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Horror Pride Month: The Best of the Best in Shudder’s Queer Horror Collection

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Queer Horror

Y’all didn’t think we forgot about Pride Month this year did you? The celebration may be smaller, but iHorror-a queer-owned publication-we still take it very seriously! There are so many great queer horror films out there, and we’re here for it everyday. I wanted to start this celebration out by shining a spotlight on Shudder, the all-horror/thriller streaming platform. They keep a Queer Horror Collection going all year long and they recently announced their upcoming  Queer for Fear docu-series coming this fall!

With that in mind, I thought we’d dig into the streamer’s Queer Horror collection and pick some of my personal favorites to share.

Queer Horror on Shudder!

What Keeps You Alive? (2018)

Colin Minihan (It Stains the Sand Red) wrote and directed this film starring Hannah Emily Anderson and Brittany Allen as a lesbian couple who set out on a romantic getaway to celebrate their first anniversary. However, they soon find themselves battling each other in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse when secrets from one of the women’s pasts bubble to the surface.

This is a taut psychological thriller that will put you on the edge of your seat and keep you there!

Death Drop Gorgeous (2021)

Camp, camp, and more bloody camp. This horror-comedy romp created and directed by Michael J. Ahern, Christopher Dalpe, and Brandon Perras does the most. When a masked maniac is murdering young gay men and draining them of blood, a bartender and a drag queen team up in a bid to survive. Get some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy!

Knocking (2021)

This Swedish film wowed attendees at Sundance and now you can see it yourself! Molly is a young woman who recently moved into a new apartment hoping for a peaceful transition from her life in hospital. However, her peace is soon shattered as persistent knocking and screams from nearby invade her space. As more of her past is revealed, Molly’s complexity and her need to be heard become as intriguing and terrifying as the knocks themselves.

This film comes with an ending that will knock your socks off. You MUST see it to believe it!

Dragula

One just can’t downplay the joy that is Dragula. The Boulet Brothers host a horror-themed drag competition show that showcases drag queens on the fringe working their best horror looks and competing in terrifying challenges.

All four seasons are available to stream on Shudder, and they won’t let you down!

Rift (2017)

This Icelandic thriller finds two men in a secluded cabin haunted by their former relationship. It is as emotionally compelling as it is terrifying, and will leave you completely drained as the credits role. If you love a slow-burn thriller, Rift, written and directed by Erlingur Thoroddsen, is one of the most iconic films in this collection.

Islands (2018)

Surreal and strange, this short film by Yann Gonzalez (You and the Night) takes viewers through an erotic maze of love, desire, and intrigue. At only 23 minutes long, it’s utterly entrancing.

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1982)

I have a love/hate relationship with this film. It is, without a doubt, one of the first horror films to present a gay man as a sympathetic character. THAT is noteworthy. You have to wade through an awful lot of homophobic bullshit to enjoy it, though. It too me three tries to get through it, personally.

Still, there’s something about it that’s compelling, and so I’m including it here.

Nightbreed, The Director’s Cut (1990)

Look, you just don’t get much better than this Clive Barker adaptation. It is very scary, and also very queer.

A young man, convinced by a shady psychiatrist that he’s a serial killer, seeks refuge in Midian, an underground kingdom of “monsters.” But who are the real monsters here? Every member of the LGBTQ+ community knows Midian in one form or another. We seek out its comforts and our community. The symbolism is right on the surface in this tale, and it’s a personal favorite I return to over and over again.

Spiral (2020)

Colin Minihan’s second film on this list centers on a couple, Aaron and Malik, who move into an idyllic small town for a fresh start, but soon realize that the neighbors aren’t what they seem to be. Deeply unsettling and beautifully filmed, it’s a perfect film for a night on the couch with a snuggle-buddy.

Lyle (2014)

Take Rosemary’s Baby but make the central couple a pair of lesbians and you’ll just begin to scratch the surface of the paranoiac queer horror of Lyle. It’s only an hour long, but not a minute is wasted!

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street

This documentary focuses on the fallout of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, juxtaposing the film’s reception and the emotional fallout for its star, Mark Patton. While it’s undeniably the gayest of the franchise films from the 80s, it was also seriously mishandled. Moreover, when people began commenting on the film’s queerness, the production initially seemed to blame Patton for the audiences’ interpretation. Go behind the nightmares on with this doc. It’s a story that needed to be told.

Hellraiser (1987)

Queer horror icon, Clive Barker created one of the sickest (in a good way) horror films based on one of his own stories with Hellraiser. Moreover, the Cenobites, while terrifying, could also be met while stepping into a queer fetish bar. The tale of lust, hedonism, betrayal, and murder, is one of the greatest of its kind!

Knife+Heart (2019)

Yann Gonzalez appears again on the list with Knife+Heart. Set in a seedy, low-budget gay porn studio in the late 1970s, this is a true giallo film in every sense of the word. From it’s over the top kills to its fantastic like and the sheer grit  of its characters, this is one hell of a movie that I cannot recommend enough. It is the essence of queer horror and we are here for it!

