Horror Queers

We're headed to the cottage for some R'n'R (that would be rape/revenge) with screenwriter Stuart Morse and director Steven R. Monroe's 2010 remake of I Spit on Your Grave for its 15th anniversary. Beyond asking who is this for and why are there no female creatives involved (!), we're digging into the revenge, questioning the gaze, and talking about queer actor Daniel Franzese dropping his voice to...

Wipe that popcorn off your jacket and take the longest shower ever because we're discussing the queer-leaning throuple at the center of Stephen Chiodo's cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)! Tagging in for the conversation is Dead Ringers Podcast co-host Paul Farrell! Join us as we dive into this plot-lite gem of a film, thanks to some impressively resourceful practical effects and s...

We're checking out a new horror short in the form of Picture , a 7-minute-long short about a haunted Polaroid camera from director Sadé Sellers (guest on our previous episodes for Alien 3 and Orphan ). Watch the short here . Questions? Comments? Snark? Connect with the boys on BlueSky , Instagram , Youtube , Letterboxd , Facebook , or join the Facebook Group or the Horror Queers Discord to get in...

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, we're revisiting David Cronenberg's classic "sex slug" film, Shivers (1975). C/W: sexual assault, statutory rape An isolated Montreal apartment complex comes under attack by a parasitic aphrodisiac venereal disease in the famed Canada director's genre debut, which a) nearly went to Hollywood and b) was publicly attacked because the movie was funded by taxpay...

Grab a chainsaw because we're slicing into writer Joe Knetter and director Marcel Walz's homage to classic rural horror titles like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes . We're mixed on this one, which has one of the best deaths of the year (file under: gloryhole sounding) and tons of queerness, but has terrible pacing/editing and a confusing message. Questions? Comments? Snark? Con...

Strap on your ice skates and check your makeup because we're talking Gus Van Sant's whip-smart satire To Die For for its 30th anniversary! After all, you're not anybody in America unless you're on TV, right? Join us as we heap all the praise on Nicole Kidman's Golden Globe-winning (but not Oscar-nominated) performance as narcissistic sociopath Suzanne Stone before going all in on the film's troubl...

Here's a sneak peek at our all new Patreon episode on the first season finale of Noah Hawley's FX/Disney+ series, Alien: Earth (2025). Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/horrorqueers  and become a Patron for more than 424 hours of exclusive bonus content today! Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our c...

This week we're opening the Patreon vault to discuss The Strangers: Chapter 1  (2024) in anticipation of Renny Harlin's long overdue sequel, Chapter 2 . We have a lot  of thoughts about this first film, its negative reception, and how to evaluate what is really 1/3 of a single film. Plus: Rural horror, comparisons to the Fear Street trilogy and the Cabin Fever remake, groaning at inhaler drama, de...

Alma! We're covering another Alfred Hitchcock film with 1963's The Birds . It's Hitch, so prepare to get technical with Trace's production history and thanks to another essay from It Came From the Closet , Joe has a compulsory Melanie & Annie queer reading on deck. Plus: the one scene that doesn't work; our favorite pieces of editing; why bitchy Melanie is our fave; and this week's game: sequel or...

Hop on your motorcycle, avoid that "child" in the road and slide to a stop because we're discussing Katsuhiro Otomo's seminal anime Akira (1988)! Join us as we offer a primer on all things Akira , as well as its influences on, uh, everything . We then work our way through its very, very dense plot, which somehow condenses hundreds of manga pages into a 2-hour runtime. This includes a queer read fo...

Here's a sneak peek at our all new Patreon episode on The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) the fourth and "final" entry in the mainline entries of The Conjuring Universe. Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/horrorqueers  and become a Patron for more than 400 hours of exclusive bonus content today! Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz...

We're celebrating the 25th anniversary of queer director João Pedro Rodrigues' controversial erotic drama O Fantasma (2000). There's a lot to unpack in this movie with very little dialogue or narrative tissue, as we follow protagonist Sérgio (Ricardo Meneses) from sexual encounter to sexual encounter. It's a strange (and occasionally very, very hot) film that left us a bit perplexed, but we can't...

For Episode 350 (!) we decided we wanted a party, so we're headed south of the border to hang out at the Titty Twister with the Gecko brothers in Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). From an epic game that lasts the whole episode to a little bit of drunken slurring by the end, this is a good time through and through.  Plus: Quentin Tarantino's screenplay and how this collaboration antici...

