Movies
Queer for Fear All Year: The Definitive LGBTQ+ Horror Calendar
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!
A Year of Queer Horror: Monthly LGBTQ+ Horror Movie Recommendations
Psycho Beach Party (2000)
July: Soak up the Summer Sun With Camp Kills and Sweaty Beach Shenanigans
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.
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
August: Head Back to School With Jennifer’s Body, Fear No Evil, and More
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)
September: Toast a Hard-Working Gay on Labor Day
September brings Labor Day, so let’s raise a glass to all the hard-working queers creating our fears. I’m talking housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) in Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), who keeps the Manderley mansion spotless despite her all-consuming obsession with the late Rebecca de Winter and her campaign of terror against the pretender to Rebecca’s throne, the second Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine). I’m talking Eleanor (Isabelle Fuhrman) in The Last Thing Mary Saw (2021), a maid whose illicit affair with one of the women she works for sadly exposes them both to a world of pain. I’m talking Norman Bates in Psycho (1960)—running a motel seems hard at the best of times, even when you’re not experiencing the urge to stab. And I’m obviously not forgetting the gays in the hugely fun Slay (2024) and Death Drop Gorgeous (2020), who hustle for dollars while trying to fend off vampires and masked maniacs, respectively.
Honestly, this category is pretty broad. If they’re queer and have a job, they’re a candidate for your watch list this month.
September also marks New York Fashion Week in my neck of the woods, so feel free to stick on a few movies showcasing killer looks, like the bold stylings of The Babadook (2014) or the fearless fetishwear of Hellraiser (1987). (Are we including Buffalo Bill in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs in this category? Probably shouldn’t, even if he does know how to rock a caftan…)
Hellbent (2004)
October: Party With the Cast of Hellbent for Halloween
Halloween is basically second Pride, so let’s dig up some queer All Hallows’ Eve-set horror for the month of October. Surprisingly, this task is harder than it sounds.
I would be remiss not to mention the seminal Hellbent (2004), one of the very first queer slasher films (though pre-dated by the lesbionic Make a Wish from 2002) and perhaps the only one set entirely over Halloween. Four gay friends just want to have a nice time at the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval but find themselves stalked by a “Devil Daddy” who introduces them to the sharp end of his sickle. It’ll make you ask: “Why the hell aren’t more queer horror films set on Halloween?!”
Other than that, you could revisit Scream VI (2023), which takes place over a Halloweekend in New York City. Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) finally gets a girlfriend (Devyn Nekoda), though, uh…. Well, let’s just say she’s not gonna be in the sequel, Mr. Ghostface.
Ravenous (1999)
November: Frolick in the Snow With Ravenous and My Animal
As the weather starts to get colder, cuddle up with your partner or polycule and enjoy some queer chillers like Antonia Bird’s Ravenous (1999). One of my all-time favorite queer-coded horror movies, this wildly underrated film is set at an isolated military outpost in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains, where accidental cannibal Captain John Boyd (Guy Pearce) crosses paths with the very intentional cannibal Colonel Ives (a sublime Robert Carlyle). Ives is lonely and wants a partner in… Crime? Life? Bed? As Carlyle explains in one interview, his character “[doesn’t] just want to eat Guy Pearce; he’s going to have Guy Pearce at the same time.”
A more recent favorite of mine also fits the bill for November nicely: 2023’s My Animal. A romantic take on the werewolf subgenre, this delicious slow-burn from director Jacqueline Castel follows a lycanthropic teenage outcast (Bobbi Salvör Menuez) falling for a figure skater (Amandla Stenberg) in the snowy wilds of Canada. I promise you’ll have the score by Boy Harsher’s Augustus Muller on repeat for weeks after watching.
It’s a Wonderful Knife (2023)
December: Make the Yuletide Gay With It’s a Wonderful Knife and Carnage for Christmas
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)
January: Ring in the New Year Queer With Midnight Kiss and Life Blood
When the ball drops, the horror keeps on coming. Part of Hulu’s Into the Dark collection, Midnight Kiss (2019) is the ideal way to ring in the new year. Carter Smith (Swallowed, The Passenger) helms this entry in the anthology series, which follows a group of gay best friends and their one gal pal as they head to Palm Springs for a New Year’s Eve soiree. There, they plan to play the titular “Midnight Kiss” game by finding a stranger to kiss consensually at midnight. Unfortunately, someone in a fetish mask doesn’t know that consent is sexy and is killing people against their will (wow, rude).
