Movies
Best Transhumanism Horror and Sci-Fi Films to Watch for Transgender Day of Visibility
This article provides a streaming guide for best horror and sci-fi films to watch for Transgender Day of Visibility
Happy Trans Day of Visibility! A day where we celebrate trans people and our contributions to society. It’s also a day where we recognize the struggles that trans people go through because of discrimination (feel free to buy me a coffee today). Instead of making a straightforward list of films by or featuring trans people (although you should watch Carnage for Christmas and The Estrogen Gospel), I wanted to delve into the concept of transhumanism.
The Best Horror And Sci-Fi Movies to Watch for Transgender Day of Visibility
What is Transhumanism?
Transhumanism focuses on changing human bodies through technology to achieve an advanced or new form of existence. As a trans person, the part of transhumanism that I find interesting is the autonomy to change your body outside of accepted norms. Whether that is top surgery to alleviate gender dysphoria, or turning your hand into a gun to usher in the era of the new flesh: I’m all for it.
Videodrome (1983)
We can’t talk about transhumanism without mentioning Videodrome by the king of body horror, David Cronenberg. Max Ren is the CEO of a TV station, who discovers Videodrome, an illicit broadcast signal showing snuff. As Max watches the channel, he begins to see things, which may be hallucinations or visions of a higher plane of existence. As his mind changes, so does his body. The film sexualizes the abject and dives courageously into the grotesque. Videodrome is a story of transcending one’s body and human existence to become something new, the central idea of transhumanism.
Titane (2021)
Titane is a wild ride. It’s disturbing but not excessively violent and ultimately has a positive message. As a young child, Alexia is in a car accident and needs to have a titanium plate inserted in her head. The titanium in her brain changes her, and she gets along better with cars than with people. As an adult, she is a dancer at motor shows. She gets very intimate with these cars and becomes pregnant. Alexia seems to have disdain for people, which escalates to murder at the beginning of the film. To hide her identity after the murders, Alexia starts living as a boy. Whether or not the character is truly trans, the trans metaphor is very present in this film. As Alexia becomes more and more pregnant, it becomes harder to hide her body and pass as a boy. The body horror of the film comes from Alexia’s feelings of dysphoria as her body becomes more alien to her while the car baby develops inside of her.
Tetsuo the Iron Man (1989)
Inspired directly by Videodrome, Tetsuo the Iron Man is another seminal work of transhumanism. A regular businessman hits another man with his car. The victim of the car accident is a metal fetishist, and is shown inserting pieces of scrap metal into his flesh for pleasure. After the accident, the businessman begins being tormented by mechanical body horror until his own body starts to change. The film’s audio is unique in that there is very little dialogue, and instead focuses on industrial music and percussion. Tetsuo the Iron Man also has elements of German Expressionism. In addition to being inspired by Videodrome, writer and director Shinya Tsukamoto was influenced by Blade Runner, which was inspired by the German Expressionist film Metropolis.
The Matrix (1999)
At this point, we all know that the Wachowski sisters wrote The Matrix as a trans metaphor, making it a perfect watch for TDOV. This film is known for its characters who can bend the fabric of reality because they recognize that their perception of reality is what makes it real. The central transhumanism question of the film is: Who can you be if your expression of yourself comes only from your mind? If you’re not bound by physical constraints, you can be whatever you want, you first just have to realize that you’re in control.
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
While Repo! is not scary, it uses horror aesthetics, and has the added bonus of being a musical. It is truly a master class on trans-humanism. It takes place in a future where people can finance new organs and elective surgeries through the corporation, GeneCo. However, if people aren’t able to pay their debts, the repo man will come and take their organs back. I imagine what being trans would be like in a future like this. People are modifying their bodies for all sorts of reasons, with much less medical necessity than being trans. However, the prospect of being forcibly de-transitioned if you’re unable to pay your debts to GeneCo is a little too close to real life for comfort. In the current political climate in the US, trans people’s access to care is threatened, not only by capitalistic medical insurance practices but also by the far right, who do not understand trans people and are opposed to our medical needs.
