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.
'A brilliant display of expert criticism, wry humor, and original thinking. This is full of surprises.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review
'A critical text on the intersections of film, queer studies, and pop culture that will appeal to both academic and public-library audiences.' - Booklist, starred review
'An essential look at how spooky movies so often offer solace through subversiveness.' - Electric Literature
'Unique and insightful.' - The Daily Dead
'A really terrific collection of essays by a great selection and variety of different authors - both fiction authors, poets, and essayists - about the intersection between queer studies and queer identity and horror movies.'-Gothamist
'An impressively diverse array of queer voices contributes their opinions on how and why particular horror movies made a personal and indelible impression on them.' - The Bay Area Reporter
'In this wonderful and only somewhat disturbing book (the subject is horror, after all), queer and trans writers explore the horror films that have shaped them and most reflected their own experiences. Horror, the anthology argues, while often full of misogyny and anti-trans, homophobic tropes, is also uniquely subversive and queer.' - Shondaland
'This book is perfect for exploring the queerness of horror through a kaleidoscopic lens.' - them.
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION
PART I: AN EXCELLENT DAY FOR AN EXORCISM
“A Demon-Girl’s Guide to Life” by S. Trimble (on The Exorcist)
“Both Ways” by Carmen Maria Machado (on Jennifer’s Body)
“My Hand on the Glass” by August Owens Grimm (on Hereditary)
“The Girl, The Well, The Ring” by Zefyr Lisowski (on The Ring and Pet Sematary)
“Imprint” by Joe Vallese (on Grace)
PART II: MONSTER MASH
“Indescribable” by Carrow Narby (on The Blob)
“A Working Definition of the Monstrous” by Ryan Dzelzkalns (on Godzilla)
“The Wolf in the Room” by Prince Shakur (on Good Manners)
“Three Men on a Boat” by Jen Corrigan (on Jaws)
“The Wolf Man’s Daughter” by Tosha R. Taylor (on The Wolf Man)
PART III: FATAL ATTRACTIONS
“Twin/Skin” by Addie Tsai (on Dead Ringers)
“Loving Annie Hayworth” by Laura Maw (on The Birds)
“The Same Kind of Monster” by Jonathan Robbins Leon (on The Leech Woman)
“Centered and Seen” by Sumiko Saulson (on Candyman)
“Blood, Actually” by Grant Sutton (on Friday the 13th, part II)
PART IV: WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T FALL ASLEEP
“The Trail of His Flames” by Tucker Lieberman (on The Nightmare on Elm Street)
“The Me in the Screen” by Steffan Triplett (on Us)
“Sight Unseen” by Spencer Williams (on The Blair Witch Project)
“Bad Hombre” by Sarah Fonseca (on Eres tú, papa?)
“Black Body Snatchers” by Samuel Autman (on Get Out)
PART V: FINAL CUTS
“Long Nights in the Dark” by Richard Scott Larson (on Halloween)
“On Beauty and Necrosis” by Sachiko Ragosta (on Eyes Without a Face)
“Good Guys, Dolls” by Will Stockton (on Child’s Play)
“The Healed Body” by Jude Ellison S. Doyle (on In My Skin)
“Notes on Sleepaway Camp” by Viet Dinh (on Sleepaway Camp)
