Van Johnson: Lady Killer

Published February 14, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

He was Hollywood’s fresh faced hero, but Van Johnson caused more than certain pigtailed viewers’ hearts to flutter. The characters he played could also be very dangerous to the opposite sex,

Even the man-breaking Elizabeth Taylor suffered, cinematically, under his boyish spell.

Sparingly adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Babylon Revisited, 1954’s The Last Time I Saw Paris found Johnson’s Charles Wills initially dating Donna Reed’s elegant yet doting Marion. But with one look at Taylor’s spoiled Helen, Marion’s younger sister, Johnson/Charles is smitten and Marion is quickly a mere footnote in his life. The tempestuous relationship between Charles and Helen soon produces a child…and mountains of heartache.

That destructive energy reaches its zenith, one rainy night, when the combative, overly emotional Helen is caught in a downpour after a battle with her disapproving spouse. Her deathbed gasps change Charles’ life forever.

Johnson lost another celluloid paramour due to excessively stormy weather in the three hankie Miracle in the Rain, released two years after Paris.

Here it is Jane Wyman’s shy, inexperienced Ruth who falls under the spell of G.I. Arthur, whom Johnson plays with a worldly sense of charm.

Wyman’s character here is the exact opposite of Taylor’s, but Arthur proves to be quite the lady killer with her, as well, if only by accident.

After a tender courtship, Ruth is misinformed that Arthur has died overseas. Distraught and depressed, she exposes herself to the elements. Thus, pneumonia ridden and nearly delirious, she perishes in his arms as he reaches her just in time for her final collapse.

The moral of these stories?!? Avoid those charmers, ladies and gents!

Johnson’s Horror Express:

As with many Golden Age greats before him, Johnson appeared in a couple Euro Horror efforts in the latter days of his career: 1982’s The Scorpion with Two Tails and 1989’s beast in the wild entry, Killer Crocodile.

Va-Va-Villainess: Ruth Hussey

Published February 7, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

Elegantly sympathetic in the classic ghost mystery The Uninvited (1940), actress Ruth Hussey also scored as the spunky photographer Elizabeth in 1940’s The Philadelphia Story.

Proving her worth as a performer, Hussey could also bring a little nasty energy to her celluloid projects. Nicely, in Maisie (1939), the first chapter in Ann Sothern’s long running comedy series, Hussey disguises her character’s sinister goals with a rich sense of sophisticated privilege.

There, as the well-to-do Sybil Ames, she not only carries out a lurid affair behind her doting husband’s back, but she also enacts a plot that finds Robert Young’s kind ranch supervisor on trial for a crime that he didn’t commit.

Luckily, Sothern’s street smart Maisie figures out the vile plot and comes to the kind gentleman’s rescue just in the nick of time.

Thus, especially for connoisseurs of cinema gold, the most enjoyable aspect of this old school romp is watching Sothern match her rascally earthiness against Hussey’s highbrow vengefulness.

A better matched duo is rare to find.

While The Uninvited is definitely Hussey’s best known genre credit, she also joyfully emoted in Mink, a first season episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. While this tale from the Master of Suspense is a lighter hearted one, Hussey still works with a fine duality, allowing audiences to question whether she is aware of the criminality behind a piece of recently purchased apparel or not.

Castle Fairy: A Quick Visit with 1313: Frankenqueen

Published December 29, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

“Ah, you’re going to be a lot of useless data, aren’t you?” – Victoria Franks, 1313: Frankenqueen

As a companion to my Netflix viewing of Guillermo del Toro’s larger than life version of Frankenstein, I also indulged in another Mary Shelley inspired opus, David DeCoteau’s 1313: Frankenqueen (2012). Like del Toro, DeCoteau definitely has his own style and he also worships at the altar of a really good set piece. Of course, DeCoteau’s props are all human, involving the forms of very smooth and cleanly muscular jock-types.

Here a bevy of those prototypes are recruited as weekend lab rats for Victoria Franks (Helene Udy), a brilliant plastic surgeon. Udy (My Bloody Valentine, The Dead Zone) is obviously having a blast in the titular role, both pithily analyzing and enthusiastically dispatching her charges. In fact, it is hard to determine what is more painful for the young men in her employ, the rigorous work-outs that their host puts them through or the barbed retorts that she frequently delivers about their intellect and worthiness for her program.

