Misc
‘Saw the Musical’ and Putting the Queerness of ‘Saw’ Into Words (and Songs)
Saw the Musical’s very existence makes me happy. It’s nice to see a horror movie that was initially dismissed as mindless “torture porn” by many critics be reimagined as something silly and joyous and, most importantly, unabashedly, unquestioningly queer. It’s the thing many queer people already knew Saw to be, even if we didn’t quite have the words to articulate it. Saw the Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of Saw is playing in Los Angeles through April 7 and New York City through June 23, with a national tour kicking off in April. For tickets and tour dates, visit the website.

I was guesting on an episode of my friends’ podcast, It Came from the Midwest, recently when one of the hosts, Aryn, asked me to talk about the queerness of the Saw franchise. I’m not going to lie: I fudged it. My mind went blank. Despite writing for a living, I momentarily lost the ability to translate a deeply held belief into words. If it had been Jigsaw asking me the question against the clock, I would have lost my test. Game over, bitch.
Aryn, thankfully, is more benevolent than Jigsaw. After listening to me waffle for several minutes, she stepped in to voice what I was struggling to communicate.
“I don’t even think you have to say it necessarily, because I feel it,” she said. “It’s there. You can sense it. You just know it’s different.”
Saw is a Queer Franchise, IYKYK
Aryn is right: the Saw franchise is different, as are the most memorable characters from its world. Take the angry, apathetic loner Adam Faulkner-Stanheight (Leigh Whannell in Saw), an artsy boy on the outskirts of society who puts his trust in all the wrong men and gets attacked by a monster in the closet. Or what about that monster herself, Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith in Saw 1–3 and Saw X), who steps into her full lesbian power (and haircuts) after having a major reawakening? And how can anyone watch Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) putting his hand on Adam’s cheek during the climax of Saw — Adam sobbing uncontrollably, their faces inches apart, lips quivering, Dr. Gordon making a solemn promise to come back for him — and not see it as the tragic conclusion of an enemies-to-lovers arc? (Cue Elle Woods throwing chocolates at the screen with a cry of “Liar!” How could you, Larry?)
There’s just something about the Saw franchise that speaks to the queer community, and the franchise has taken notice. When Jigsaw hit theaters in 2017, the team promoting the tie-in blood drive — a tradition dating back to the very first film — ran an ad campaign called “All Types Welcome” to protest the Food and Drug Administration’s discriminatory abstinence rule for LBGTQ+ blood donors (a rule that wouldn’t be revised for another six years). By the time Saw X rolled around last year, the iconic Billy puppet was announcing “yes I stun” from Saw’s official Twitter profile. Over on TikTok, meanwhile, fans were speculating why the Lionsgate account would post a video featuring Jigsaw killer John Kramer (Tobin Bell) framed in the colors of the Bisexual Pride flag.
Of course, we don’t need the marketing team to tell us that Saw is queer, because as Aryn so sagely articulated, we just know. The fic writers know it. The fan artists know it. And the creators of Saw the Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of Saw most definitely know it, too.
Saw the Musical : A Play Where the Subtext Can Become Text
Created and produced by Cooper Jordan, from a book by Zoe Ann Jordan and with music and lyrics by Anthony De Angelis and Patrick Spencer, Saw the Musical wastes no time letting us know that Adam and Dr. Gordon would be in one another’s pants immediately if only those darn chains weren’t keeping them apart. Adam is recast as a slutty himbo twink with a pocket full of condoms and a head full of cotton wool and dirty thoughts. As for Dr. Gordon, he’s no longer just a distant father with a penchant for stepping out on his marriage. Now, he’s a horny closeted bisexual who cares more about his furniture than his family and who won’t pass up an opportunity to bend over a resident, portrayed by a blow-up sex doll.
