#it came from the closet: queer reflections on horror

[thealphabetbythem]

[professionalqueerbookworm]

Queer Reviews: Joe Vallese, "It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror".

Summary (from Goodreads): 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 original 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.

[cinnamonphile]

[kunoichi96]

Reading Recap: July

Summer seems to have skipped over Scotland this month. It has been cold and gloomy despite being in the middle of the season. The closest thing we have had to summer weather is gross, muggy days. Oh well, they say it is going to be a lot nicer next month. I doubt that, but a girl can dream.  On to the books! Bloodlust and Bonnets by Emily McGovern Lucy, a young debutante in 1820, is bored with…

[groovyarouraios]

you’ll definitely find him in the HQ 70s of the library looking mysterious asf (feat the book that’s been staring at me from my bookshelf for a hot while now

[makingqueerhistory]

Do you have any recommendations of books/ studies/ articles about the representation of queer people in media? Thank you for all the work you do!

Yes absolutely, I would be happy to share. Any discussion like this needs to mention The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies by Vito Russo. Making Queer History does have a set of articles about this as well, with Queen Christina, Queer Codes, and Queer Coding and Different from the Others.

Some more modern books that I can vouch for are:

The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me about (Desiring) Men

Manuel Betancourt

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror

Joe Vallese

Gays on Broadway

Ethan Mordden

Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture

Matt Baume

We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film

Tre'vell Anderson

(Affiliate links above)

This is just what I have read though, so other's are free to add on!

[yvain]

Megan Fox in knitted leg warmers and short-shorts, a puffy coat and red fishnets, a color guard uniform, an Evil Dead raglan tee and star-spangled underwear, a cropped hoodie and low-rise jeans, an Edwardian prom dress with long white opera gloves. A wet strand of hair drawn through her mouth. Swimming naked in a lake glassy with twilight. Blackening the tip of her tongue with a lighter. In hunger, wan and beautiful as a consumptive heroine. Levitating. Snarling. Doe eyes, full and glossed lips. Dropping onto a car like a wild cat. Projectile vomiting an unctuous, inky liquid onto her best friend. Teeth like a nurse shark. A distended, disarticulated jaw like a python. Jennifer’s body on a sacrificial altar, sobbing. Jennifer’s body moving eerily from a great distance; then too close, and from the wrong angle. Jennifer pulling a rod out of her shish-kebabbed torso, saying, through a mouth of blood, “Do you have a tampon?” Jennifer’s body underlining the politics of Jennifer’s Body; a sex symbol through a funhouse mirror. (The film’s execs thought she’d be a draw for teenage boys, but teenage boys hated it. They didn’t know they were coming to be eaten. Not like that.)

Carmen Maria Machado, “Both Ways,” in It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (ed. Joe Vallese)

[smokefalls]

Each of us is ultimately alone: a discrete little being with access only to our own senses and sensations, our own thoughts, and our own fragile body. Left to fumble for meaning in our constant pursuit of imperfect intimacies. We submit ourselves endlessly to that mortifying ordeal of knowing each other, just for the chance to be alone together. Language might be the best thing that we have to bring the void between ourselves, but it will never be enough.

Carrow Narby, "Indescribable" from It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror

[shesnake]

hi Deah do you have any film related books that you would recommend or ones that you personally have found interesting/taught you valuable info about understanding and or making movies appreciation and thanks in advance if you do have some ur open to sharing 😌

hello! I should really expand my reading but some titles I do like from my areas of interest:

In the Blink of An Eye (Walter Murch) - as an editor this is my bible it really breaks down everything I love about film personally and gives me lot of inspiration

Film Art: An Introduction (Bordwell & Thompson) - I had to read a most of this in the early years of my degree and if you don't know a lot whole lot about film it's genuinely very helpful learning cinematic techniques and languages. I think it's also really great at showing what it is that makes hollywood/western cinema work for mainstream audiences which, if you're serious about film, I think is very important to learn regardless of of how limited one might think that world is + they release new editions every couple of years to include up-to-date examples on newer movies

New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut (B. Ruby Rich) and also The Celluloid Closet (Vito Russo) - very obvious, but still very important to understanding lgbt cinema history and achievements. they're not the only books but they're the most accessible ones to start with.

Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film (Benshoff) - book on queer-coding in horror from the 90s which DEFS needs an update but I think is still good.

