How the Queer Community has Found a Home in Horror Films

The horror movie genre has come a long way, from silent black and white depictions of monsters like in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) to instant classics like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and Psycho (1960), to the horror genre we now know and love. The queer community has become fond of this genre, finding comfort in Halloween’s opportunities to dress in costume and in the shared experience of being an ‘other’. Horror and the queer community intersect with one another with representations that do not fit within society’s heteronormative ideals. Horror is more than just a film genre for the queer community — it’s a freeing expression of self and representative of taboo subjects. Horror’s intersection in queer culture shows its importance to the community.

How it All Began

To understand the intersection between the horror film genre and queer culture, it is important to know the genre’s history and tropes. It wasn’t until films like Nosferatu (1922) and Frankenstein (1931) that the genre saw an increase in popularity and thus, a wider array of tropes, subjects, and monsters. As horror saw more exploration in its plots, this gave way to the development of tropes that are still used today in modern horror. This also allowed for directors and actors who were queer, openly or not, to create and star in horror movies. The antagonist of a horror movie is often characterized by some sort of taboo, whether that be a depiction of some form of monster or creature or a human with psychopathic tendencies or a fascination with death, both of which exist outside of the heteronormative norm.

While tropes have expanded, these core representations of antagonists that present as some type of other are what gives way to connection to the genre itself. Not only are taboos explored in the subjects and tropes of horror, but in the imagery of the genre itself. Nudity, blood, and violence are all considered taboo at one point or another, as are queer identities. To connect to taboo subjects as someone whose identity was considered taboo comes only as natural.

While speaking with horror movie critics Wilson Ricks and Jenna Clute, the agreement between this relation of taboos was apparent. Clute stated this connection “comes with letting your guard down…you know what it feels like to be taboo to society…and you kind of find a safe place in that community,” with the stigma behind horror and the queer community being similar in some ways. Clute highlights, “From a religious aspect, people shun both…and there’s kind of a familiarity in that area” with familiarity, a person can find comfort in a shared experience. As horror and the queer community overcame stigmas and being seen as taboo, new subgenres emerged that gave way to the queer community being represented more in horror and in a positive light.

Queer Representation in Horror

One film that often comes to mind for many that contains a lot of queer representation is The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which incorporates the subgenre of camp and musicals. But before films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, queer representation in horror films was far more subtle, often in the subtext of films like Dracula’s Daughter (1936), The Haunting (1963) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). In these films, queer undertones were more often seen within the relationships of characters that stray away from typical heteronormative representations, but still contain themselves as to not be outwardly queer or use queer themes. This is in contrast to the overt representation that exists within The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s character that is a clear representation of transgender identities.

As the horror genre grew and expanded, franchises became much more common. This not only allowed queer directors and actors to gain more of a platform in horror, but allowed the often subtle queer undertones in horror to become less subtle, especially in horror’s subgenres and expanding tropes. Queer directors like Clive Barker, James Whale, and Don Mancini not only contributed to these beloved franchises, but helped to shape the horror genre and its contributions to the queer community. Where subtext in relationships between characters or within antagonists’ actions reigned supreme in horror, the expansion of tropes in horror—or rather, who was allowed to fit those tropes—has continued to garner more positive queer representation in horror. Wilson Ricks explains, “[The queer community] is no longer the monster or the murderer in question, they are very much the hero or the protagonist, and a lot of people today especially can get behind that,” such as in modern horror and the camp subgenre with popular characters such as Glen/Glenda from the Child’s Play franchise.

Modern Horror and the Camp Subgenre

Modern horror films may still rely on older tropes and subjects, but as culture has continued to grow, so have the tropes within horror, which showcase taboos more outwardly than before. Rather than tropes that used taboos to convey an antagonist that did not fit in society, they are now used to convey protagonists and shed a more positive light on taboos. Jenna Clute mentions the modern horror film Swallowed (2022), which features an adult entertainer as the protagonist, saying that, “Going back to older films…that would be the taboo that would be kept in the shadows and I don’t feel that that’s much of a thing in modern horror or it’s presented differently,” which can be seen in many modern horror films such as MaXXXine (2024) and X (2022).

Aside from representing previously taboo subjects in a more positive light, modern horror also connects to and utilizes queer culture, especially in the camp subgenre. Camp horror can often be traced back to films such as Evil Dead (1981) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and has grown into a beloved genre made up of many cult classics. These films resonate with the queer community, especially because many of the characters in camp horror are misunderstood by the other characters within the film, drawing a connection with being othered. Many of these characters have been named queer icons due to the queer community resonating with either their queerness or their shared struggles.

The camp subgenre has also given the queer community a larger place and platform in other subgenres of horror. For example, Ricks highlights, “Friday the 13th, some people call it ‘Fri-Gay’ the 13th because there are a lot of men in the cast who are gay”; and in modern horror, many queer actors have found roles in slasher films. Although the camp subgenre was not the first genre of film to openly use queer culture and representation, it has always served as a safe place of representation for the queer community, combining humor with the dark themes of horror. With this combination of themes, horror has expanded to not only grant a platform for queer artists and characters, but to make them the heroes and icons as well.