Chain these versions of Adam and Dr. Gordon together in a bathroom and the sexual tension doesn’t so much build as explode. It’s camp, it’s raunchy, and it can only end in — spoilers, but duh — a surprisingly sweet on-stage kiss. Perhaps if the bathroom set didn’t look like hepatitis waiting to happen, it might have gone even further. Then again, Dr. Gordon is bleeding out at the time. It is based on Saw, after all.
I was front and center for Saw the Musical off-Broadway in New York City around Halloween 2023. My editor asked me if I wanted to write something about it not long after and I agreed, but whenever I opened my laptop to do so, the words just wouldn’t come.
It was the podcast all over again. Sometimes something is just so obvious that you can’t find the queer forest for all the gay trees.
I think that what I most wanted to say but didn’t know how was that Saw the Musical’s very existence makes me happy. It’s nice to see a horror movie that was initially dismissed as mindless “torture porn” by many critics be reimagined as something silly and joyous and, most importantly, unabashedly, unquestioningly queer. It’s the thing many queer people already knew Saw to be, even if we didn’t quite have the words to articulate it.
As director and choreographer Stephanie Rosenberg told NPR, the musical is “a love story that… people have wanted for 20 years.” We felt it. We could sense it. Saw the Musical just turns our intuition (and the film’s subtext) into text. Sometimes in the form of funny songs.
Saw the Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of Saw is playing in New York City through June 23. The national tour kicked off in April. For tickets and tour dates, visit their website.
Misc
‘Death Becomes Her’ 4K Giveaway: Live Forever with This Cult Classic!

We’re back with another killer giveaway! This Oscar-winning, campy Robert Zemeckis flick, shot by the always incredible Dean Cundey, has re-rocked the queer community with its recent Broadway adaptation. A few simple steps can put you in the running to receive this genre classic.
Enter Our Death Becomes Her Giveaway!
How to Enter:
Step 1. Make sure to FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM!
Step 2. LIKE the giveaway post!
Step 3. TAG A FRIEND who you’d like not to get old and decrepit with.
Luckily for you, we’re not asking for a $200,000 check for an elixir that grants eternal youth and immortality.
If the winner does not respond on Instagram within 24 hours, we will randomly select another winner.
What You’ll Win
- 4K transfer of the original 35mm camera negative
- Presented by Dolby Vision
- The Making of Death Becomes Her: featuring interviews with Robert Zemeckis, writer David Koepp, Director of Photography Dean Cundey, Production Designer Rick Carter and Special Effects Artists Lance Anderson and David Anderson
- Vintage Making-of Featurette
- Photo Gallery
- Theatrical Trailer
Celebrate Pride with this gorgeous 4K copy of a bona fide cult classic! What are you waiting for? Your rejuvenation potion to kick in? Go on, do it, it’s the completion of your physical media collection! SEMPRE VIVE!
Misc
Demon Twinks: Horror’s Deadliest Skinny Boys
Ranking the top 10 deadliest twink horror villains! From Corey Cunningham in Halloween Ends to Lee in Bones and All, these slim slashers bring terror with style.

When one is ideating horror-related topics for Pride Month, it shouldn’t take too long for the phrase “demon twink” to pop into one’s head. Naturally, it took me three years to come up with this idea. I never said I was a genius. But once it got into my head, I couldn’t get it out. Twinks don’t have a reputation for being imposing or menacing. They’re usually young, slim, etc., and as such can be quickly written off.
But horror villainy is an equal opportunity business, and there are plenty of demon twinks to be had, if you know where to look. Twunks need not apply. So I took the time to do some exhaustive research and break down some of the deadliest skinny boys in the business (ranked by deadliness, of course – their body type is part of the foundation of this discussion but not attached to any sort of value judgment).
Warning: Some of these movies are whodunits, so there will be spoilers.
Top 10 Demon Twinks in Horror
#10 Orphan: First Kill (2022) – Gunnar Albright
Demon twink number 10 is low on the list because he doesn’t actually kill anybody during the events of Orphan: First Kill, but (VERY SPOILER ALERT) the fact that, prior to said events, he murdered his own kid sister and conspired with his mother to cover it up very much earns him a place on this list. That’s demonic as hell.
