These Are Our Favorite Gay Horror Projects of The Year
2022 was a great year for horror. Not only were there hits like Smile and Barbarian, but also instant classics like Ti West and Mia Goth's pair of campy slashers X and Pearl, and the indie romp Deadstream, and Shudder brought back the much lauded 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments docuseries.
It was also an exceptionally great year for queer horror. It was so great, we can't even mention all the abundance of great queer horror here. Some titles we loved but didn't make the list include the wonderfully campy M3gan trailer, Chucky season 2, AHS: NYC, Netflix's Dead End: Paranormal Park, and The Boulet Brothers' Dragula: Titans.
Here are our ten favorite queer dives into the horror genre from 2022.
RELATED | 13 Gay Horror Films & TV Shows to Stream This Halloween
1. We're All Going to the World's Fair
This indie horror feature that played at Sundance was one of our favorite surprises of the year. From trans filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, the movie follows a young teen as she takes the creepypasta-inspired online World's Fair Challenge. Anna Cobb is brilliant in the main role as a teen exploring identity and existence online.
2. Bodies Bodies Bodies
Amandla Stenberg starred as the queer outcast friend of a rich friend-group having a hurricane party played by a great cast that included Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, and Pete Davidson. With a whip quick script and a fun premise, Bodies Bodies Bodies brought the party to horror this year.
3. Sandman
We loved everything about Netflix's super-queer live action adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, but it was this handsome and terrifying nightmare that we couldn't stop watching. He's effortlessly charming and equally effortlessly intimidating. He's the perfect updated adaptation of the Sandman's darkest villain.
4. Interview With the Vampire
We finally got the fully gay version of Anne Rice's classic novel about one vampire seducing a young man and taking him under his devilish wing. These beautiful, bloody, and bad gays give us complicated queer leads to love in a genre we adore.
5. Yellowjackets
Queer actors Jasmin Savoy Brown and Liv Hewson play two queer teen soccer players trapped in the Canadian Rockies with their team in this survival horror drama. The actors playing the adult versions of the characters get their well-deserved praise, but the show's young actors are just as good, and just as scary.
6. Scream 5
After four movies full of queer vibes (and a queer screenwriter, Kevin Williamson), the Scream franchise finally gave us our first canonically queer protagonist in Jasmin Savoy Brown's Mindy Meeks-Martin. Just like her uncle Randy, she knows all about the tropes of the genre, meaning this gay wasn't buried, and she'll be back in 2023's Scream 6.
7. Nope
Jordan Peele's excellent Nope wasn't just one of our favorite movies of the year, it also featured a brilliant performance by out actress Keke Palmer as an over-confident, hustling lesbian reconnecting with her brother on the family farm when a UFO shows up. Palmer puts in one of the best performances of the year as one of the coolest lesbian action stars on the big screen.
8. Los Espookys
This comedy series about a group of friends who are obsessed with horror and bring things like ghosts and aliens to life was one of the best things on TV in 2022. Unfortunately, it was canceled after two seasons, but we'll keep rewatching those seasons over and over again. Come for characters like Bibi's, Oliver Twix, and the Moon, stay for the genius of Julio Torres, Ana Fabrega and company.
9. Queer for Fear
This docuseries on Shudder produced by Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller gave us the queer-focused history of horror movies that we've been waiting for. Going all the way back to Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein and Bram Stoker writing Dracula, the series features talking heads including journalists, actors, and filmmakers discussing all the ways queer people have revolutionized and created the genre.
10. What We Do in the Shadows
This horror comedy series continues to be one of the best shows of any genre. WWDITS knows how to make all of horror's best tropes and topics and make them some of the funniest scenes on TV. Having one of the best casts on TV doesn't hurt either.