I hope these movies inspire you to consider your own bodily autonomy, but even more than that, I hope you have fun watching!
Trans rights are human rights! Long live the new flesh! Happy TDOV!
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
Tragedy Girls (2017)
A dark, comedic, high school romp about best friends gaining internet clout through murder. It may feel dated due to its use of Twitter rather than X, but it adds charm and reminds us of a simpler internet age. Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp deliver devilishly fun performances, and their slasher personas are heavily under-appreciated in the horror community. There are lots of familiar faces here, including Josh Hutcherson, Jack Quaid, Craig Robinson, and not to mention the director, Tyler MacIntyre, who went on to be one of the writers for Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023).
Seance (2021)
This Is Not a Test (2025)
School’s Out (2018)
Graduation Day (1981)
One of my absolute favorite things to do when I’m on vacation is to visit horror filming locations. Wherever you happen to be going, odds are that at least one horror project was filmed there at some point. There’s something magical about seeing the places that helped bring iconic scary stories to life on the big and small screens.
However, some locations are better than others. A lot of them (like the original A Nightmare on Elm Street house, Stu’s house from Scream, and the schoolhouse from The Birds) are private property and aren’t always owned by people who are particularly happy to have horror fans milling around out front. Others (like the schools from Buffy, Elm Street, and many other teen horror titles) are active educational institutions that don’t welcome strange visitors.
But I’m here to deliver a guide to some of the coolest horror filming locations in North America that give you that magical vibe without somebody calling 9-1-1 on you. Because the best things in life are free, so are all the locations on this list.
The Bridge from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Location: Linnie Canal Ct. Los Angeles, CA 9029, USA
The bridge where Glen (Johnny Depp) and Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) discuss the Balinese method of dreaming is nowhere near the movie’s fictional town of Springwood, Ohio. It’s actually one of the bridges over the human-made canals in Venice, California. Specifically, it’s the bridge over the Eastern canal that connects to Linnie Ct. It’s totally free to visit, and once you’re done taking photos and quoting “I’m into survival” to your heart’s content, you’re still in Venice. Not a bad place to be!
The Movie Theater from Scream 2 (1997)
Location: Rialto Theatre, 1019-1023 Fair Oaks Ave. South Pasadena, CA, 91030 USA
Although the majority of the campus scenes in the college-set slasher sequel Scream 2 were filmed at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, a lot of the school’s surrounding environs were filmed closer to Hollywood, in sunny Pasadena. While the movie theater where poor Phil (Omar Epps) and Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith) are killed in the movie’s prologue is no longer an operating cinema and you can’t go inside (the building has been taken over by a church), the exterior has been well preserved and looks more or less exactly the way it did in the late 1990s.
This horror filming location is also just an 11 minute drive from the street where the film’s famous car crash sequence was shot, which is part of Green Street between South Los Robles Avenue and Madison Avenue in Pasadena.
The Myers House from Halloween (1978)
Location: 1000 Mission St, South Pasadena, CA 91030, USA
Although the building has been moved from its original location, it was rebuilt to look exactly the way it does when young Michael Myers is stalking his way around it in the iconic opening sequence of Halloween. There is a business operating out of the building, so don’t bother them or try to get inside (the interiors aren’t the same, anyway). But at this point, they’re very used to people doing photo ops out front. If you find yourself in Pasadena on October 31, it’s a can’t-miss destination, as a nonstop torrent of cosplayers swarm the area.
Other free Halloween locations in South Pasadena include the exterior of the hardware store where Michael gets his mask (right around the corner at 966 Mission St – it’s now the Radhika Modern Indian restaurant) and the famous hedge he hides behind when stalking Laurie Strode (just one mile away, at 1019 Montrose Ave S).
Brennan’s Tip: If you do have money to burn, check out the SugarMynt Gallery next door, which is chock full of horror-themed artwork. Also grab a snack at the Heirloom Bakery across the street! They’ve got all kinds of great treats (I even had them do the desserts for my wedding), and you can enjoy them on the outdoor patio with the Myers house looming over you.
