It Came from the Closet

Through the lens of horror - from Halloween to Hereditary - queer and trans writers consider the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences.

Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes-such as the circumspect and resilient "final girl," body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet-spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world.

It Came from the Closet features twenty-five essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifer's Body, Jude Ellison S. Doyle on In My Skin, Addie Tsai on Dead Ringers, and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.

'A brilliant display of expert criticism, wry humor, and original thinking. This is full of surprises.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review

'A critical text on the intersections of film, queer studies, and pop culture that will appeal to both academic and public-library audiences.' - Booklist, starred review

'An essential look at how spooky movies so often offer solace through subversiveness.' - Electric Literature

'Unique and insightful.' - The Daily Dead

'A really terrific collection of essays by a great selection and variety of different authors - both fiction authors, poets, and essayists - about the intersection between queer studies and queer identity and horror movies.'-Gothamist

'An impressively diverse array of queer voices contributes their opinions on how and why particular horror movies made a personal and indelible impression on them.' - The Bay Area Reporter

'In this wonderful and only somewhat disturbing book (the subject is horror, after all), queer and trans writers explore the horror films that have shaped them and most reflected their own experiences. Horror, the anthology argues, while often full of misogyny and anti-trans, homophobic tropes, is also uniquely subversive and queer.' - Shondaland

'This book is perfect for exploring the queerness of horror through a kaleidoscopic lens.' - them.