9 queer horror movies that aren't necessarily about being gay or trans

Plus, a song rec for each film rec, because: What's gayer than a musical number?

Welcome to the special pride edition of my weekly dispatch, SENSUAL TERRORS: My musings on creativity, movie culture, and some strange bits of life.

Sorry, but this year, I can’t be “normal” about Pride.

Maybe it’s the dismal state of the world. Maybe it’s this administration’s literal erasure of Black and trans history. Maybe it’s because I’ve been so stressed out by my family, my dating life, my burgeoning corporate career and my living situation — all thing excerbated by the fact that I am Black and queer and femme.¹

But, as a cheeky little June 1 Instagram post reminded me: Being Black and non-binary and queer isn’t inherently a bad thing.

In fact, it’s a really sexy, fun thing.

To let myself lose sight of that is to let homophobes, transphobes, and racists win.

And we can’t have that, can we?

As an identity reporter, film scholar and film programmer, my favorite way to resist the patriarchy and White supremacy is to engage with media.

What a wang-dang-doodle it was to curate the following gay horror movies for your viewing pleasure.

These movies aren’t necessarily about being gay, but they are gay as hell.

And as a bonus, I’m including a song recommendation with each film recommendation, because what’s more camp than a little musical number?

1. Hellraiser (1987) + Nine Inch Nails

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First up, we have a film that’s the brainchild of a gay creative: Clive Barker.

The author and filmmaker is best known for the Hellraiser universe, but he also wrote the short story that became the basis for Candyman (1992) as well.

Is it surprising that a movie like Hellraiser was written by one of us?

It’s an ooey-gooey, latex freak fest with a costume design so fierce that any Hellraiser reference is instantly recognizable. Talk about iconic.

Because I’d recommend Hellraiser to for my Tom of Finland-loving gays, I’m recommend a track from Nine Inch Nails’ debut album, Pretty Hate Machine.

2. Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) + Charli XCX

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This modern slasher and whodunnit was right up my alley: Black, enby “Art Hoe Collective” era OG Amandla Stenberg stars, along with bisexual nerd icon and Internet boyfriend Lee Pace.

Plus, Charli XCX penned and performed the titular soundtrack song, which is a cousin to “Vroom Vroom” and is the mother of Brat.

3. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) + Kim Petras

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A lot of drag queens who run in horror circles — the kind of local² and national stars who are contenders for the Boulet Brothers’ Dragula — look to Elvira as inspiration.

Everything about the Elvira universe is so loud and campy and fun…

Which is why I think that if Elvira were real, she’d go crazy for a Kim Petras routine at the Halloween drag brunch.

4. Bones and All (2022) + Hayley Williams

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I did pick up on the motif of found family in Bones and All; I see how cannibalism can be the ultimate expression of love. (I think of

elli isabelle

as a cannnibalism authority here.)

I also find myself returning to

zombie grrrl ⚔️

’s essay on the literary function of cannibalism — often reminding myself of the potentially queer implications of Bones and All.

The film is directed by Luca Guadagnino, auteur behind Call Me By Your Name (2017) and Queer (2024). An expert in adapting homoerotic novels for film, Guadagnino himself famously said that every great movie is gay.

And I can see it: The way Maren feels innately different from her peers and family, and the way she feels Othered does mirror the real-life lived experiences of queer people.

My song pairing for Bones and All is a primal confessional of animalistic desire by none other than Hayley Williams, a vessel for all complex and difficult emotions.

5. Heathers (1988) + Prince

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It’s low-hanging fruit to point to the film’s obsessions with high school traumas — or obsession with fashion and self-actualization — as evidence of the gay invisible hand in Heathers.

So I’ll say the quiet part out loud: Not only is J.D. is the embodiment of the 80s bad boy archetype, but he also reminds me of every alternative trans guy I’ve ever met.

(Anyone interested in being “mean lesbian” à la TikTok can also look to J.D. for unhinged, chaotic gay representation.)

Canonical songs from Heathers the Musical aside, a song reminds me of the film is the Prince ditty “U Got the Look.”

Veronica Sawyer and J.D. definitely jammed this in the car while speeding around town — top down, raising hell.

6. Jennifer’s Body (2009) + Hole and Halsey

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Did Jennifer Check put the moves on Needy as a demonic ploy or a true expression queer desire?

Either way, the end result is the same: A makeout scene I watched on repeat as a youth who didn’t dare bring up anything gay and who wasn’t allowed to watch horror movies in the first place.

Fun fact: The film’s title comes from one of the hardest songs on Hole’s Live Through This album.

Besides never passing up an opportunity to talk about riot grrrl, I also never pass up an opportunity to flex my knowledge of Halsey lore.

Fans know that the leading audio in “killing boys” comes from a deleted scene in Jennifer’s Body, which perfectly encapsulates bi gal rage at the men who wronged them.

You get this special brand of anger, like “How dare you do me wrong, when I don’t even like men that much to begin with anyway.”

And last but not least, it’s crucial that you listen to one of the greatest songs of my generation.

This emo anthem had just the right amount of melancholy outlook, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and sexy innuendos to pull its weight with film marketing — and make you down bad for Brendon Urie.

7. The Lost Boys (1987) + Heart

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I know some oldheads will take issue with the way that Gen Z makes everything gay, but isn’t everything a little gay? The only issue with “everything being gay” is if you think being gay is shameful or embarrassing.

I think true, deep, platonic love can exist between cis-het men and boys — in fact, I would love to see it.

But in the meantime, let’s call a spade a spade: There is something gay — specifically, homoerotic — about how the Lost Boys preen and prance, co-signing each other’s beauty, badassery, and masculine prowess.

By modern-day sigma male standards,³ there is probably something indeed f*ggoty about the sleek little gloves and dangly earrings and normalized eyeliner seen on men in the 80s.

But if loving smudged liner and sparkling jewelry on leather-clad men is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

On that note, I can’t help but think of anything more David-from-The-Lost-Boys-coded than this song about devilishly handsome man seducing you to your ruin.

I think Heart deserves to be heard on the back of a vampire’s motorcycle, but Substack will have to suffice for now.

8. M3GAN (2023) + Doechii, JT

M3GAN ☆ LETTERBOXD — IMDB ☆

9. M3GAN 2.0 (2025) + Chapell Roan

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I don’t know if the creators of M3GAN intended for the first film to be received as pure satire, but they’re such good sports for running with it.

No one believed me when I recalled how people laughed their ass off in the theater for M3GAN. It wasn’t the kind of nervous laughter that slips out in the haunted house, but the result of genuine delight.

And while Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon” is the soundtrack of the M3GAN 2.0 trailer, I know a song that would inspire an even more c*nt robot twerk session for M3GAN.

Um, protect the dolls, right?

Check out the QUEERING HORROR playlist, with even more tracks, here!

1. And if you loved this post, check out the Black horror round-up I wrote in February 2025 for Black History Month. Happy Pride, bb’s!

2. Shout-out to Syren and Hennessey, who put on one hell of a show in the D.C. drag scene.

3. If we’re going to talk about 80s depictions of masculinity being everything: I saw a man with a long, wavy undercut wearing sweatpants and a crop top, and I just about started barking. And if we’re going to talk crop tops and horror: Gifsets of Johnny Depp in a crop top in Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) did so much for the angsty gay Tumblrina that I was.