I love the horror movie genre and can't begin to do my recommendations justice with one article but here are some of the movies my partner and I have been screening at our annual Halloween get-togethers. Most everything here is available on DVD but some can only be seen late at night on cable or found on E-Bay as ex-video rentals. A great Web site that has funny, opinionated reviews about gay and lesbian horror films is also worth checking out, www.campblood.org .
Avenging Angels
What could be more alternatively scary and fun than watching female power at loose on an unsuspecting world? Sissy Spacek as Carrie ) the wronged teenager with telekinesis who takes out her fellow high school students at the prom is the yardstick by which all others in this category must stand. The complex performances by Spacek and Piper Laurie as her crazed Bible-thumping mother (both Oscar nominated) are aided by a note-perfect supporting cast headed by Betty Buckley and Amy Irving (in her first film). That's augmented by Mario Tosi's lush cinematography, superb production design by Spacek's husband Jack Fisk, a chilling, effective score by Pino Donnagio and a great adaptation of Stephen King's first novel by Lawrence D. Gordon. Director Brian DePalma's best film.
It's been the subject of a thousand parodies but there's a reason why The Exorcist ) was such a mega hit. Excellent performances from Ellen Burstyn and cast, big-budget gross to spectacular special effects are a big reason for that. I think it's also because the film really takes its time, building slowly until the feeling of dread is matched by that devilish Avenging Angel with her head spinning around. Scary idea: freeze the DVD on the exact moment that Father Damien dreams about seeing the Devil. That is one creepy Demon, dude.
A few years back during our Halloween soiree, we'd turned all the lights off and were about midway through Naomi Watts trying to figure out the meaning of The Ring ). Having seen the film, I decided to prank my friends. One of my sisters was going to call up at a pre-arranged time and when one of my unsuspecting friends answered she was going to say, 'Seven days' and of course we'd have a good joke. But suddenly I knew it wasn't such a good idea. I sneaked out of the room and called her up and told her to forget it. 'It's just too scary,' I explained, 'We're going to really upset someone.' I was right. Two of my friends slept with the lights on. Why? Because this chilly, disturbing film builds to a genuinely terrifying climax—and that's one pissed off Avenging Angel.
Queen of the Damned ) is Akasha, avenging head of the vampires in this commingling of two Anne Rice undead novels. The movie was trounced by critics and most remember it as the sad eulogy to the career of Aalyiah who plays the title character and was killed days after finishing the movie. But there's lots of gay and lesbian subtext if you can ignore the goth metal sludge music (why has that become the soundtrack of choice for all producers of vampire movies?) and concentrate or Vincent Perez as Marius, Lena Olin as Maharet and especially hottie Stuart Townsend who makes a much better Lestat the vampire than limpid Tom Cruise in the dud Interview With The Vampire ).
Latent Gay/Lesbian Overtones
Speaking of Tom and Brad reminds me that there aren't a lot of movies in the Horror canon that have much in the way of gay subtext. The gay porn industry, however, is there to (literally) fill the void with endless variations on Count Dracula and his minions. Fright Night ) is one mainstream film that is filled with gay undertones—beginning with the late Roddy McDowall as sort of a foofy vampire hunter, Chris Sarandon as the elegant, fussy (read: queen) vampire and Jonathan Stark as his hunky, worshipful, woman-hating assistant. More blatant is a scene in which Sarandon enfolds spiky-haired teenager Stephen Geoffreys into his cape with the enticement, 'No one will ever laugh at you again' as the scene fades to black and we assume that Stark is about to trade homophobic taunts for the gift of eternal life. The subtext is all the more powerful knowing that Geoffreys (under the name Sam Ritter) went on to appear in a number of gay porn films in the 1990s. And add to that out lesbian Amanda Bearse playing Sarandon's intended vampire love interest.
Mainstream Hollywood also had a hit with gay director Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys ), but it's more comedy than horror though it's not hard to see why the peroxide headed lead vampire Keifer Sutherland is so desperate to get heartthrob Jason Patric back to his bat cave.