 

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‘Immaculate’ Stars Reveal Which Horror Villains They Would “F, Marry, Kill”

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Sydney Sweeney is just coming off the success of her rom-com Anyone But You, but she’s ditching the love story for a horror story in her latest film Immaculate.

Sweeney is taking Hollywood by storm, portraying everything from a love-lusting teenager in Euphoria to an accidental superhero in Madame Web. Although the latter got a lot of hate among theater-goers, Immaculate is getting the polar opposite.

The film was screened at SXSW this past week and was well-received. It also gained a reputation for being extremely gory. Derek Smith of Slant says the, “final act contains some of the most twisted, gory violence this particular subgenre of horror has seen in years…”

Thankfully curious horror movie fans won’t have to wait long to see for themselves what Smith is talking about as Immaculate will hit theaters across the United States on March, 22.

Bloody Disgusting says that the movie’s distributor NEON, in a bit of marketing smarts, had stars Sydney Sweeney and Simona Tabasco play a game of “F, Marry, Kill” in which all their choices had to be horror movie villains.

It’s an interesting question, and you might be surprised at their answers. So colorful are their responses that YouTube slapped an age-restricted rating on the video.

Immaculate is a religious horror movie that NEON says stars Sweeney, “as Cecilia, an American nun of devout faith, embarking on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Cecilia’s warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.”

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Michael Keaton Raves About “Beetlejuice” Sequel: A Beautiful and Emotional Return to the Netherworld

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Beetlejuice 2

After more than three decades since the original “Beetlejuice” film took audiences by storm with its unique blend of comedy, horror, and whimsy, Michael Keaton has given fans a reason to eagerly anticipate the sequel. In a recent interview, Keaton shared his thoughts on an early cut of the upcoming “Beetlejuice” sequel, and his words have only added to the growing excitement surrounding the film’s release.

Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice

Keaton, reprising his iconic role as the mischievous and eccentric ghost, Beetlejuice, described the sequel as “beautiful”, a term that encapsulates not only the visual aspects of the film but its emotional depth as well. “It is really good. And beautiful. Beautiful, you know, physically. You know what I mean? The other one was so fun and exciting visually. It’s all that, but really kind of beautiful and interestingly emotional here and there. I wasn’t ready for that, you know. Yeah, it’s great,” Keaton remarked during his appearance on The Jess Cagle Show.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Keaton’s praise did not stop at the film’s visual and emotional appeal. He also lauded the performances of both returning and new cast members, signaling a dynamic ensemble that is sure to please fans. “It’s great and the cast, I mean, Catherine [O’Hara], if you thought she was funny last time, double it. She’s so funny and Justin Theroux is like, I mean, come on,” Keaton enthused. O’Hara returns as Delia Deetz, while Theroux joins the cast in a yet-to-be-disclosed role. The sequel also introduces Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter, Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s wife, and Willem Dafoe as a dead B movie actor, adding new layers to the beloved universe.

“It’s just so fun and I’ve seen it now, I’m gonna see it again after a couple little tweaks in the editing room and I confidently say this thing is great,” Keaton shared. The journey from the original “Beetlejuice” to its sequel has been a long one, but if Keaton’s early rave is anything to go by, it will have been worth the wait. Showtime for the sequel is set for September 6th.

Beetlejuice

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‘The Unknown’ From Willy Wonka Event is Getting a Horror Movie

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Not since the Fyre Festival has an event been so lambasted online as Glasgow, Scotland’s Willy Wonka Experience. In case you haven’t heard about it, it was a children’s spectacular that celebrated Roald Dahl’s offbeat chocolatier by taking families through a themed space that felt like his magical factory. Only, thanks to cellphone cameras and social testimony, it was actually a sparsely decorated warehouse filled with flimsy set designs that looked like they were bought on Temu.

The famous disgruntled Oompa Loompa is now a meme and several hired actors have spoken out about the inelegant party. But one character seems to have come out on top, The Unknown, the mirror-masked emotionless villain who appears from behind a mirror, terrifying younger attendees. The actor who played Wonka, at the event, Paul Conell, recites his script and gives some backstory to this frightening entity.

“The bit that got me was where I had to say, ‘There is a man we don’t know his name. We know him as the Unknown. This Unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls,'” Conell told Business Insider. “It was terrifying for the kids. Is he an evil man who makes chocolate or is the chocolate itself evil?”

Despite the sour affair, something sweet may come out of it. Bloody Disgusting has reported that a horror movie is being made based on The Unknown and may get a release as early as this year.

The horror publication quotes Kaledonia Pictures: “The film, gearing up for production and a late 2024 release, follows a renowned illustrator and his wife who are haunted by the tragic death of their son, Charlie. Desperate to escape their grief, the couple leave the world behind for the remote Scottish Highlands – where an unknowable evil awaits them.”

@katsukiluvrr evil chicolate maker who lives in the walls from willies chocolate experience in glasgow x #glasgow #willywonka #wonkaglasgow #scottish #wonka #theunknown #fyp #trending #foryou ♬ its the unknown – mol💌

They add, “We are excited to begin production and look forward to sharing more with you as soon as possible. We are actually only a few miles from the event, so it is quite surreal to see Glasgow all over social media, worldwide.”

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