The Town Square from Scream (1996)
Location: Healdsburg Town Square, Healdsburg, CA 95448, USA
Scream was filmed in and around Sonoma County, but the core town playing Woodsboro was the real-life wine country borough of Healdsburg. The town square, complete with fountain, is still there, and surrounded by cute shops and restaurants. You can also find the police station exterior where Sidney punches out Gale at Oakville Grocery (124 Matheson Street) nearby, but it has changed enough to be barely recognizable at this point.
Derry from It (2017), It: Chapter Two (2019), and It: Welcome to Derry (2025-)
Location: Port Hope, Ontario L1A 2Y7, Canada
The majority of the important locations in It and Welcome to Derry’s fictional town of Derry, Maine are all located along the main road of Port Hope, including the movie theater (Capitol Theatre on 20 Queen St), the library (Port Hope Town Hall, 56 Queen St), the park with the bandshell, and the alleyway outside the butcher shop, which still has the door painted with the faux sign from the movie.
Brennan’s Tip: Check out the river that runs parallel to the main street. When I went, there were hundreds of fish making their way upstream for spawning. Multiple species do this in Port Hope, in various seasons, so you never know if you’ll get lucky.
The University from Black Christmas (1974)
Location: Soldiers’ Tower at the University of Toronto, Hart House Cir, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H7, Canada
The college from the 1974 proto-slasher Black Christmas is played by the real-life University of Toronto, with the most notable area being the plaza outside Soldiers’ Tower, where Clare’s dad is seen waiting for his ill-fated daughter.
Brennan’s Tip: If you’re a huge Killer Party (1986) fan like I am, the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada building (25 Spadina Rd), which plays the haunted frat house, is just a short walk away.
Abe’s Snake Bodega from Scream VI (2023)
Location: Dépanneur St.Ambroise, 5701 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC H4A 1W9, Canada
Our next horror filming location is of a more recent vintage, but it’s an instant classic: the “New York City” bodega in which Ghostface hunts down Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) in Scream VI. Both the exterior and the interior of the shop were used for filming, though they changed a great deal of the inside to make it look more New York-y. You don’t have to pay to visit, but if you want to do a photo op posing like Ghostface at the end of the row of refrigerator cases, you might as well buy a soda on your way out as a thank you.
Other worthwhile free Scream VI filming locations in the area are the campus of Blackmore University (McGill University at 845 Sherbrooke St W), and “Central Park” (Parc La Fontaine, 3819 Av. Calixa-Lavallée).
Crawford Academy from Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
Location: Concordia University – Loyola Campus, 7141 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6, Canada
The fictional high school from this classic Canadian slasher was played by the real-life Concordia University (except for the opening kill scene, which was shot around Douglass Hall at McGill University). It’s a relatively small campus, so you can’t miss the grand brick buildings, which look exactly the same now as they did 45 years ago, though the quad has been relandscaped.
The Steps from The Exorcist (1973)
Location: Corner of Prospect St and 36th St NW, Georgetown, Washington, D.C., 20007, USA
William Friedkin’s landmark classic The Exorcist is home to one of our most iconic horror filming locations yet. The steps that claim the lives of both Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran) and Father Karras (Jason Miller) are still there more than 50 years later, and you’ll almost certainly find people exercising on them, as if they aren’t worried that Pazuzu is gonna fling another victim toward them when they least expect it.
While the house from The Exorcist is indeed at the top of the steps (at 3600 Prospect Street), it is more set back than the movie implies (the exterior of Reagan’s window was a facade). But it’s still there, as is the Georgetown campus, where other scenes from the movie were filmed.
The Crystal Shop from Obsession (2026)
Location: The Green Man, 824 N Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505, USA
Our tour of some of the greatest free horror filming locations of North America comes full circle now, bringing us back to Southern California with the most recent movie on the list. Curry Barker’s Obsession was entirely shot in and around Burbank, and the metaphysical supply store The Green Man looks almost exactly like the fictional store from the movie, both inside and out. Just don’t go in hoping to find a display of One Wish Willows.
