20 best LGBTQ+ horror movies and TV shows

The French film Stranger by the Lake is a tightly-woven thriller with more than a little bit of horror threaded into its story. Taking place at a remote lake that is a favorite cruising spot for gay men, it focuses on the dangerous relationship between Franck and Michel, one that becomes dangerous once Franck sees Michel drown his lover in the lake. A cat-and-mouse game of death and desire ensues, and the movie ends on an appropriately ambiguous note, leaving the viewer uncertain whether Franck will embrace the death that Michel seems to threaten. 

Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the Swedish version of Let the Right One In is a powerful story about the bond that forms between a human boy and a vampire. There’s definitely a very queer undercurrent to the film, as there is to the novel. Just as importantly, it’s the type of vampire movie that excavates surprisingly deep emotion through its child protagonists, making it easy to see why it received so much critical praise and remains a true classic of the vampire horror genre.

True Blood might have lost its way in the latter seasons, but during its heyday, it was good old-fashioned vampire fun. Blending elements of Southern Gothic, soap opera, and vampire horror, it often used its vampire creations as an allegory for LGBTQ+ rights in America. In addition to being helmed for much of its run by a gay man, it also featured several gay characters, including Denis O’Hare’s tremendously powerful Russell Edgington, one of the most compelling characters the show ever produced. 

Ryan Murphy continued his dominance of the horror TV space with American Horror Stories. Like its parent series, it tells self-contained stories, but in this case, they are presented in episodic installments rather than over a season. Unsurprisingly, the series also featured a number of LGBTQ+ stories and characters, along with Murphy’s signature camp sensibility. While not every single episode sticks the landing, the series is still a lot of fun to watch, and it demonstrates the extent to which Murphy is really the maestro of camp horror.

In addition to being a gruesome and compelling piece of true crime television storytelling, Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer–Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story borrows liberally from the horror storytelling tradition. Evan Peters is quite chilling as the title character, a serial killer who targeted young men during his killing spree. The series is a haunting reminder that not all famous figures in LGBTQ+ history are to be admired. Indeed, some are monsters, and the series never shies away from demonstrating the darkness in Dahmer’s soul.

Jennifer’s Body is, in some ways, the paradigmatic example of a cult classic, overcoming initial critical skepticism to gain regard for the extent to which it engages with feminist and queer ideas. In addition to grappling with the extent to which women’s bodies are often sacrificed on the altars of male ambition and providing a revenge narrative, Jennifer’s Body grapples with issues related to bisexuality. Both Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried are perfectly cast, and their on-screen chemistry helps to explain the movie’s enduring popularity.

First Kill might have only lasted one season on Netflix, but it immediately found a devoted fan base due to its unapologetically gay storyline. The central relationship in the series is the romance between vampire Juliette Fairmont and Calliope Burns, who is descended from a long line of monster hunters. It’s a show that is well worth watching, particularly since it is more than happy to wear its heart on its sleeve, and it definitely deserves more than the recognition it ultimately received. 

In 1994, Anne Rice’s beloved novel Interview with the Vampire  was adapted into a film of the same name, with Rice herself writing the screenplay. Though it downplayed the queerer elements of the story, there’s still palpable chemistry between leads Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, who play Rice’s beloved vampires Louis and Lestat. Even all these years later, the movie continues to have quite a few fans within the LGBTQ+ community, who see in Rice’s tortured and deeply melancholic vampires a reflection of some of the less kind elements of queer existence.

Mike Flanagan is arguably one of the most effective and prolific horror creators working today. He had an especially productive working relationship with Netflix. With The Haunting of Bly Manor, he managed to create a beautiful, haunting, and tragic story of sapphic desire and its hauntingly enduring power, drawing particular inspiration from Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. Like the very best horror, it manages to explore deeply human elements and remains one of Flanagan’s most achingly beautiful and sad TV offerings.

Anne Rice was arguably one of the most influential writers of vampire fiction, and her vampire creations continue to enchant. In the 2020s, they were given a new life in the AMC adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, with Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid stepping into the roles of Louis and Lestat. The series makes some changes to the original novel, but it stays true to its spirit and makes no secret of the fact that the two vampires are lovers, with all the desire and tragedy that entails.

Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story is a truly extraordinary piece of television, as its longevity reveals. It’s been a remarkably queer-friendly show from the beginning, often weaving LGBTQ+ stories and characters into its storylines. It certainly helps in this regard that creator Ryan Murphy has long been invested in ensuring that members of his community are represented. He often includes a certain kind of archness and camp in the show’s stories and aesthetic, which appeals to LGBTQ+ viewers and audiences.

Once seen, Titane is never forgotten. This is a movie, after all, that focuses on a woman who gets pregnant from an encounter with a car and commits several murders, after which she masquerades as a boy. It’s the kind of body horror that is designed to mess with the mind and to engender feelings of disgust and dismay, and this is precisely what makes it so thought-provoking and disturbing. Small wonder that it has proven to be particularly popular with LGBTQ+ viewers. 

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge has had a somewhat mixed legacy among fans of the franchise, particularly in comparison to the first movie. Even so, it remains beloved by members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly since the hero, Jesse Walsh, leads a double identity — with Freddy at times possessing him — that can easily be read as a being in the closest type of experience. The repressed is never very far from the surface, and so it makes sense that it has become something of a cult gay classic.

Ryan Murphy is arguably one of the most prolific creators working in Hollywood, and while Scream Queens  may not be one of his best TV efforts, it’s still entertaining. It skillfully blends various genres, drawing in elements of dark comedy and the slasher. In addition to the usual suspects in a Murphy production, including Emma Roberts and Lea Michele, it starred a number of other high-profile figures, including Glen Powell, Abigail Breslin, and Glen Powell (long before he became a household name). It featured more than a little of Murphy’s camp sensibility throughout, making one wish that it had gotten more than two seasons.

The original Cat People was released in 1942 and directed by the notable French director Jacques Tourneur. The heart of the story is the tragic figure of Irena Dubrovna, a young woman who is descended from a tribe of shapeshifting cat people. Dark, twisty, and richly atmospheric, the film holds up remarkably well. It’s also easy to see why it would have so much resonance with LGBTQ+ viewers, considering the extent to which it frames Irena’s secret identity as something that marks her out as different and that ultimately leads to her doom. 

Part of the reason that horror has long been so appealing to LGBTQ+ audiences is that it grapples with issues related to desire and hidden identities. Both of these are at play in the werewolf movie Ginger Snaps, which focuses on sisters Brigette and Ginger, the latter of whom turns into a werewolf right as she enters adolescence. Though only a moderate success when it came out, it has since become a true cult classic, engendering a great deal of commentary on how it engages with feminist and queer issues.

Released in 1983, The Hunger stars Catherine Deneuve as Miriam Blaylock, a beautiful but cold-hearted vampire who masquerades as a wealthy woman in New York City. The film is a gothic delight, and while the end does go more than a little off the rails, it’s still worth watching for how it depicts and engages with bisexuality in such a forthright manner. It skillfully blends together sexuality and violence, and it remains a true classic of the vampire horror genre.

The Uninvited is a perfect example of the extent to which classic Hollywood movies excelled at evoking the specter of queerness without ever saying it aloud. It hovers at the very borders of the movie, a constant reminder of the dangers and perils of desire. Though it might appear dated to some — it was released in the 1940s, after all — there’s still something beautiful and deliciously gothic about The Uninvited, which reveals so much about the way that queer desire haunted the classic Hollywood imagination.

As one might guess based on the title, Dracula’s Daughter is a sequel to the beloved 1931 film version of Dracula. In this case, the main character is his daughter, Marya Zaleska, who yearns to escape her vampire identity. There are many queer themes running throughout the story, and it remains beloved among many members of the LGBTQ+ community. Gloria Holden gives one of the best performances of her career, managing to capture just the right kind of patrician vampiric villainy.

Kevin Bacon gives a memorable and chilling performance in They/Them, in which he portrays the suave but terrifying leader of a conversion camp designed to convert LGBTQ+ teens. While it may follow the general script one expects of a slasher film like this one, the movie does effectively demonstrate just how terrifying conversion camps are for those who are sent to them. The fact that many cast members are part of the LGBTQ+ community makes the story even more impactful.