Trick-or-Treating with the kiddies and a costume party at your favorite club aren’t the only ways to spend Halloween night. For some, a bucket of Orville Redenbacher’s finest and a good scary flick are all one needs to ring in this terror-filled holiday.
Whether you’re looking for a few good jump scares, something to mess with your head or maybe just a harmless family film, we have gathered up 10 Halloween films with LGBTQ characters and themes that will make sure your holiday night is anything but boo-ring.
Are you looking for campy horror this Halloween? Look no further than The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This 1975 musical cult classic, which parodies the B-horror films of early Hollywood, will have you dancing around your couch. Be sure to secure your snacks before you start doing the “Time Warp.”
If you are going to be home alone and want to keep your scares PG, check out the stop-motion film ParaNorman. Norman is a normal 11-year-old kid who just so happens to be able to communicate with the dead. This gift comes in handy when he and his friends must save their town from an evil curse. ParaNorman introduces the first openly gay character in a mainstream animated film, so it’s also a trend-setting flick.
Maybe you’re someone who likes a little romance with your night terrors. If so, cuddle up with your boo and watch Jack & Diane. Diane finds out that Jack—the girl she met over the summer—is moving away. Things take a turn to the dark side as Diane deals with her feelings for Jack all while something is growing inside her. Keep an eye out for gay-icon Kylie Minogue who has a small role.
You can’t have Halloween without a good monster movie, and the monsters don’t get any hotter than in Wes Craven’s Cursed, starring Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Potia de Rossi, Mya and Milo Ventimiglia. Ventimiglia plays a homophobic, closeted jock who loves being on the wrestling team a little too much.
If you want a great psychological thriller watch Black Swan. The scares stay with you long after the film is over, plus the sexual tension between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis makes this film as erotic as it is terrifying.
There may be lots of Scream Queens out there, but the queen of them all is Mark Patton’s Jesse in Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. As a Freddy Krueger film it sucks (Krueger only appears in it for 13 minutes) but as a homoerotic horror film, this sequel will always be number one.
For those looking for good old torture porn, Kevin Smith’s Red State is up your alley. The film revolves around a group of teens who encounter fundamentalist Christians. Smith modeled the group after the Westboro Baptist Church and what’s more terrifying than that!
A by-the-book slasher film may seem a bit tired, but don’t let that deter you from Hellbent, one of the first all-gay slasher films. When two guys in West Hollywood are killed on Halloween, a group of young gays decide to check it out. Jinkies! Lots of abs to see in this one.
Supernatural horror films are a good way to go, and while The Babadook isn’t necessarily an LGBTQ movie, thanks to a Netflix snafu the titular character is now an LGBTQ icon. And on the plus side, this is actually a great movie that deals with the most horrific of monsters, the ones we create ourselves.
You can’t have a horror film list without the undead, and there’s no tale of the undead with more lust and desire between its leads than Interview With The Vampire starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas. The will-they-or-won’t-they between these three is like having 10 seasons of Ross and Rachel on steroids.