#9 He Lives by Night (夜驚魂) (1982) – The Stocking Killer
This Hong Kong movie is probably the least well-known of the titles on this list, but it shouldn’t be. Well, it is a touch transphobic, as are so many early post-Psycho slashers, so be warned. But the killer – whose mind snapped because of his cheating wife, leading him to murder women by strangling them with stockings – pulls off a heap of brutal, protracted, often beautiful murders, including one that I would accuse of ripping off Tenebrae if it hadn’t actually come out before the Argento classic.
#8 Terror Train (1980) – Kenny Hampson
Kenny racks up a pretty solid body count for an early 1980s slasher villain, helping 10 people shuffle off this mortal coil. However, the flair that he has for changing costumes is not reflected in the kills, which can be a little samey, landing him a little lower on the list than he maybe should be.
#7 Scream VI (2023) – Ethan Landry
Like all Scream movies, the exact body count that each Ghostface is responsible for in Scream VI is a little unclear. However, given where he is at certain times in the movie, he could have perpetrated at least five of the New York City slayings, which is more than his dad (three, tops) or his sister (who maxes out at four). He’s also pretty clearly the Ghostface behind the notorious ladder scene, which results in one of the most gruesome deaths in the movie. Poor Anika. We hardly knew ye.
#6 Cutting Class (1989) – Brian Woods
See, this demon twink 1980s slasher killer has a more compact body count of 6, but he knows how to have fun with it. He’s out here baking people into kilns and inspiring Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving with a deliciously preposterous trampoline murder.
#5 Angst (1983) – K
K may not have a lot of meat on his bones, but what he does have to offer is an uncontrollable urge to torture and murder people. This bleak, shocking motion picture has a relatively low body count, because it primarily follows him tormenting one isolated family. However, the sheer intensity of what we do see cannot be denied, as is the intensity of the way K does everything in his life, including eating a sausage in what might actually be the most disgusting scene in the movie.
#4 Fade to Black (1980) – Eric Binford
When it comes to a small body count with flair, look no further than Eric Binford, who stages five spectacular murders inspired by classic films, namely Kiss of Death, Dracula, Hopalong Cassidy, The Mummy, and White Heat, all while trying to get with a Marilyn Monroe lookalike. Commitment to a theme will get you far in Pride Month, and we must all pay respect.
#3 Bones and All (2022) – Lee
Lee’s onscreen kill count isn’t especially high, but he gets extra points for style (Slitting a dude’s throat in the middle of a hookup? This demon twink brings the drama) and for canonical cannibal murders that have taken place before the events of the story, including those of his father and babysitter. Plus, Timothée Chalamet is the ur twink of our day, and that is what pushes him so far toward the top of the list.
#2 Children of the Corn (1984) – Malachai
Although he does not figure very much in the opening scenes of the movie when the town’s children turn on the adults, Isaac’s second-in-command makes up for lost time once the main thrust of the story kicks in. In fact, he’s really the only person who commits proper, non-supernatural murders from that point on, and he takes to his job with terrifying gusto.
#1 Halloween Ends (2022) – Corey Cunningham
I know, I know. He’s not technically Michael Myers, and we’re all mad about that. This is something I’ve written extensively about for Horror Press in the past. But he is the primary killer in this movie, like it or not. He’d already get points for the accidental but spectacular murder of that beyond irritating kid he’s babysitting in the opening sequence (which I’ve also written about previously), but he later adds nine bodies to that count, as well as a homoerotic assist for a Michael Myers slaying. And some of those kills are pretty damn gruesome! This is a deadly, demon twink if there ever was one.
Runners-Up: Jesse Walsh from A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Alex from My Soul to Take, Charlie Walker from Scream 4, Arne Johnson from The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and Norman Bates from Psycho IV: The Beginning