Both versions of The Haunting and 1999) feature a major lesbian character (Claire Bloom in the former, Catherine Zeta-Jones in the latter). This adds to the tension in the original but brings nothing to the second. The original is THE classic haunted house flick while the latter's best assets are the interiors, obviously designed by someone with really strong S&M fantasies. Julie Harris stars in the 1963 version that, like Shirley Jackson's prosaic book it was based on, scares with suggestion. The brooding black-and-white photography and dissonant score by Humphrey Searle help. This really belongs in the 'Haunted House' category.
You want overt? Lesbian? No problem. Two of the greatest in the horror genre are The Hunger ) which I still contend is director Tony Scott's best film (it was his debut). Featuring that infamous sexy love scene between ravishing queen of the undead Catherine Deneuve and her intended victim, sexy big-breasted Susan Sarandon, this stylish vampire thriller has a great supporting performance by David Bowie, opens with the new-wave Halloween anthem 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' and wraps up with a gay-straight ménage a trois. What's not to like? Just out on DVD. The other is, of course, Slumber Party Massacre ), penned by Rita Mae Brown. It's kinda gory, kinda badly acted but lookee lookee at all those lesbos! Which brings to mind Countess Dracula ), out on a Midnight Movie DVD two-fer along with The Vampire Lovers ). And just in time for Halloween, Wolfe brings us the DVD of Make A Wish ), directed by out lesbian Sharon Ferranti. Susan invites all her old, cheating gal pal lovers for a camp out and one by one they start dying in really gory ways (in-between lots of woman-on-woman sex).
Rhymes With Bitch
Not all witches are ugly, contrary to what Glinda told Dorothy. What coven wouldn't be proud to sign up Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd (both in pre-Charlie's Angels mode) who are part of Satan's School for Girls ) or Morgan Fairchild and Morgan Brittany from The Initiation of Sarah )? I love these silly, TV quickies that usually play on those all-night TBS marathons. There's also The Spell ), a Carrie rip-off and Melissa Sue Anderson playing witch in 1981's Midnight Offerings. 1996's The Craft, about a teenage coven was a big enough hit to spawn many imitators. I remain devoted to Italian horror-meister Dario Argento's supreme tale of witchcraft, Suspiria ). With its vivid use of color, authentic, creepy score by Goblin and great nasty performances by Joan Bennett and Alida Valli (as her lesbian-hiding in plain sight toady) this had a great impact on me though several of my friends, having watched it on my recommendation, think I'm nuts.
More Recommendations:
Lesbian/Gay Overtones
Let's Scare Jessica To Death
Fearless Vampire Killers
Hellraiser (I and II) (really gory but tons of S&M gay subtext with that pinhead intoning over and over, 'Time to play…' From gay horror writer Clive Barker)
Haunted Houses
The Legend of Hell House
House on Haunted Hill (remake – more atmospheric than I'd remembered)
Thirteen Ghosts (remake – creepy monsters)
Stephen King's Rose Red (great buildup to a slapdash finish)
Scary/Creepy
Halloween (still a great creep fest – with the rare bonus of suspense in the daylight)
Halloween/H20 (for Jamie Lee Curtis's anguished performance)
Session 9 (deserted mental hospital)
Jeepers Creepers (makes no sense but so what – just go with it)
Nightmare on Elm Street (back when Freddie Kreuger was scary and not funny)
The Others (great ghost story – would have become a classic with Cate Blanchett in the Nicole Kidman role)
Eyes of Fire (hard to find but worth the search. A group of settlers encounter a Devil Witch. Very imaginative)
Night of the Living Dead ('They're coming to get you Barbara…' still the stuff of nightmares for the uninitiated)
Humorous
Mad Monster Party (from the producers of 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' – a full-length feature that includes a claymation Phyllis Diller)
Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness ('Swallow this' says Bruce Campbell and trust me, you'll want to)
Hocus Pocus (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as witches/gay icons in an OK comedy. Plus Omri Katz, the jail-bait heartthrob determined to send them back to Hell)
Death Becomes Her (A hilarious bitch fest about life after death and too much plastic surgery)
Beetlejuice
Young Frankenstein (the Mt. Everest of horror comedies)
TV (all these are available in nice DVD compilations)
Night Gallery
Dark Shadows
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Classics and/or Great Atmosphere
Bride of Frankenstein
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Sweet ghost stories like The Uninvited and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, I Married A Witch (all from the 40s)
Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton is the director who could make the scariest, most atmospheric ghost story and should consider taking the crown from M. Night Shyamalan)
