Unspeakable Horror!

After over two years of blogging at Unspeakable Horror, I wanted to revisit the original focus for the website, Gay Horror, and the definition of this strange and ever-evolving subgenre. Recently, I decided to start using the term "gay horror" instead of "queer horror" because I like the built in paradox between gay/horror, which is a play on the word "gay" as "happy."  One of the things I love about Gay Horror is the extra layer of "lurid" on top of the already lurid horror genre. 

So there is a lot happening in the world of Gay Horror right now with the recent press release about a 10-film deal between David DeCouteau and Regent Entertainment's HereTV!  In addition, the buzz is growing about the new Cthulu movie featuring gay characters and Tori Spelling.  I'm very excited to see this movie (mostly, I have to admit, because it sounds like it might actually be a good Lovecraft, which is incredibly rare), and the fact that it features a gay protagonist is an extra bonus. 

I see Gay Horror as a multifaceted subgenre.  Here are the facets as I see them:

Horror stories with gay characters.  This is the easy definition: Gay Horror is horror stories with gay characters, but most especially gay heroes or protagonists, as opposed to minor gay characters that get killed in the first act.  Whether you're talking about films or fiction, this is most often targeted to a gay audience.  On a deeper level, this kind of Gay Horror often includes themes related to the anxieties of gay life.  For example, motifs centering around infection that reflect HIV anxieties.  Of course there are many more anxieties in gay life: issues of alienation as well as assimilation, and of course the fear of hate crimes as well as internalized homophobia. 

Closet Horror!  This kind of Gay Horror is prevalent in the past when strict production codes censored filmmakers and comic book creators.  With this kind of Gay Horror, the "gayness" is often a subtext or an implicit element in the story.  The audience might or might not know how to read the gay codes, so it might get past censors.  Also, homophobic society in general serves as a repressive force, so gay subtext often exists when artisits don't feel they can express openly whether that is due to a specific censorship code or general societal prejudice.  And there is also the theory that the subconscious mind slips things into creative works without the creator's knowledge.  In that case, the conscious mind is the censor, and the gay subtext is present whether the writer believes it's there or not. 

Camp.  Glorious camp!  Although difficult to define precisely, I'll give it a try: horror stories that are so over-the-top in some way that they become ridiculous, sometimes spectacular.  This kind of spectacle might intentionally include gay subtext, or it might be spectacularly bad in such a way that it appeals to a gay viewing audience.  How is that for camp in a nutshell?  Sometimes camp is on purpose, sometimes it is sheer serendiptiy, resulting from a combination of factors that make something spectacularly bad or just spectacular. 

Queer Reading.  There are a number of varieties of queer reading as well.  This might involve examining a story in order to unearth a gay subtext, or exploring how a portrayal or depiction follows homophobic stereotypes in society.  A few examples: an analysis of gay portrayals in slasher movies, or gay motifs in contemporary vampire fiction, or maybe even exploring how openly gay horror writers change the genre to suit a specific gay audience.  And it goes on from there...

Basically, all of this provides a lot to blog about. 

Is there anything inherently gay about the horror genre?  I have to say, I think there is...kind of.  Basically, I believe that horror stories spring out of anxieties about our lives, and they also spring out of anxieties that we repress, just like dreams.  So, in a homophobic society, anything related to gay desire or gay identity is frequently and consistently repressed, also known as The Closet!  I think that The Closet has introduced a wealth of horror stories into our world across time, right up to the present.

That is my general standpoint on the definition of gay horror, which might deviate slightly from other things I've written on this blog in the past.  It is an evolving definition, after all.  But I think the best way to understand gay horror is with specific examples, which is hopefully what I provide when I write about things on this blog!