Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

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

13 reviews

judassilver's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Ableism, Biphobia, Self harm, Outing, Transphobia, Body horror, Violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria

Minor: Deadnaming, Racism, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Pedophilia

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. 

---

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

jayisreading's review

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

The affinity that a number of queer people have with the monstrous is one that is explored in depth in this essay collection. I was invested in what each contributor had to say about their thoughts on their queer identity in relation to a horror film of their choice, which ranged from classic slashers to non-US horror films. Furthermore, this is an incredibly diverse collection of essays, not only in terms of how queerness is defined, but many of these authors also consider their race and/or disability. The contributors’ respective reflections really revealed the complexities of how the monster has been defined by culture and society, some taking a more academic tone when discussing this, while others had a more conversational tone.

Like any edited collection, I found some essays stronger than others. Overall, though, I’d say that it’s rather difficult to call any of them weak. Well worth picking up if you’re interested in horror (and a number of these essays don’t shy away from it, fair warning) and queerness. Relatedly, I recommend picking up Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry edited by David Ly and Daniel Zomparelli, if you’re looking for more queer monstrosity.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Ableism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Biphobia, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcoholism, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, and Suicide

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

4.0

Me 🤝🏻 lgbt+ authors

---

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. 

---

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

thegayestghost's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

---

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

amaranth_wytch's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

---

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

savvylit's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

As a horror film enjoyer, I really appreciated the analyses in this collection. The writers helped me to recognize the specific appeal of a horror film for someone who, like me, is anxious and constantly thinks about mortality. As Grant Sutton says in his essay on Friday the 13th Part 2, "Slasher films gave me a way to order the violence and death that occupied most of my attention." Sutton grew up during the AIDS crisis and spent his days assuming it was a matter of time before he succumbed to the disease. Needing the order of a horror film (or story) is something that I felt to my core, even if my anxiety is rooted in a different place than Sutton's.

Another theme that ran through these essays is the idea that when a queer person is villainized in horror, it's a reflection of the Othering occurring in our culture at large. I stopped in my tracks during Zefyr Lisowski's essay on ableism and The Ring when she said, "If there isn't a supremacist culture to view things through, does monstrosity even exist?" Though the version of ourselves that we see reflected on the screen is monstrous, it still feels important to have ourselves portrayed and our rage be recognized.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, Homophobia, Violence, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Racism

taelights's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

While I did like some of the essays in this book and found some of the topics in it fascinating, this wasn't what I expected. I pictured more of a focus on horror through a queer eye and why the authors believe certain horror movies portray queer experiences. While some of the essays focused on this I found a lot of the essays were mainly focused on the writer's personal lives with some vague connections back to the horror movies. I did enjoy this a bit but wouldn't really recommend it because of some weak essays and a lot of them being more just memoirs than queer looks at horror. 

My favorite essays (in order of book) were:

- The Girl, the Well, the Ring 

- Imprint 

- The Wolf Man's Daughter 

- Loving Annie Hayworth 

- Blood, Actually 

- Sight Unseen 

- Bad Hombre 

- Black Body Snatchers 

- Long Nights in the Dark 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Biphobia, Blood, Homophobia, Medical content, Chronic illness, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Gore, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Ableism, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

mallory10100's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Deportation, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Pedophilia, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Gore, Sexual content, Body horror, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis