LGBT themes in horror fiction  

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LGBT themes in horror fiction

Queer Horror is a subgenre of horror that focuses on characters relating to those that are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. It may deal with characters who are coded as, or who are openly, GLBT, or it may deal with themes or plots that are specific to queer people. Depending on when it was made, it may contain open statements of sexuality, same-sex sexual imagery, or same-sex love or affection, or it may just include a sensibility or campiness that has special meaning to GLBT people, as well as key aspects of horror.

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Overview

Queer Horror grew out of a combination of the horror fiction and romantic fiction. In turn, both of these areas developed from the Gothic novel.

Many of the earliest examples of gothic literature were either created by queer authors or had same-sex attraction as subtext within them. One of the earliest works by Sheridan le Fanu is the vampire novella Carmilla printed in the collection In a Glass Darkly in 1872. However, the lesbian vampire in Carmilla was adapted from an even earlier narrative poem entitled Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in 1797 (and 1800).

The first gay vampire story was published by the first gay rights pioneers, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. In Matrosengeschichten (Sailor Stories) the story Manor describes a relationship between two young boys, one of whom is a vampire.

Other early pioneers of the queer horror genre include John Polidori, Lord Byron, Henry James, Algernon Blackwood, Matthew Gregory Lewis and Oscar Wilde.

Books were generally controlled by larger publishers and this made it very difficult for queers to get their message out. Queer Horror got a boost with the advent of the pulp novel, a cheap way to manufacture paperback novels that became popularized during WWII. The war also provided another unanticipated side effect, many gay or lesbian military personnel were discharged when their same-sex desires were discovered. They were dropped off in the nearest port, and generally chose to stay there rather than go back home. This gave rise to gay ghettos, where GLBT folks began to learn that they weren't alone and began to reach out. The pulp novel gave them a good way to start. Three on a Broomstick by Don Holliday is the earliest example of the gay horror pulp.

The advent of the movie provided a new way to start reaching out to people and exploring new subject matter, and brought forth another wave of queers making horror, such as F.W. Murnau and James Whale. Unfortunately, the fear of the times caused society to enforce morality and censorship. In Hollywood this was seen with the start of the Production Code, which limited what was allowed to be seen onscreen. Amongst many other things, this included onscreen portrayals of homosexuality. While this prevented overt displays of homosexuality from being shown, films like Dracula's Daughter and The Haunting pushed the envelope by showing what they could, coding it so that other gays and lesbians could see it, but those that wanted to ignore it still could.

But the gay community had started to find its voice, and in 1969, the Stonewall Riots occurred, forcing America to accept that the modern queer was visible, and was not going to be ignored. This change in morality, along with declining movie sales due to the popularization of the television, began to loosen the Production Code, allowing gays to be seen on screen and eventually to tell their stories.

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Bibliography

  • Holliday, Don
    • Three on a Broomstick 1967 (gay,bi male,trans vampire pulp)
  • Lambert, William J.
    • Valley of the Damned 1971 (gay werewolf pulp)
  • McMahan, Jeffrey
    • Somewhere in the Night 1989 (gay horror collection)
  • Garber, Eric, Paleo, Lyn
    • Uranian Worlds 1990 (GLBT horror/scifi bibliography)
  • Emerson, Roger
    • Silverwolf 1990 (gay werewolf pulp)
  • Laws, Jay B.
    • Steam 1991 (gay horror novel)
  • McMahan, Jeffrey
    • Vampires Anonymous 1991 (gay vampire novel)
  • Cooke, John Peyton
    • Out for Blood 1991 (gay vampire novel)
  • Garber, Eric
    • Embracing the Dark 1991 (gay,lesbian horror stories)
  • Gomez, Jewelle
    • The Gilda Stories 1991 (lesbian vampire novel)
  • Keesey, Pam
    • Daughters of Darkness: Lesbian Vampire Stories 1993 (lesbian vampire stories)
  • Keesey, Pam
    • Dark Angels: Lesbian Vampire Stories 1995 (lesbian vampire stories)
  • Keesey, Pam
    • Women Who Run with the Werewolves 1996 (lesbian werewolf stories)
  • Rowe, Michael, Roche, Thomas S.
    • Sons of Darkness 1996 (gay vampire stories)
  • Rowe, Michael, Roche, Thomas S.
    • Brothers of the Night, Gay Vampire Stories 1997 (gay vampire stories)
  • Rowe, Michael
    • Queer Fear 2000 (gay horror stories)
  • Griffith, Nicola, Pagel, Stephen
    • Bending The Landscape : Horror 2001 (GLB horror stories)
  • Jensen, Michael
    • Firelands 2004 (gay monster novel)

Lewallen, Marc "To The Grave" (2005) (erotic gay vampire thriller)

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Filmography

  • DeSimone, Tom
    • Sons of Satan 1973 (gay vampire porn)
  • Dahlin, Bob
    • Monster in the Closet 1986 (gay horror movie)
  • Pirro, Mark
    • Curse of the Queerwolf 1988 (gay, trans werewolf movie)
  • Jones, Marvin
    • Love Bites 1988 (gay vampire soft-core porn)
  • Beaumont, Gabrielle
    • Carmilla 1990 (lesbian vampire movie)
  • Cannon, Ross
    • Ultimate Reality 1996 (gay horror porn)
  • Coppel, Ann
    • Crocodile Tears 1996 (gay demon movie)
  • Huckert, John
    • Hard 1998 (gay,bi thriller movie)
  • Gould, Will
    • The Wolves of Kromer 1999 (gay werewolf movie)
  • Poirier, Bob
    • Traditional Family Vampires 2000 (gay vampire short)
  • Grannell, Joshua
    • Season of the Troll 2001 (transgender horror short)
  • West, Wash
    • The Hole 2003 (gay horror porn)
  • Liebenberg,Wilhelm
    • Eternal 2004 (lesbian, bi vampire)
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See also


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "LGBT themes in horror fiction" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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