Disgust, discomfort or fear. Such was the plight of the queer.
Straight society sought to repress, suppress and punish transgression and so homosexuality into the Gothic horror was a natural progression.
Bryan Fuller’s entertaining series, QUEER FOR FEAR is a look at cinema through the queer lens, specifically the horror, mystery or suspense genre, and it’s an undiluted delight.
The first episode delves into the literary compost of not so garden variety Queer Gothic writers Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker, who were to invent invent the horror genre with masterpieces Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dracula. And when cinema arrives, queer director F.W. Murnau shocks the world with his queer-coded Nosferatu and Hollywood gets on the horror bandwagon and releases its legendary adaptation of Dracula.
Episode 2 of QUEER FOR FEAR begins with legendary gay director James Whale’s four classics for Universal that paved the way for all Hollywood horror movies after; Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, and The Bride of Frankenstein, then continues into the dark heart of Hitchcock’s canon of queer representation, working with gay writers like Daphne Du Maurier Patricia Highsmith.
A feast of film clips and high camp performance, QUEER FOR FEAR features interviews with series consultant Renée “Nay” Bever (“Attack of the Queerwolf” Podcast co-host), Mark Gatiss (Co-Creator, Writer & Actor, Sherlock and Dracula on BBC), Kimberly Peirce (Writer and Director, Boys Don’t Cry, Carrie (2013), Lea DeLaria (Actor, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (2000), Orange is the New Black), Jennifer Tilly (Actor, Child’s Play franchise), Karyn Kusama (Director, Jennifer’s Body, Yellowjackets), Leslye Headland (Creator, Russian Doll), Oz Perkins (Writer & Director, Gretel & Hansel) and drag diva, Alaska Thunderfuck..
QUEER FOR FEAR premieres Friday 30 September on Shudder and via the Shudder offering within the AMC+ bundle, followed by a new episode streaming every week.
AMC Networks’ Shudder is a premium streaming video service, super-serving members with the best selection in genre entertainment, covering horror, thrillers and the supernatural. Shudder’s expanding library of film, TV series, and originals is available on most streaming devices in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. For a 7-day, risk-free trial, visit www.shudder.com.