It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (Vallese) - got this as a gift and have unfortunately not read yet but I believe it IS the update for the above listed book I've been waiting for + the contributors are excellent

The Monstrous Feminine & The Return of the Monstress Feminine (Barbara Creed) - wish this was a bit more diverse but still makes great points about women in cinema

Slow Cinema (Tiago & Jorge) - collection of essays about 'slow cinema' and filmographies by directors like Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Tsai Ming-liang, Lav Diaz etc

Reality Hunger (David Shields) - not fully focused on film but a great manifesto and gives you good background if you're thinking of getting into experimental film/media

I also really love review compilation books by critics! The Great Movies by Roger Ebert taught me a lot when I was teenager (unpacks the filmbro canon VERY well) and also Jim Ridley collection People Only Die of Love In Movies

+ love when there are 'movie companion'/visual guide books of my favourite films. I especially love the one for treasure planet and also recently A Vast Pointless Gyration of Gas and Rocks Oh My GoD the full title is so long but it's for everything everywhere all at once.

also I read a lot of source material for book adaptation films because I like to one-up everything I watch + adaptation as an art form fascinates me seeing which parts of a narrative work and don't work between mediums, often giving me a greater appreciation for one or both.

some magazines/publications I like to check out every once in a while: Little white lies, metro magazine (australia), senses of cinema, cahiers du cinema, sight & sound, the film stage

[offsidetracked]

As we slowly lose our minds together in this ST drought, I wanna recommend this absolute gem of a book; It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror.

It's a beautiful anthology that mixes academic analysis with deeply personal anecdotes about queer existence and coming-of-age narratives. Bylers will enjoy this one.

[twinnedpeaks]

it’s DELAYED but it’s HERE:

my list of favourite and least favourite books i read this year as someone who reads a lot and works with books <3 mostly horror books since that’s my area, but other genres as well.

BEST:

thirteen storeys by jonathan sims - given how big a tma fan i am it didn’t surprise me that i loved this. but i have NOT shut up about it since. one of the horror books i rec most often at work. genuinely just so good. i love his brain so much. i wanna study it under a microscope.

interesting facts about space by emily austin - this book gave me an autistic lesbian with mommy issues in the best way possible. loved it so much. cannot wait for her new book.

a botanical daughter by noah medlock - i could have CRIED from how beautiful this book was. basically a frankenstein retelling with a tender, botanical, queer heart.

butter by asako yuzuki - i’m not usually a big crime/thriller reader, but this FLOORED me. read it coming home from a trip and i was so enraptured by the story and the dynamics. saw it won waterstones book of the year so! good for her.

brainwyrms by alison rumfitt - oohh miss rumfitt you’ve done it again …. such a viscerally brilliant and at times disgusting tale. i recced this to a regular at work and she messaged me saying ‘okay. what the fuck did you make me read’.

it came from the closet: queer reflections on horror - some of horror’s big queer artists talk about how they felt seen in horror media as lgbtq people!! so interesting. picked this up at gay’s the word in london.

a lonely broadcast by kel byron - this felt like reading a tma episode and that is a compliment. so unique and stunning. i want the next book now.

evocation by s t gibson - i’m rarely a fantasy girlie but BY GOD this ruled. tarot inspired magic system with a toxic polycule? from the author of a dowry of blood? sold.

monstrilio by gerardo samano cordova - i named this my favourite read of the year on ig for a REASON. holy fucking hell i still struggle to find words for this book. so full of grief and love and humanity.

bury your gays by chuck tingle - now THIS was fun as hell. gay slasher w some truly brilliant moments.

summer sons by lee mandelo - godddddd this. just. yeah.

compound fracture by andrew joseph white - genuinely one of the best modern horror writers out there, and this was no exception. managed to snag a signed first edition through work and i shall treasure it.

a sunny place for shady people by mariana enriquez - horror short stories!!!! loved all of them so much.

witchcraft for wayward girls by grady hendrix - i know hendrix is one of those authors you either love or hate BUT. i love his work, honestly. reminded me of ahs coven and the craft. i got an arc back in october and devoured it.

she’s always hungry by eliza clark - ah tapeworms my beloved <3 i will read everything clark writes forever.

perfume and pain by anna dorn - this was so messy and fun. truly what it’s like to attempt to be a writer while also being just a very messy kind of sad person.

evil in me by brom - i am a HUGE brom fan and this latest book was everything i could have wanted.

don’t let the forest in by cg drews - GOD YES I enjoyed this. reminiscent of summer suns or a horror version of the raven boys. loved loved it.

blackwater by michael mcdowell - how the HELL have i never read these???? southern gothic perfection. there are a couple books and i’ve read the first three and adored them.

WORST:

my throat an open grave by tori bovalino - when i heard it was a horror novel about fae loosely inspired by labyrinth i was so excited. it, however, fell SO flat and i was bored.

day one by abigail dean - only read this because i got it for free from work. it was not worth the money. reminded me why i don’t read crime novels.

we used to live here by marcus kliewer - ok it feels a little unfair to put this with the worst, because i DID have fun reading it. i was just wildly disappointed. i had so many people telling me it was the scariest book they had ever read, and it just felt a bit like a sad attempt at ripping off jordan peele’s us.

incidents around the house by josh malerman - honestly, same reasoning as above. just less fun and more boring.

let the right one in by john ajvide lindqvist - i’m sorry but the writing here was genuinely just so bad that i couldn’t focus on the story itself. great movie, bad writer.

dearest by jacquie walters - could not tell you what happened in this book. could not make myself care.

mean spirited by nick roberts - i’m sorry but this was just so fucking stupid i couldn’t take it seriously. you might love it if you’re really scared of dogs or communication.

