Mischief and a sly sense of humour permeate a lot of gay horror films, verging from sneaky subversion to bawdy parody.
The marriage of queerness and gothic as spilled over into mainstream television – think Willow, the nervy lesbian witch in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), or several of the male vampires in True Blood (2008-).Įach of the recommendations included here is available to view in the UK. ParaNorman (2012), the first children’s film with an openly gay character, is steeped in gothic horror conventions, albeit with a PG certificate. Since then, gay gothic films have flourished, and continue to break barriers. But these portrayals were not always unsympathetic. Early horror cinema, made when homosexuality was regarded at best as unspeakable, at worst as an abomination, embraced these sexual deviants as another means to unnerve their audiences. BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival runs 21 March to 1 April 2018ĭark passions and dangerous desire are central themes in gothic stories – small wonder LGBTQ+ audiences, often taught from childhood that their sexuality is an aberration, flock to gothic cinema for representation (even the Twilight movies have a devoted gay tween following).