Otherwise, as expected from a DeCoteau feature, there are long sequences of the male cast wandering, in perfectly shaven fugues, throughout Franks’ mansion. Since his first male erotica opus, Voodoo Academy in 2000, these dream sequences have been a staple in his films. One could even argue that they put DeCoteau in the auteur league as they are so infused with his creative identity.

His frequent themes of revenge and underdog upmanship are also in full force here.

Industriously, these simple plot points and a single location, along with a rotating cast of female genre performers & toned studs, created an celluloid empire, with close to 30 films done with the same stylistic precepts.

Of course, while there is nary a bare male buttock in sight, one must admire the art of the fluff on display in these titles. With almost academic precision, the performers arrange their pouched jewels, allowing for a lasting impression that the scenarios themselves don’t always achieve.

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Review: Switch Killer

Published December 21, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

The editors of Queer Horror: A Film Guide had a herculean task and a couple reviews were accidentally double dipped. Two of us involved with the project covered 2005’s controversial Switch Killer. Here’s my (previously unpublished) take:

Switch Killer (2005)

Writer: Mack Hail, Jim Mills

Director: Mack Hail

Cast: Cara Jo Basso, Bishop Mann, Monique Chachere, Alix Agar, Susan Blonsky

Escaping her abusive fiancée by becoming a stripper in Las Vegas seems the perfect solution for Jamie (Basso) at first. Not only is the money good, but she has moved in with her ailing grandmother (Blonsky), who offers familial support. She has also begun a seemingly healthy relationship with Brooke (Chachere), a fellow performer. But unbeknownst to her, Brooke has been sleeping with other women from the get-go. Even worse, Bobby (Mann) her nasty ex, has taken his efforts to make some improvements in his life to a whole new level. After undergoing a sex change in order to win back Jamie’s heart, s/he tracks her down and begins slaughtering anyone that s/he perceives as a threat to their future happiness.

In a film conceived purely to titillate, director-writer Hail pulls out the stops with plenty of nudity, girl on girl action and bloodshed. From the film’s original title (Transamerican Killer) to scenes in which women are slaughtered while giving lap dances and one gentleman is murdered in bed while in the process of de-virginizing the recently transitioned Bobby, this piece of cavity causing celluloid is completely politically incorrect. Exploitation fans who enjoy the genre for its go for broke, juvenile hijinks will find much to admire here. Feminists of all varieties and members of the transgender community meanwhile are sure to be universally disturbed.

Granted, Switch Killer probably wouldn’t be given a distribution deal now, some 15 years after its genesis. It’s just too thoughtless. One truly hopes we now live in age when filmmakers can embrace outrageousness in celluloid without insulting marginalized communities – particularly ones who are more likely to be the victims of violence as opposed to being the perpetrators of it. – BK

Looking for something to do with all that extra holiday cash, by the way? I’ve heard that Queer Horror: A Film Guide looks great on every bookcase – no matter the size of the shelf!

http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/product/queer-horror/

Review: Resurrection

Published December 14, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

While the character of John Harper in Resurrection (1980) sternly resides in a small country town, he has little in common with portrayer Roberts Blossom’s best-known role, Ezra Cobb. In 1972’s Deranged, Cobb, is a backwoods denizen of a different sort – , a fan favorite psycho, based on serial killer Ed Gein. There, Gein’s exploits are proffered up in bloody, documentary-style detail, efficiently essayed by a wild-eyed yet blisteringly natural Blossom.

In contrast, Harper, while cold, is extremely pious and soft spoken, a direct opposite of Cobb. Indeed, Blossom most excels here in the moment when Harper’s long gestating rigidness dissolves into tear stained joy, proving the true versatility of this distinguished poet and performer.

Interestingly, this film, revolving around a woman named Edna (Ellen Burstyn), who discovers she has healing abilities after a near death experience, features multiple performers, such as Blossom, who are known for their genre credits.

Most significantly, Burstyn was nominated for an Academy Award for her committed performance in the now classic The Exorcist. As she, powerfully, finds the nuances of Edna’s transformation from a crippled accident victim to peaceful wonder-maker, she was also, rightfully, nominated for her work here.