[ravenqueensspecialboi]

Participating in @batmanisagatewaydrug’s 2025 book bingo! I’ve got some books that I’ll be finishing and adding by the end of the week (which I’ll list under a read more), but I figured I’d at least mark down my first square, “Read and make a recipe”!

My sister in law gave me the Stardew Valley cookbook for Christmas and I made the cheesy cauliflower recipe from it! I didn’t get a picture but man was it tasty, I’m definitely going to make it again!

Other books I will be planning on reading this year include:

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Literary Fiction)

Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty (Short story collection)

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Sequel) [Rereading as part of a Locked Tomb group read]

Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Reread a childhood favorite)

Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke (20th Century Speculative Fiction) [Rereading from a class I took in college]

A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher (Fantasy)

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (Published before 1950)

The Day of the Door by Laurel Hightower (Indie publisher)

Saga Omnibus volume 1 (Graphic novel, comic book, or manga) [Reread]

(Animal on the cover) still deciding

(Set in a country you’ve never visited) still deciding

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Science Fiction) [Reread]

Mistress of Bones by Maria Z. Medina (2025 debut author)

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (Memoir)

(Read a zine and make a zine) still deciding

It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (Essay collection)

I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane (2024 award winner)

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton (Nonfiction: learning something new)

The Will to Change by Bell Hooks (Social justice and activism)

Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch (Romance novel)

Leech by Hiron Ennes (Horror)

Blood and Gold by Anne Rice (Published in the aughts)

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Historical fiction)

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell (Bookseller/librarian rec)

[showmethesneer]

"Bisexuality itself is inherently resistant to heteronormative frameworks. Because gatekeeping is shortsighted and unbecoming. Because desire and understanding do not always go hand in hand. The project of identifying false or performative queerness is dead in the water. Do not trouble yourself to rescue it. Do not grieve at its graveside. Kiss someone. Fuck someone. Think about fucking someone while kissing someone else. Let sex be unknowable, warm, thrilling, funny, erotic, terrifying."

-"Both Ways" by Carmen Maria Machado from It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror edited by Joe Vallese

[kunoichi96]

Page Turner: June

I hope you have had a great pride month! I did, although I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to read. So this month, I ended up reading mostly manga and graphic novels. Just a friendly reminder, just because pride month is over doesn’t mean you should stop reading queer books. That should be a year-long thing. I have more queer books on my TBR that I picked up this month thanks to…

[makingqueerhistory]

Spooky Queer Books

Since spooky season is starting, I thought I would share a list of my favourite queer books that are great for this time of year.

Some of these links are affiliate links.

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror

Joe Vallese

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.

Into the Drowning Deep

Mira Grant

The ocean is home to many myths, But some are deadly... Seven years ago the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a mockumentary bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a tragedy. Now a new crew has been assembled. But this time they're not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life's work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost. Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

The Devouring Gray

C. L. Herman

After her sister's death, seventeen-year-old Violet Saunders finds herself dragged to Four Paths, New York. Violet may be a newcomer, but she soon learns her mother isn't: They belong to one of the revered founding families of the town, where stone bells hang above every doorway and danger lurks in the depths of the woods. Justin Hawthorne's bloodline has protected Four Paths for generations from the Gray--a lifeless dimension that imprisons a brutal monster. After Justin fails to inherit his family's powers, his mother is determined to keep this humiliation a secret. But Justin can't let go of the future he was promised and the town he swore to protect. Ever since Harper Carlisle lost her hand to an accident that left her stranded in the Gray for days, she has vowed revenge on the person who abandoned her: Justin Hawthorne. There are ripples of dissent in Four Paths, and Harper seizes an opportunity to take down the Hawthornes and change her destiny--to what extent, even she doesn't yet know. The Gray is growing stronger every day, and its victims are piling up. When Violet accidentally unleashes the monster, all three must band together with the other Founders to unearth the dark truths behind their families' abilities...before the Gray devours them all.

Tell Me I'm Worthless

Alison Rumfitt

Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, Alice's life has spiraled. She lives a haunted existence, selling videos of herself for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep. Memories of that night torment Alice, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, to go past the KEEP OUT sign and over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, Alice knows she must go. Together, Alice and Ila must face the horrors that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, whom the House has chosen to make its own. Cutting, disruptive, and darkly funny, Tell Me I'm Worthless is a vital work of trans fiction that examines the devastating effects of trauma and how fascism makes us destroy ourselves and each other.

[dabistits]

My Hero Academia ch. 392 | Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg | On Being a "Lesbian", Kakefuda Hiroko trans. Indiana Scarlet Brown | Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film, Harry M. Benshoff | Why be Happy When You Could be Normal?, Jeanette Winterson | Disobedience, Naomi Alderman | The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall | "A Working Definition of the Monstrous," Ryan Dzelzkalns in It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror | Notes of a Crocodile, Qiu Miaojin | "For Friendship, Perhaps," Revolutionary Girl Utena