Trace and Joe hit the stacks to check out Clark Collis' Screaming and Conjuring: The Resurrection and Unstoppable Rise of the Modern Horror Movie (Available Sept 2, 2025). This is your new Bible for contemporary horror films, complete with production info, tracking trends, and interesting facts about individual films and franchises. Questions? Comments? Snark? Connect with the boys on BlueSky , In...

Get the kid and the bike because we're heading to The Mexican Place to check out Troma Entertainment's crown jewel: The Toxic Avenger (1984). Just in time to celebrate the release of Macon Blair's remake, too! Join us as we offer a primer on all things Toxie before diving into this ridiculously silly (and charming!) little film. The Toxic Avenger feels like a live-action cartoon that's been dumped...

Keep an eye out for pussy willows and don't wear white after Labor Day because we're talking about John Waters' most "accessible" film, Serial Mom (1994). Featuring an all-time performance by Kathleen Turner and the usual Waters' stable, this satire of true crime and horror films is a great introduction for Dreamland novices. Plus: the best comedic bits, a primer on Patty Hearst, more of Trace's f...

Here's a sneak peek at our Patreon episode on Zach Cregger's sophomore feature Weapons (2025). We're split on this one, but had a healthy debate over the film. This includes a lengthy conversation about the film's handling of its gay characters, which you'll hear us discuss in this clip. Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/horrorqueers  and become a Patron for more than 400 hours o...

Here's a sneak peek at our all new, supersized Patreon episode on the first two episodes of Noah Hawley's FX/Disney+ series, Alien: Earth (2025). Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/horrorqueers  and become a Patron for more than 400 hours of exclusive bonus content today! Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information...

Check your watch you little ignoramus because we're talking Peter Weir's seminal Australian mystery Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). Join us as we dive into this mythic piece of "true" crime from the bush, with an unsolved mystery that still perplexes people to this very day. Add in some repressed lesbianism and some hauntingly ethereal vibes for good measure, of course. Plus: pan flutes galore, gor...

Beware of circles and phallic surfboards because we're talking Robert Lee King's adaptation of Charles Busch's stage play Psycho Beach Party (2000) for its 25th anniversary! Lead by HQ fave Lauren Ambrose, this homage to sexual repression, Gidget and beach/surf movies is very silly, very queer, and very fun. Plus: a primer on the origin of "teen films", the stacked cast, Swedish accents, and const...

Here's our Patreon schedule for the month of August 2025. $1: Hannibal S02 Episodes 7 & 8 $3: Lurker $5: Together $8: Weapons $10 Audio Commentary: Red Eye (2005) $15 Requel Tier: Alien: Earth S01 Episodes 1-4 Head on over to ⁠www.patreon.com/horrorqueers⁠  and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today!  Theme Music: Alexander Nakarada  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pc...

Swallow that octopus and run away from those ants because we're discussing Park Chan-wook's 2003 masterpiece Oldboy ! Join us as we discuss the origins of Oldboy , from its manga source material to the changes Park applied to this adaptation, before going all in on this spider's web of a revenge plot. It's a film known for its big twist, but there's so much more to appreciate here! Plus: that hall...

Assemble your spear and follow the fly in the box because we're discussing Dario Argento's 1985 giallo fairytale, Phenomena . Starring Jennifer Connelly, Donald Pleasence and Argento's frequent collaborator, Daria Nicolodi, this movie is wild (seriously: take a shot every time we say the word). From questionable disability representation to a Friday the 13th -inspired climax, from chimps to bugs,...

Check the temperature of that pizza and close the damn refrigerator because we're finally (finally!) discussing the female-written and female-directed 1982 slashic The Slumber Party Massacre . Tagging in for the conversation is Dana Piccoli! Join us as we go all in on this Frankenstein's monster of a slasher film that showcases some feminist themes, while courting to Roger Corman's demands of boob...

Show your tits and grab that scythe because we're talking our very first Jean Rollin text: 1979's Fascination . The lesbian vampire film is gorgeous and dreamy with several subversive twists, including the fact that this is not actually a vampire movie. Plus: women in control, a truly shitty man, sheer veils, connections to porn and struggling with the feminist/class readings. References: Cinemala...