15 Underrated Queer Horror Films You Need To Watch Immediately
Queerness and horror have always been intertwined. From the earliest films the genre had to offer to what’s being released today, filmmakers have used queer subtext (and just plain queer text) to portray their characters’ (and viewers’) biggest fears. Queer audiences have been drawn to these movies due to how they explore monstrosity, otherness, and the link between desire and violence.
There’s an inherent tension in queer horror that doesn’t exist in other subgenres. From the queer coding of classic monster movies to queer characters in the slasher genre, queer and trans audiences have long found a home within this genre. However, the same ten films are often discussed when we talk about what constitutes queer horror. So, here are 15 of the best underrated queer horror films to check out during Pride month and beyond.
Knife + Heart (2018)
An ode to Giallo films of the 1970s, Knife + Heart follows Anne (Vanessa Paradis), an adult film director whose stars begin to be stalked by a mysterious killer. Like the subgenre it’s inspired by, the film immediately immerses you in the story with its slick cinematography and killer score and it’s impossible to look away, even in its most gruesome moments. As Anne attempts to uncover the murderer, the film ups the ante and goes full-tilt fantastical, proving that despite its inspirations, Knife + Heart is wholly original in a landscape filled with cheap copies.
Crash (1996)
After a severe car accident, James (James Spader), discovers a group of other car-crash victims who are not only turned on by these accidents but find themselves unable to escape them. While it’s known as one of David Cronenberg’s best films, Crash’s queerness is what makes it so fascinating. The relationship between James and Vaughan (Elias Koteas) radiates off the screen, their eyes glimmering over each other’s faces and, of course, their bodies. In his traumatic injury, James finds himself at home with the other victims, and the film looks at how community can make or break an already fractured psyche.
What Keeps You Alive (2018)
This Canadian thriller follows married couple Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Jules (Brittany Allen) who celebrate their first anniversary with a trip to a remote cabin. But, when Jackie discovers that her wife is holding onto a dark past, their getaway turns into a respective fight for their lives. What Keeps You Alive boldly allows its queer characters to not simply just be messy, but to be flat-out bad. The film aids in a more diverse representation of what queerness can not only look like in this genre, but in cinema in general.
Cat People (1942)
The film follows Irena (Simone Simon), who discovers she can turn into a panther when she gets turned on. While she is frightened by her newfound power, once her fiance starts growing closer to his assistant, Irena realizes she can use her newfound powers to her advantage. In accepting her monstrousness, Irena allows herself to become who she’s always been meant to be, changing her body at will to haunt her fiance and his new lover. It’s one of the oldest queer metaphors in horror, and over 80 years later, it continues to be one of the best.
Saint Maud (2019)
After recently finding God, hospice nurse Maud (Morfydd Clark) gets assigned to former dance star Amanda (Jennifer Ehle) who is suffering from a chronic illness. Though they get along at first, Amanda’s hedonistic nature and Maud’s growing dependence on her faith begin to clash, which in turn makes them sickly obsessed with each other. The two’s relationship slowly morphs into one that tips the boundaries of patient and caretaker, forcing them to both succumb to their most base desires. Saint Maud is a fantastic film that forces you to analyze its themes of religious guilt and queerness, and its closing final minutes will leave even the most devoted horror fan shaking.
Suspiria (2018)
Luca Guadagnino does horror better than a lot of his peers, so it’s no surprise that Suspiria is a reimagining rather than a remake of the original. While it’s still set in a dance school, Guadagnino utilizes dance and the movement of bodies to craft a film that is even more horrifying than its 1977 counterpart. This time, Suzie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) allows herself to be seduced by not only the mysterious haunting of the dance academy but also its head instructor Helena Markos (Tilda Swinton). Their relationship is one of the most intriguing aspects of the film, and it’s impossible to look away when Johnson and Swinton are on screen together.
Spiral (2019)
This Shudder exclusive follows Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) and Aaron (Ari Cohen), who move to a small community to raise their teenage daughter Kayla (June Laporte). Despite the idyllic homes and neighbors, it becomes clear that the family may not be as wanted as they were led to believe, and something sinister lies beneath the foundation of their new home. Spiral expertly weaves commentary on race and homophobia into the narrative to showcase that despite queer people having more rights than they did in the past, there is still a long way to go for us to truly be safe.
