[Pride 2020] Bloodthirsty Villains And Homicidal Maniacs...But Make It Gay

Horror has always been a queer genre. Just like straight people have claimed Michael Bay action films or Nancy Meyer rom-coms, horror has always been the genre of the outcasts and those who never quite fit in. But if you're a horror fan, it's impossible to watch many of the genre staple films and not notice a trend; evil gays. Too often, when the hero pulls off the bad guys mask at the end of the movie, the shocking reveal is that the true villain was queerness all along!

Of course, evil gays are not a trope belonging solely to the horror genre. You can find examples of queer-coded bad guys in almost every single classic Disney film (notable shout-outs go to Scar and Ursula, the latter who was literally based on the iconic drag queen Divine). Given the horror genre’s proclivity for taking evil a bit further than the House of Mouse, the queer-coding just feels more obvious.

When looking at horror movies, the evil gays frequently come in three flavors: queer-coded villains, monstrosity as a metaphor for queerness and overtly queer villains. Queer-coded villains are often sauve and charismatic, with a unique and fashionable style of dress. They’re attractive, enticing…and most of all, they offer a temptation. This kind of horror-gay can be seen particularly in the vampire subgenre, luring our innocent (see: straight) protagonist into a life of deviance and wickedness.

A prime example of this is the 1994 Neil Jordan film, Interview with the Vampire. The vampire Lestat is campy, elegant and dramatic and he convinces the much more subdued Louis into joining him for eternity fairly quickly. While Lestat revels in chaos and bloodshed, Louis spends most of the film hating himself and Lestat, for the abomination he has become. To try and remedy their classic lover’s quarrel the two adopt a child together but alas, are unable to make it work.

It’s difficult to be a horror fan and not see vampires like Lestat, or Jerry Dandrige from the 1985 film Fright Night, to be appealing and attractive characters (particularly when Jerry is being played by Colin Farrel, as per the 2011 remake). As cool as they are, it remains to be seen that coding every sexy vamp as gay plays into the stereotype of the gay predator, seducing innocent straight men into their deviant lifestyle. Not every gay person is a sexy vampire, you know. Some of us are regular vampires.

Another common way horror does queer characters is the trope “help, I’m turning into a monster!” However, the monster they’re turning into is a gay one. The most obvious example of this is the 1985 Nightmare on Elm Street sequel Freddy’s Revenge. Freddy is no longer stalking poor Nancy, popping up in her bathtub or the mouthpiece of her phone. Now he’s stalking the nightmares of Jesse, a shy teenage boy. While Freddy seemed interested in taunting and torturing Nancy, his main desire with Jesse appears to force Jesse to become him. There’s something evil inside Jesse…something trying to get out. Why that something takes him into gay bars or has him confront another man in a steamy shower, we may never know.

The final form of the evil-gay is a leftover product from the days of Hays Code, where characters who were “sexually perverse” had to be shown as fittingly evil and/or meet a grisly end. Even years after the Hays Code was scrapped in favor of the modern MPAA ratings, character’s who are explicitly queer continue to be frequently evil and violent, with their homicidal tendencies “explained” by their queerness. The characters of Angela Baker from the Sleepaway Camp franchise and Parker Crane, aka the Bride in Black, from Insidious: Chapter 2 are both explained as being homicidal and violent because they were forced by parental figures to live as women, despite being born male. This one is a particularly harmful trope, as a common unfounded complaint from anti-trans folks is that transgender people are somehow trying to force their “lifestyle” onto children and thus corrupt their poor innocent souls. Probably better if we avoid making movies that agree with that.

Although dismissed at the time, the 2009 film Jennifer’s Body, written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama, has gained new respect in the last few years. The film has been praised for its unique voice and ahead of its time feminism, as well as an underrated scary-sexy performance from Megan Fox. After the titular Jennifer becomes host to a cannibalistic demon, her shy best friend Needy struggles with exactly what she’s supposed to do about that. Complicating the situation further, it’s clear that Needy and Jennifer are more than just gal pals, with an extended lusty make-out seen between the two. Jennifer is another example of a sexualized queer character, trying to use her magnetic powers to seduce the more straight-laced Needy into joining her on a rampage of devouring men. It’s a tempting offer, I won’t lie. But after Jennifer chooses Needy’s male love interest as her latest snack, it’s clear where Needy’s true allegiance lies, as she decides her feelings for Jennifer were simply bi-curiosity, and skewers her to death.

I’m not one to deny that villains are often the coolest characters, and frequently the best part of most movies. Much of the above examples are films that are near and dear to my heart, and generally beloved horror movies. The solution here is not to dequeer horror, or even necessarily have less queer villains (although maybe less of the Angela Baker types would be good, that kind of representation is not helping anyone).

As I said, horror has always been a queer genre. Filmmaker James Whale, who was openly gay throughout his career, directed the iconic horror films Frankenstein and The Invisible Man. Clive Barker, the writer of the novel that Hellraiser is based on, is also openly gay (Barker also wrote and directed the queer cult favourite Nightbreed). Queer filmmakers such as Don Mancini, the creator of the Child’s Play franchise have made their mark on the horror genre and proved beyond a doubt that horror is indeed the gayest genre. And that’s a good thing. There needs to be a space in horror for queer stories to be told, beyond framing us as homicidal maniacs and bloodthirsty deviants.

Horror has always told stories about queer characters but although the Hays Code hasn’t been in effect for 50 years, too many of these characters are still portrayed as evil. It’s time for studios to make significant room for queer writers and directors to tell their own stories, and let the straight storytellers hand over the keys to the queer horror kingdom.

After all, this is our world, and we just you live here.

Please Consider Donating