Shudder documentary series Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror has only four episodes to dig into everything it's title implies, so instead of a rapid-fire encyclopedia, it focuses on specific moments and trends in horror history. It is above the usual clip-show fare due toeccable editing and a variety of talking heads.
The fact that Bryan Fuller is one of the directors and executive producers of Queer for Fear is also elevating the series. The first episode of Queer for Fear explores the lives of some of gothic literature's most beloved creators, including Oscar Wilde, and it promises to be "queer horror".
Their influence continues into a discussion of the early Universal monsters movies, particularly the works of James Whale, who was as open about his queerness as a person could be in 1930s Hollywood. The Birds, Rope, Strangers on a Train, and Psycho are some of the films that are emphasized in the second episode. Oz Perkins, the son of horror director Anthony Perkins, offers his own recollections of what life was like for his father, who spent most of his Hollywood career in the closet.
Queer for Fear points out that some of the characters in films likeWhale Again are gay. The Old Dark House is a movie. When it looks at the queer subtext that is present in the horror genre, it is at its best. Because horror movies tend to be marginalized and not seen as serious cinema, they have more wiggle room to offer social commentary, something genre fans have appreciated for a long time. Back when the films were first released, long before Hollywood realized the importance of queer representation, and even when the portrayal of gay (or more often,coded-gay) characters wasn't flattering, the documentary's investigations into what that subtext means for viewers is particularly powerful. The examples of Queer for Fear are not rushed. In its section on the film, it looks at how the vampire's portrayals by Gary Oldman are often an extension of the book's fear of queer.
Mark Gatiss is one of the outstanding interviewees for Queer for Fear.
io9 only had a chance to show the first two episodes of Queer for Fear, but the remaining two will cover horror films from the mid-20th century to the AIDS-obsessed bloodletting of ‘80s vampire films. Even with its focused approach, it still feels like a lot to pack into two or three hours. Shudder might be able to make that happen.
The first episode of Queer for Fear will be on Shudder on September 30th.
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