymede is a mind-breaking psychological horror. Ganymede follows Lee (Jordan Doww), a sheltered high-school wrestler with extreme evangelical christian parents who begins hallucinating a monster as he reckons with his budding feelings for his out gay classmate, Kyle (Pablo Castelblanco). Lee’s parents discover he is gay and send him to their pastor to “fix” him.
The story has its issues — some of the homophobia comes off as comically unrealistic, character actions are forgiven a little too easily, and some of the dialogue is a little corny. However, it does shed light on harmful evangelical christian ideals. Lee’s mother (Robyn Lively) loves her son, but her love, when combined with extreme religion, is violent. Lee is convinced his feelings for men are a sign that he is being possessed and manipulated by an evil spirit. The horror is visceral and heartbreaking. Lee is afraid of himself and afraid of love. The film does a great job of making the viewer feel the distress of his terror. You understand why Lee believes himself to be a monster, even if the messaging is heavy handed. You get it and it is genuinely scary what is done to him.
About the Author
Anne Gregg is a poet and writer from Northwest Indiana. She is an English Writing major at DePauw University and is the editor-in-chief of her campus’s literary magazine, A Midwestern Review. She is a Media Fellow at her university and loves dissecting how LGBTQ+ people are portrayed in film and tv.
