Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese

21 reviews

itstheesilvie's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

If you’re gay and a fan of analyzing films, this book is perfect. Bringing multiple queer, trans, and POC perspectives “it came from the closet” reviews and dissects at least one (if not all) of your favorite horror/thriller films. 

Most importantly it allowed me as a reader to connect with each essay. Feeling heard and seen for finding comfort, entertainment, representation and inspiration in the genre is prominent in these essays. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Death, Grief, Blood, Cannibalism, Addiction, Outing, Alcohol, Body horror, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Murder

emzhay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Ableism, Child abuse, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Pregnancy, Gore, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, and Biphobia

Minor: Sexual assault

obscurepages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

Can you believe I've been reading this for 7 months?! 😭😂 This started out as a Libby loan for me, and now I have a physical copy! And I've finally finished it!!

This book was so good 😭 I love watching horror, reading horror stories. I think as a genre, horror is so flexible and versatile and transcendent. 

This anthology does an amazing job of showing just how versatile and profound horror movies can be, especially when viewed in a queer lens. Reading this, I think I gained a better understanding of how horror functions and what it can serve to the viewers. I learned about gender and sexuality from personal accounts and stories from the authors. I also learned how gender, sexuality, race, religion, and geographic locations can intersect and how that unique experience can be shown in a genre like horror. And as a queer person, reading this book also gave me more insights about the relationship that the queer community has with horror—why we relate to it, why it gives a safe place, how we can shape it to tell our stories. I loved it and it just reinforced to me how horror is such an excellent genre.

There were a few of essays that seemed dull/drawling, but there were also some that were so well-written and poignant. Some essays that stood out for me are:

• Three Men on a Boat by JEN CORRIGAN (Jaws)
• The Me in the Screen by STEFFAN TRIPLETT (Us)
• Black Body Snatchers by SAMUEL AUTMAN (Get Out)
• The Healed Body by JUDE ELLISON S. DOYLE (In My Skin)

I also just wish every essay came with specific content warnings. Some of these can be really triggering. It's also why I had to stop every now and then because some essays are harder to digest and process compared to others.

Still, this was an excellent read overall. I can see myself going back to specific essays and reading them all over again.

Exact rating: 4.5 ⭐️ (Might post a detailed review on the blog!)

Find me elsewhere: <a href="http://www.instagram.com/obscure.pages/">Instagram</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/lxndrnae">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://enthralledbookworm.wordpress.com/">Blog</a>

Marking this book as part of my reading challenge: <a href="https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/fcf9e7dc-39a5-49e2-9f7d-a243f5073985">#ReadQueerly2024</a>.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Death, Blood, Racism, Transphobia, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Gore

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

4.0

Me 🤝🏻 lgbt+ authors

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Biphobia, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Transphobia, Pedophilia, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Death, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Cultural appropriation

These are all minor and mentioned more in passing, I can only remember one going into more detail than I would have liked. Protect your heart when reading. 🫶🏻

megnut's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

These essays make me want to reread and watch these films to connect what the writers said about each one and ask myself what I see. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Sexism, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Body horror, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Transphobia, Biphobia, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Ableism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

cassmensah5's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.75

I LOVED this collection. The authors told such vulnerable stories about their identities and expertly connected them to plots from some of my favorite movies. Some of these essays will stick with me for a long time. This book was so close to being an all time fav,  but the essay, “child’s play” made me deeply uncomfortable. I obviously don’t have all the context, but I couldn’t help but wonder as I read it how the author’s adopted child felt about the essay. At one point the author jokes that their child may be possessed like the character from The Exorcist. The comparison felt inherently dehumanizing and not nuanced. Overall, the collection is amazing and I hope more books commenting on the horror genre get made in the near future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Transphobia, Ableism, and Racism

thegayestghost's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Biphobia, Death, Grief, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Infertility, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Child death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

aus10england's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Homophobia

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Body horror

amaranth_wytch's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Death of parent, Gore, Addiction, Bullying, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Classism, Death, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Transphobia

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Transphobia, Ableism, Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual assault