Meanwhile, among the story’s relatives and friends, Madeline Sherwood and Lois Smith both give effective characterizations. Sherwood, a distinguished Broadway performer, had significant roles in such projects as The Changeling, often referred to as the most effective ghost story of all time, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Haunted By Her Past (previously covered here). Smith, also acclaimed for her stage work, appeared in the killer child flick Twisted and essayed one of her most recognizable roles, Adele Stackhouse in True Blood, decades after her appearance here.

As Edna’s powers are never truly explained, there is a mysterious, almost science fiction essence working, plotline-wise here, as well. Interestingly, scenes in which Edna is examined in a series of college labs, definitely have a kinship to the sequences in which Regan (Linda Blair) is experimented on in Exorcist II: The Heretic, a film Burstyn seemingly made a decided effort not to be involved in.

Thus, if one is in the mood for something quiet and mystical or even just looking for a break from overwrought bloodshed, this might definitely be a movie well worth seeking out.

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Strange and Unusual: Ethel Griffies in Castle in the Dark

Published December 6, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

As Madame Saturnia in the murder-mystery Castle in the Desert, the distinguished Ethel Griffies definitely steals the show. The last Charlie Chan film produced by 20th Century Fox Studios, this adventure finds Chan (then Sidney Toler) investigating a poisoning at the titular establishment. Beckoned there by a note that no one claims to have written, Chan is soon joined by his overeager son (Sen Yung) and Saturnia.

While Griffies, as previously reported here, has such projects as The Birds and Stranger on the Third Floor on her resume, Saturnia is probably her most horror-ready role. In commune with the supernatural elements, she spends the majority of the picture popping around a ruinous basement facility. Seemingly completely off kilter, she actually accurately predicts what is about to happen as every shady plot twist comes to life.

Giving fully into the wily witchery of the role, the actress is a perfect foil for Toler and one wishes that these two characters had been brought together more often.

Nicely, while Griffies had often played up the archness of her persona in other projects, here she is all heroine – although a perfectly strange and completely unusual one.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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The Backside of Horror: I Know What You Did Last Summer

Published November 30, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

The bathroom mash-up between Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) and Tyler (Gabbriette Bechtel) at the beginning of the flash forward portion of the recent I Know What You Did Last Summer sent me for a loop. I, like so many of us, am overwhelmingly trained to indulge in the straight narrative in film. Thus, I took it for granted that Ava was bound for a reunion with Milo (Jonah Hauer-King), her former sweetheart who had been introduced in the film’s starting moments.

It took me a moment to reorient my thinking and come to the conclusion that Ava was either fluid or bisexual, while simultaneously realizing that this particular series is one of the most diverse and inclusive slasher empires to ever exist.

That the current sequel was helmed and co-written by a powerful woman, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, probably has something to do with this incredibly welcoming spectrum.

Indeed, the 2021 IKWYDLS series, also created by another woman, Sara Goodman, began this creative product’s veer towards LGBTQIA friendliness. Besides Sebastian Amurusa’s gay best friend Johnny, the cast of characters there also included the very bisexual Alison/Lennon (Madison Iseman) and Margot (Brianne Tju).

While Iseman and Tju shared a true chemistry and several hot, intimate encounters, Iseman’s character also shared a passionate moment with Ezekiel Goodman’s Dylan. Dylan, who ultimately proved himself to be as emotionally chaotic and potentially dangerous as the rest of the participants in this take, very nakedly shared real feelings for Alison/Lennon.

In keeping with this vulnerability, Goodman’s buttocks ridden exposure here truly seemed to match the bared emotions of the person he was portraying. Socially, his brave mechanics also provided a little masculine exposure in a genre that often capitalizes on female flesh, adding a nice sense of celluloid equilibrium, as well.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Flashback Interview: Debbie Gibson

Published November 8, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

Often as a journalist, particularly with online pieces, you discover that your writing has been archived or has vanished completely. Thus, I thought it might be fun to, occasionally, revisit some of my favorite work that was done for other publications. The below interview with the iconic Debbie Gibson was conducted for the Horror Society site in 2009. As the fall of 2025 saw the release of her truly inspiring memoir Eternally Electric, now seems the perfect time to revisit this sparkly blast from the past. First released in conjunction with this maverick singer-songwriter’s leading role in the initial Mega Shark film for the Asylum/Sy Fy Network, it is a joy to discover how present and exciting this quick interview still seems.