Another option for your midnight viewing is Life Blood (2009), a trashy little flick about lesbian vampire angel assassins (?) on a killing spree on New Year’s Eve. Is it good? Uhh… Let’s just call it unique and move on.
Attachment (2022)
February: Celebrate Queer Love in All Its Forms With Attachment, The Hunger, and More
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.
Fear Street (1994)
March: Mark International Women’s Day With Raw, Fear Street, and Beyond
International Women’s Day is in March, so let’s use this month to revisit all the great women directors making horror queerer.
One of only three women in history to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Julia Ducournau’s first two films—2017’s Raw and 2021’s Titane—are both queer masterpieces. Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies, meanwhile, presents the unselfconscious queerness of a new generation alongside the mistrust and mayhem of a supposed killing spree. And before she brought us the sapphic body-building thrills of Love Lies Bleeding (2024), Rose Glass directed Saint Maud (2019) with a distinctly queer gaze. All come highly recommended.
Special shout out to the women ensuring their gays stay very much unburied. Nia DaCosta’s Candyman (2021) features a gay couple who (spoilers, but yay!) get to be totally okay, much like the central lesbians in Leigh Janiak’s Fear Street trilogy (2021), whose love and survival symbolically end the true curse plaguing their town: centuries-old bigotry.
Queens of the Dead (2025)
April: Rhinestone Some Easter Eggs Ahead of Queens of the Dead
There isn’t a whole lot of Easter-themed horror for April, but I’m pleased to report that upcoming zom-com Queens of the Dead is not only set at Easter, but features a bunny-themed drag performance. Directed by Tina Romero, daughter of the zombie maestro himself, George A. Romero, the film sees a group of drag queens, club kids, and one rude straight man holing up in a Bushwick bar as the dead walk the streets outside. Horror Press’s own Chloé Harper Gold called Queens of the Dead a “delightful zombie horror-comedy that’s hilarious and heartfelt,” and after catching it at Tribeca, I wholly concur. Shudder just acquired the flick, so hopefully we’ll see it on the small screen by next April.
Of course, to make it to Easter, we first have to survive the annual nightmare that is April Fool’s Day. In horror, pranks have a habit of going drastically wrong, as is the case in 1987’s Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. Though not explicitly queer, this sort-of-not-really sequel about a prom queen (Lisa Schrage) who is accidentally burned to death and returns to enact her revenge is so gloriously camp (not to mention wildly inventive) that not including it feels like a crime.
Lyle (2014)
May: Let’s Hear It for the Moms in Lyle and Huesera: The Bone Woman
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.
Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
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.
I was late to the Radio Silence party. However, I do not let that stop me from being one of the loudest people at the function now. I randomly decided to see Ready or Not in theaters one afternoon in 2019 and walked out a better person for it. The movie introduced me to the work of a team that would become some of my favorite current filmmakers. It also confirmed that getting married is the worst thing one can do. That felt very validating as someone who doesn’t buy into the needing to be married to be complete narrative.
Ready or Not is about a fucked up family with a fucked up tradition. The unassuming Grace (Samara Weaving) thinks her new in-laws are a bit weird. However, she’s blinded by love on her wedding day. She would never suspect that her groom, Alex (Mark O’Brien), would lead her into a deadly wedding night. So, she heads downstairs to play a game with the family, not knowing that they will be hunting her this evening. This is one of the many ways I am different from Grace. I watch enough of the news to know the husband should be the prime suspect, and I have been around long enough to know men are the worst. I also have a commitment phobia, so the idea of walking down the aisle gives me anxiety.
Grace Under Fire
Ready or Not is a horror comedy set on a wealthy family’s estate that got overshadowed by Knives Out. I have gone on record multiple times saying it’s the better movie. Sadly, because it has fewer actors who are household names, people are not ready to have that conversation. However, I’m taking up space this month to talk about catharsis, so let me get back on track. One of the many ways this movie is better than the latter is because of that sweet catharsis awaiting us at the end.