The Hitcher (1986)
This 1986 film follows Jim (C. Thomas Howell), a young man who while transporting a luxury car from Chicago to California picks up a mysterious hitchhiker. He goes by the name of John Ryder (Rutger Hauer), and it soon becomes clear that he has more in mind than getting from one destination to another. While it was criticized during its release due to its “gay panic” messaging, The Hitcher has slowly been transformed into a significant piece of queer media. Ryder is clearly infatuated with Jim, and if anything desperately desires a man to share his life with. Although he can be seen as a threat, Ryder’s desperateness for connection is what makes him, and this film so engaging.
Stranger By the Lake (2013)
When Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) begins to frequent a popular cruising spot, he quickly becomes infatuated with the mysterious Michel (Christophe Paou), who lurks in and out of the beach’s shadows. There’s a permeating dread that follows each of their encounters, and it all comes to a head when Frank sees his lover drown another man in a lake, setting off an intense game of cat-and-mouse. Though it’s been hailed as one of the most impressive films of the decade, Stranger By the Lake feels like it’s been forgotten by the horror community. While it’s more laid back than other films on this list, director Alain Guiraudie expertly taps into the intersections of violence and desire.
Femme (2024)
Despite being released within the last year, Femme is still incredibly underrated. The revenge thriller follows Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a drag queen who is attacked after a late-night performance and begins a fraught relationship with his attacker Preston (George MacKay) mere weeks later. The tension in the film never ebbs, and even during its most intimate moments directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping have you on the edge of your seat. At the heart of this film are two fantastic performances from Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay who play two equally broken men searching for stability in their lives with the prowess of actors who’ve been in the game for decades. Femme is one of the best portrayals of trauma and how desire tends to get mixed up with it, and stands as one of the best films of 2024.
Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019)
While A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is well known for its queer subtext—which balances on the line of becoming text—this 2019 documentary surrounding the film is equally fascinating. The film follows Mark Patton decades after the film, and allows us to get to know the man who became the first “scream king”. His performance in the original film was not always as celebrated as it is now, and the insight he offers into his life as a gay man and his view of the film in retrospect makes for an engaging watch. It’s a great documentary that uncovers the good and the bad of one of the most well-known queer horror films of all time.
Vampyros Lesbos (1971)
Vampires have often been used as a means to analyze queerness, and this classic 1971 flick is one of the best to do it. The film follows Countess Nadine Carody (Soledad Miranda), a vampiress whose affliction for blood becomes a strict obsession with the blood of women. As she seduces and kills them to appease her insatiable thirst, she is never truly happy. It becomes clear that while she needs to feed to live, what Nadine really despises is a life where she can live freely as a lesbian. Set to a sleek backdrop with stunning cinematography and production design, Vampyros Lesbos is one of the most fascinating vampire films in the history of cinema.
Bugcrush (2006)
When Ben (Josh Caras) becomes infatuated with the mysterious new bad boy at school Grant (Donald Cumming), it looks like his life finally has some meaning. With a tension that is all-encompassing, it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t the case, and there is more to Grant than what meets the eye. Despite being a short film, Bugcrush is one of the most fascinating entries into the queer horror genre. What director Carter Smith accomplishes in a mere 34 minutes, most directors can’t accomplish in two hours. Smith forces you to submerge yourself in a pool of despair, following Ben along on a journey that he may never recover from. It’s an excellent portrayal of the way desire can encapture us until it’s too late and the adolescent horrors that come along with loneliness.
Thelma (2017)
One part coming-of-age story and one part thriller, Joachim Trier’s Thelma is one of the best forgotten films of the 2010s. It follows the titular character (Eili Harboe), a repressed young woman who leaves her conservative home life to go to college. There, she meets Anja (Kaya Wilkins), and as the two grow closer she slowly begins to shed the shackles of her upbringing. Her desires begin to trigger an onslaught of violent seizures that have the power to move things around her, and it becomes clear that Thelma’s queerness is not the only thing that’s been stifled by her upbringing. Thelma feels like a queerer Carrie and is a fantastic portrait of a woman shedding the repression that was forced upon her in her youth.
Poison (1991)
While the rest of his work is well celebrated, Todd Haynes’ feature debut is not nearly discussed enough. Poison presents three different stories that are intercut between each other, yet they meld together as if they’re a part of the same fever-induced nightmare. Haynes plays with genre throughout, using fantasy, science fiction, and horror to display the terrifying reality of living as a gay man through the AIDS crisis. It’s messy and overwhelming and often feels like Haynes himself has reached through the screen and grabbed you by the throat. Despite being released at the beginning of the New Queer Cinema movement, the film continues to be one of the most authentic and energized portraits of queerness to date.
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