I find myself in something of a predicament every June. I want to stay home and watch all my favorite queer horror films, but I also want to throw dollars at every drag king and queen in a ten-mile radius. As a result, by the time July 1 rolls around, my Letterboxd diary (like my wallet) often looks emptier than I’d like, and I’m left with a profound sense that there was much more to see.

That got me thinking: are there queer horror movies perfect for other holidays and celebrations? What about those long, slow months in between, when it feels like nothing much is happening and your couch and TV beckon?

June might be over for another year, but this queer horror calendar is here to tide you over until it rolls around again. After all, LGBTQ+ horror movies aren’t just for Pride Month: they’re forever.

Looking for more queer horror streaming guides? Check out Here to Slay for even more year round streaming ideas!

I’m led to believe from the movies that all American kids go to camp over summer break, so let’s start our queer year there. Infamous slasher Sleepaway Camp (1983) takes a sudden, arguably transphobic turn into LGBTQ+ territory in its final moments when it’s revealed that the introverted Angela (horror icon Felissa Rose) is not only behind the murders that have terrorized Camp Arawak, but was assigned male at birth. However, my pick for a good queer summer camp movie for July would be its first sequel, the joyfully silly Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988).

Here, an all-grown-up Angela (now played by Pamela Springsteen, sister of Bruce Springsteen) has gotten a gig as a camp counselor and makes short work of misbehaving teens. Far from the near-mute traumatized child we met in the first movie, this vision of Angela is chirpy, camp, and impossible not to root for. As Tracy Gossage writes in an article for Gayly Dreadful, “Other than the intro and Angela’s monologue at the end, Angela’s gender is really not that important to the film other than giving us a rare female slasher villain. Moreover, the film gives us a queer villain whose motivations do not lie in some implied psychosis regarding their LGBTQ+ identity, but instead in their Type-A insistence that things should be done a certain, proper way.”

Of course, camping isn’t for everyone. If your version of fun in the sun involves more sand and surf than log cabins and campfire songs, consider taking a stroll down to the Santa Carla Beach Boardwalk to party with the definitely-straight-for-real vampires of The Lost Boys (1987). Or, grab your board and head down to Malibu, where a series of murders are taking place at the Psycho Beach Party (2000), written by drag performer Charles Busch. And if you’re looking for a little summer lovin’, consider meeting a Stranger by the Lake (2013) for queer erotic thrills.

With many schools going back in August, this month is a prime time to remember why high school is such a drag. Luckily, there’s a wealth of LGBTQ+ horror centered around the classroom experience. (It’s almost like a lot of us queers had a bad time in school and need to process it…)

Jennifer’s Body (2009) is often the first film that comes to mind when people discuss queer fear in a school setting, and while it is overrepresented in discussions of sapphic scares, it’s also a bloody fun watch that I return to year after year. The same could be said of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (1985) in terms of gay male horror—not your only option, but a damn good one all the same. Check out the documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019) as a fascinating companion piece.

For more obscure high school-set queer viewing, try Fear No Evil (1981), in which a 17-year-old twink learns he’s the antichrist. Fellas, is it gay if you bully the devil by making out with him naked in the shower? Because that’s a scene that happens in this movie. For similarly homoerotic subtext between wet, half-naked men, The Covenant (2006) is also a good option. And there’s literally never a bad time to revisit Jane Schoenbrun’s incredible I Saw the TV Glow (2024), but it’s especially fitting here, with some of its most pivotal scenes taking place in and around a school and its adjacent sports grounds.

Death Drop Gorgeous (2020)

If the holidays weren’t gay enough already (and take it from a former Sunday School teacher, they’re so extra), give yourself the gift of some queer Christmas kills this December. It’s a Wonderful Knife (2023) is exactly what it sounds like: a slasher spin on the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life, only with more lesbians. Jane Widdop plays Winnie Carruthers, who is struggling to move on after taking down a masked killer on Christmas Eve. When she wishes she was never born, she gets to experience what the world would be like without her—and, spoilers, it’s a lot worse! Along the way, Winnie falls for town misfit Bernie (Jess McLeod), a relationship that the actors personally helped to shape. It’s sweet, it’s sapphic, and it’s guaranteed to make your heart grow three sizes.

Another recent addition to the queer Christmas horror canon is 2024’s Carnage for Christmas. I’ll confess, I haven’t actually watched this one yet, but considering it comes from trailblazer Alice Maio Mackay, the Australian filmmaker behind the superb T-Blockers (2023), I feel confident in recommending it nonetheless. The plot centers on true-crime podcaster Lola (Jeremy Moineau) returning to her hometown after transitioning only to discover a gruesome urban legend come to life. It’s top of my watch list for December, and it should be on yours, too!

Midnight Kiss (2019)

Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to eat chocolate hearts and watch romantic horror. There are plenty of options out there with a queer twist, including the many, many adaptations of Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 lesbian vampire novella Carmilla. I’m especially fond of 1970s The Vampire Lovers from Hammer Film Productions, featuring the gorgeous Ingrid Pitt who, in one especially memorable scene, emerges from the bathtub only to chase the virginal Emma (Madeline Smith) around the room and fall on top of her on the bed. Like most of Hammer’s films, The Vampire Lovers can perhaps best be described as a cozy gothic romp. For a wilder adaptation, albeit a very loose one, 1977’s Alucarda is an absolute blast.

Sticking with vampires, The Hunger (1983) features one of the sexiest casts in horror (Catherine Deneuve! Susan Sarandon! David Bowie!) and some frighteningly hot sapphic lovemaking. If you prefer your relationships a little healthier, however, don’t miss heartfelt horror film Attachment (2022), which has lesbians and demons—though, refreshingly, one isn’t caused by the other.

Forget flowers: celebrate Mother’s Day in May with some good old pregnancy horror! Often referred to as the lesbian Rosemary’s Baby, 2014’s Lyle from Stewart Thorndike is a tight, suspenseful exercise in unease that clocks in at just over an hour. Leah (Gaby Hoffmann) is pregnant and still grieving the sudden death of her first child, the eponymous Lyle. Unlike her predecessor Rosemary, Leah is married to a woman, June (Ingrid Jungermann). Turns out, women can make sketchy firstborn-sacrificing pacts too, and that’s beautiful.

Another great watch for Mother’s Day is Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022). From director and co-writer Michelle Garza Cervera, the film explores the central character’s ambivalence toward her own pregnancy, as she tries desperately to want and appreciate the comfortable life she’s built with her husband, while finding herself drawn inexorably back to an old queer flame. Plus, there’s a spider monster. Good stuff, and the kind we don’t see enough of, frankly.

June: All Queer Horror, All the Time

Congratulations—you made it back to June! If you have any gaps in your Pride Month schedule, you’ll find plenty more queer horror films to fill them, from coded classics like Dracula’s Daughter (1936) to affirming oddities like Nightbreed (1990) and underseen gems like Spiral (2019). Seeking out a shadowcast-accompanied screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) is also a must.

If this year of queer horror can teach us anything, it’s that it’s a scary world out there, but there’s real power in community. Stay safe, tip your drag queens, stand up for trans rights, and watch more horror movies.