There are probably few people as unique as Debbie Gibson. As a teen, she wrote, composed and produced a wide range of top charting, unforgettable pop hits. Then refusing to accept the teeny bopping princess pigeonhole of a one faced music industry, Gibson slowly began to conquer the theatrical stage with a series of compelling appearances in popular Broadway shows and touring companies. Now, combining all of the above activities with her social activism (with particular concern given toward the security of female youth) and movie appearances (including roles in the horror-comedy Soulkeeper and in the deliriously fun sci-fi scare epic Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus), Gibson is entering a new era of entertaining with a renewed enthusiasm and a grand sense of humor. Thankfully, Gibson recently took time out of her busy schedule to answer some electric questions for Horror Society. Rest assured that once you’re through reading, it is bloody well guaranteed that just like everyone else who encounters her, you’ll never be able to shake your love for the grand and ever eclectic Debbie Gibson!

Brian: Who were your first performance influences – Barbra Streisand commanding that there be no rain – David Bowie showing off his blue jeans – A trumpet playing, tap dancing aunt?

Debbie: Babs for sure! Hello gorgeous!

Brian: Back at you! LOL! -One of the things that I am really curious about deals with performance. As an actress do you approach a song the same way as you do a role – i.e. create a character – or do different things apply due to the circumstance-at-hand?

Debbie: Great question! Sometimes I’m naturally going through something in my life that applies and emotions just flow. Other times, I get into character. It’s easier when I’m performing a theater role I’ve done 8 times a week because it’s like sense memory – I hear the intro and I’m back in the character’s shoes so to speak!

Brian: Naturally! – Having conquered so many different show business avenues, is there a type of character that you prefer to play – the waif, the strong determined ingénue, the woman of the world who can ultimately save the world from fang-hungry disaster?

Debbie: My fave was Sally in Cabaret! I love her for her bravery and for the fact that she is totally unapologetic. She is who she is and has no edit button, no filter. The common thread between all characters I love to play is spirit and spunk. Everyone from Belle to Éponine to Rizzo to Velma had sassiness!

Brian: Very true. – What has surprised you as being relatively easy to achieve in your career and what was something that took you aback because it was much more difficult than anticipated?

Debbie: The “transition” into theater came naturally to me. It wasn’t “easy” but, it was effortless in the sense that it was a part of my history. What I didn’t anticipate as being difficult is the politics of the music biz. For instance, after “Summertime”, New Kids had no radio hits off their current album. And, there are 4 other smashes on it…..but, radio play can be next to impossible. This has always surprised me – that the music being great is not always why a song gets played. And, the flip side – there’s plenty of mediocre music on the radio!

Brian: Don’t we know it! – Now onto the horror! When performing in Soulkeeper did you find yourself longing to branch out and play one of the nasty beasties as opposed to just playing yourself? Or did your enjoyably humorous take on yourself qualify as fun enough for you?

Debbie: That was fun enough! I love doing tongue in cheek kitschy stuff where I get to mock my own image!

Brian: You do have a great sense of humor! Having done several films, is there one on-set experience that stands out in your mind as being unique and special?

Debbie: Working with Dom DeLuise in what was once called Wedding Band. He was genius.

Brian: Love him! He was so funny in Haunted Honeymoon! – How did you approach your role in Mega Shark? Did you spend a lot of time trying to get under the skin of your character or did you just decide to go for a very natural and honest approach without a lot of background work. (Both very legitimate options.)

Debbie: There was no time for background work! I got less than a week’s notice so; I just put tongue firmly in cheek and had fun!

Brian: Well, I think you did a great job! – What was the most unusual and/or enjoyable part of your time on the Mega Shark set?

Debbie: Working without ever seeing so much as a picture of the shark! Just reacting to nothing!

Brian: That’s definitely a tough one! – Now, do you find any fears you might have had of colossal bridge chomping beasts has been eased after your Mega Shark experience. Also, due to the tremendous interest in the film, do you think you would return for a sequel or for a similar project?

Debbie: I’m now afraid more than ever to swim in the ocean! What if there’s a giant lobster? Seahorse? Speaking of…..I do hope there’s a sequel! Maybe I’ll go method this time and do some submarine training so I don’t look like I’m playing a video game when my hands are at the controls!