This movie puts Grace through it and then some. Weaving easily makes her one of the easiest final girls to root for over a decade too. From finding out the man she loves has betrayed her, to having to fight off the in-laws trying to kill her, as she is suddenly forced to fight to survive her wedding night. No one can say that Grace doesn’t earn that cigarette at the end of the film. As she sits on the stairs covered in the blood of what was supposed to be her new family, she is a relatable icon. As the unseen cop asks what happened to her, she simply says, “In-laws.” It’s a quick laugh before the credits roll, and “Love Me Tender” by Stereo Jane makes us dance and giggle in our seats.
Ready or Not Proves That Maybe She’s Better Off Alone
It is also a moment in which Grace is one of many women who survives marriage. She comes out of the other side beaten but not broken. Grace finally put herself, and her needs first, and can breathe again in a way she hasn’t since saying I do. She fought kids, her parents-in-law, and even her husband to escape with her life. She refused to be a victim, and with that cigarette, she is finally free and safe. Grace is back to being single, and that’s clearly for the best.
This Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy script is funny on the surface, even before you start digging into the subtext. The fact that Ready or Not is a movie where the happy ending is a woman being left alone is not wasted on me, though. While Grace thought being married would make her happy, she now has physical and emotional wounds to remind her that it’s okay to be alone.
One of the things I love about this current era of Radio Silence films is that the women in these projects are not the perfect victims. Whether it’s Ready or Not, Abigail, or Scream (2022), or Scream VI, the girls are fighting. They want to live, they are smart and resourceful, and they know that no one is coming to help them. That’s why I get excited whenever I see Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s names appear next to a Guy Busick co-written script. Those three have cracked the code to give us women protagonists that are badasses, and often more dangerous than their would-be killers when push comes to shove.
Ready or Not Proves That Commitment is Scarier Than Death
So, watching Grace run around this creepy family’s estate in her wedding dress is a vision. It’s also very much the opposite of what we expect when we see a bride. Wedding days are supposed to be champagne, friends, family, and trying to buy into the societal notion that being married is what we’re supposed to aspire to as AFABs. They start programming us pretty early that we have to learn to cook to feed future husbands and children.
The traditions of being given away by our fathers, and taking our husbands’ last name, are outdated patriarchal nonsense. Let’s not even get started on how some guys still ask for a woman’s father’s permission to propose. These practices tell us that we are not real people so much as pawns men pass off to each other. These are things that cause me to hyperventilate a little when people try to talk to me about settling down.
Marriage Ain’t For Everybody
I have a lot of beef with marriage propaganda. That’s why Ready or Not speaks to me on a bunch of levels that I find surprising and fresh. Most movies would have forced Grace and Alex to make up at the end to continue selling the idea that heterosexual romance is always the answer. Even in horror, the concept that “love will save the day” is shoved at us (glares at The Conjuring Universe). So, it’s cool to see a movie that understands women can be enough on their own. We don’t need a man to complete us, and most of the time, men do lead to more problems. While I am no longer a part-time smoker, I find myself inhaling and exhaling as Grace takes that puff at the end of the film. As a woman who loves being alone, it’s awesome to be seen this way.
The Cigarette of Singledom
We don’t need movies to validate our life choices. However, it’s nice to be acknowledged every so often. If for no other reason than to break up the routine. I’m so tired of seeing movies that feel like a guy and a girl making it work, no matter the odds, is admirable. Sometimes people are better when they separate, and sometimes divorce saves lives. So, I salute Grace and her cathartic cigarette at the end of her bloody ordeal.
I cannot wait to see what single shenanigans she gets into in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. I personally hope she inherited that money from the dead in-laws who tried her. She deserves to live her best single girl life on a beach somewhere. Grace’s marriage was a short one, but she learned a lot. She survived it, came out the other side stronger, richer, and knowing that marriage isn’t for everybody.
My New Year’s resolution is to spend more time watching my favorite app. Luckily, Shudder is not taking it easy on us this holiday season, so I may meet my quota this January. The streamer is bringing in the new year with quite a few bangers. We have classics from icons, a new title from the first family of indie horror, and a couple of lesser-known films that have finally found a home. So, I am obviously living for this month’s programming and think most of you will too. I have picked the five films that I believe deserve our collective attention the most. Get into each of them and start your 2026 off on the right foot.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
Carrie (1976)
A sheltered teen finally unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated for the last time. Carrie is the reason I thought proms might be cool when I was a kid. This Brian De Palma adaptation is one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations. It is also an important title in the good-for-her subgenre. I cannot help rooting for Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) when I watch her snap at this prom and then head home to accidentally deal with her mom. The only tragedy of this evening is that Carrie had to die, too. I said what I said, and I will be hitting play again while it is on Shudder. This recommendation goes out to the other recovering sheltered girls who would be the problem if they had powers. I see you because I am you.
You can watch Carrie on January 1st.
Marshmallow (2025)
A shy 12-year-old gets sent to summer camp and finds himself in a living nightmare. While Marshmallow did not land for me, I know plenty of people who love it. Which makes this the perfect addition to the Shudder catalogue. I am actually excited to see more folks fall in love with this movie when it hits the streamer. If nothing else, it will help a few folks cross off another 2025 title if they are still playing catch-up with last year’s movies. It also gets cool points from me for not taking the easy route with the mystery it built. I hope you all dig it more than I did, and tell your friends about it. Perhaps you could even encourage them to sign up for the app.
You can watch Marshmallow on January 1st.
Chain Reactions (2024)
Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre cemented his horror legacy over fifty years ago. So, it is long overdue for a documentary where horror royalty can discuss its impact on them and their careers. I have been waiting for a couple of years to hear Karyn Kusama and Takashi Miike talk about Hooper’s work and how he inspired them. So, I am super geeked that Shudder is finally giving me the chance to see this film. The streamer is also helping the nerds out by adding The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 (1986) this month. If you are also an overachieving couch potato, I will see you at the finish line next week.
You can watch Chain Reactions on January 9th.
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
An insurance investigator discovers the impact a horror writer’s books have on people. I love chaos, and John Carpenter chaos happens to be one of my favorite kinds of chaos. While we talk about The Thing and Halloween all the time, this maestro has given us plenty of horror to celebrate. In the Mouth of Madness is very much one of those titles vying for a top spot among the best of his filmography. To sweeten the batshit pot, this movie features Sam Neill. You know that he only shows up in our genre if the movie is going to be legendary. You cannot tell me this is not a Shudder priority this month.
You can watch In the Mouth of Madness on January 10th.
Mother of Flies (2025)
A terminally ill young woman and her dad head to the woods to seek out a recluse who claims she can cure her cancer. The Adams Family has been holding court on Shudder for years, so it feels right that Mother of Flies is a Shudder Original. More importantly, this fest favorite has one of the best performances of 2025. Which makes it a great time for people to finally get to see it and get in line to give Toby Poser her flowers. Whatever you think your favorite Poser role is, it is about to change when you see her as Solveig. I am being serious when I say that this movie might be the first family of indie horror at their best.
You can watch Mother of Flies on January 23rd.
New year, but same Shudder. I would not want to go into 2026 any other way, personally. I hope these horrific recommendations bring you the good kind of anxiety. Or at least distract you from the state of the world for a bit.
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‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ Review: Nia DaCosta Has the Cure
The Horror Press Podcast Episode 54: Heated Rivalry & Yahtzee
‘Sleepy Hollow’ Review: Seeing Really Is Believing
‘Ready or Not’ and the Cathartic Cigarette of a Relatable Final Girl
‘Carrie’ Review: A Look At Two Adaptations
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Shudder in January 2026
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Netflix in January 2026
‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’ Review: An Overlooked Gem
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Slappy Was the Blueprint: How the Dummy from Goosebumps Became A Horror Icon
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ and The Story of William Afton Explained
Glen and Glenda: Don Mancini’s Reverence for Queerness in ‘Seed of Chucky’ (2004)
‘Truth or Dare’: Who Did it Best?
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[REVIEW] ‘Cherry Falls’ (1999) Brittany Murphy Shines in This Cult Classic Slasher
