It Came from the Closet
Queer Reflections on Horror
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Through the lens of horror—from Halloween to Hereditary—queer and trans writers consider the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences.
Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes—such as the circumspect and resilient “final girl,” body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet—spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world.
It Came from the Closet features twenty-five essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifer’s Body, Jude Ellison S. Doyle on In My Skin, Addie Tsai on Dead Ringers, and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Queer writers recall the horror films that touched their lives in this stellar anthology. Noting in the introduction a common "deep queer affinity" for horror, NYU writing professor Vallese lays out the conundrum at the center of the collection: "How can we find such camaraderie in the very thing that so often slights us?" There's not a weak piece in the pack; among the standouts is "Both Ways," in which Carmen Maria Machado pushes back against accusations of queerbaiting in the 2009 flick Jennifer's Body, detecting in them a judgment against fluid bisexuality. "There is such little grace given to the perfect messiness of desire," she writes. In "Three Men on a Boat," Jen Corrigan makes a convincing case for Jaws as a queer film ("Is there really anything gayer than three men on a boat?"), and in "The Girl, the Well, the Ring," Zefyr Lisowski writes searingly about The Ring and Pet Sematary, both of which present the idea that "the disabled were to be feared": "These movies hurt me and I kept watching them.... They were all I had." Taken together, the pieces are a brilliant display of expert criticism, wry humor, and original thinking. This is full of surprises.