Brian: Debbie, thanks again! It’s been a thrill!

Gibson, of course, went on to appear in two other nature-wild extravaganzas – Mega Python Vs, Gatoroid (with Tiffany) and Mega Shark Vs. Mecha Shark. One of the early chapters of Eternally Electric also confirmed that she portrayed the birthday girl during one of Rick Moranis’ slapstick-charged scenes in the original Ghostbusters film. If she already wasn’t a legend…

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Review: Babysitters Vs. Vamps

Published October 31, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

John Carpenter may have made babysitters fighting evil a classic horror trope with 1978’s Halloween, but young women have been banding together to confront monstrosities & other forms of injustice long before Michael Meyers was seared into our consciousness. Whether it was Irene Dunne & Jill Esmond trying to figure out who was targeting Thirteen Women in 1932 or Lee Remick & Stephanie Powers facing down a criminal mastermind in 1962’s Experiment in Terror, female empowerment in exploitation has been an entertaining must-have.

Nicely, in Babysitters Vs. Vamps, gay indie horror director-writer Brian Dorton focuses his tale around Lana (Scarlett Freeman) and Michelle (Cameron Dorton), two longtime best friends, who find themselves trying to outwit a body chopping cult in a small Southern town. Utilizing a quick running time and a sharp sense of humor, Dorton seemingly utilizes mostly local talent to create a fun and gory, feministic story here. Although nothing truly overt occurs, the gruesome gang at the center of the action is also decidedly bisexual, an important & diverse touch.

Documentary-style interviews, meanwhile, set the background. It seems something deadly has been brewing for years in this providence, with rumors swirling about a possible vampire cult. Unsurprisingly, it is one of the girls’ potential dates, an amorous young man, who leads Seth (Dorton) and his vicious crew to the house where the girls are ensconced for the weekend, watching over a newborn. Soon a nosy neighbor (Heather Harlow) and a potential hook-up are in Seth’s sights, with Lana and Michelle being prepped for his final course.

Highlighted by some impressive splatter and gallons of spewing blood, Dorton brings a quiet menace to Seth, acting-wise, while Harlow, a blossoming indie horror queen, brings the surest sense of timing to the obnoxious antics of her overbearing Deena, making her performance a standout.

As with many micro-budget productions, audiences need to have a forgiving spirit with certain aspects, production-wise. It also may strike some as odd that the titular creatures share little of the expected bloodsucking attributes of their more famous kin, ultimately coming off as more Manson like than supernatural.

Still, this is a solid example of the independent grit and artistic tenacity that it takes to make something fun and juicily violent out of very, very little.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Second Look: The Eye

Published October 25, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

Almost inoffensively middle-of-the-road, The Eye, one of the countless remakes of popular Asian horror films that began to saturate the American celluloid landscape at the beginning of the 21st century, definitely has more to offer than its low critical rating & Razzie nomination might suggest.

Centering around the nightmarish results of a corneal transplant given to a blind musician played by Jessica Alba, the film contains one truly great visual twist at it’s midpoint. Locked as we are in the assault of Trump’s prejudiced America, the story’s residual look at how women of color are treated, especially when they are saddled with a further sense of otherness, is surprisingly resonant, as well.

Alba, whose performance was widely mocked, is also much better here than might be anticipated. Visually lush in presence, she was seemingly made for the silver screen. But she also took this assignment seriously, studying for months with sight impaired adults. Thus, she gives her Sydney Wells a quiet legitimacy.

She is anchored, cast-wise, by a young and bright Chloë Grace Moretz as a cancer-stricken youth. Parker Posey, meanwhile, as Sydney’s sister isn’t given much to do besides act protective, but she definitely adds glamour and pedigree to her all too brief scenes. Total Recall‘s Rachel Ticotin factors in, nicely, as well. Showing up, as other established talents like Betty Buckley and Faye Dunaway have done, in an explanatory cameo, she registers with professional pathos & helps lead the story to its bus burning climax.

DP Jeffrey Jur also adds some romanticism to the Pang Brothers’ original, fairly simple concept. With the determined nuance of a storyteller, he brings out all the rich fantasy inherent in Sydney’s career as a violinist in a major city.

These small touches may make this quiet reimagining a perfect rainy-day sleeper for those who like their horror with a gauzy, understated quality.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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