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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Nightmare 2 at Film Fetish Forum

Published October 16, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

This Saturday night, he’ll be inside us all!

For the third Halloween season in a row, I’ll be co-presenting movies with the amazing John McDevitt as part of the Film Fetish Forum at The Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago.

The selections this year, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and From Beyond, couldn’t be gayer or kinkier and I’ll be sharing stories and curating a mini-A Nightmare 2 exhibit, featuring some of Mark Patton’s original artwork, as well.

Naturally, the theater at the Archive, filled with vintage gay erotica, is the perfect place to witness both films.

Further information is available below:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (1985) – Saturday, October 18 @ 7pm
Directed by Jack Sholder, USA, 87 mins
From Beyond (1986)
Directed by Stuart Gordon, Italy/USA, 86 mins
Co-Presented by Brian Kirst of Big Gay Horror Fan

TICKETING

Single Ticket: $10/General, or $8/LA&M Members & Students
Double Feature (Oct or Dec): $15/General, or $12/LA&M Members & Students
Season Pass: $100/General, or $80/LA&M Members & Students
Purchase your Single Tickets, Double Features, or Season Pass here
Must be 18 years of age or older.

Leather Archives & Museum, 6418 N Greenview Ave, Chicago, IL 60626

We hope to see every Midwest Krueger aficionado there!

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Halloween Retrospective: Innocent Blood

Published September 28, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

Like the divine Peggy Lee, who dominated the soundtrack of George Romero’s Monkey Shines, the iconic Frank Sinatra is given musical prominence in John Landis’ 1992 horror comedy Innocent Blood.

As the film revolves around a Mafioso powerhouse turned throat ripping vampire in the Little Italy neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Sinatra’s involvement was perhaps inevitable. Cannily, though, the producers include two numbers, That Old Black Magic & I’ve Got You Under My Skin, that echo, in fun and subtle ways, the supernatural mayhem that unfolds throughout this terror-stained romp. Thus, almost like the interludes used decades later in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the tunes here add to the sense of fun and give viewers a nice feeling for the film’s time and place.

Unfortunately, upon it’s release, the project received middling reviews and even poorer box office results. While not perfect due to some odd pacing issues, there are still some amazing set pieces here, including ones stained by some mighty Steve Johnson effects.

Littered with cameos by the likes of Johnson and his then wife Linnea Quigley, who looks absolutely stunning in her brief sequence as a very surprised nurse, this project may ultimately be best known for hosting a cast of pre-The Sopranos regulars and for the joyous ways that character actor Robert Loggia and comedian Don Rickles rip into their characters, a duo of monstrous personalities turned literally monstrous by lead Anne Parillaud’s very Euro-like bite.

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

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Va-Va-Villainess: Constance Dowling

Published September 24, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

Its the rare actress whose onscreen evilness makes even the eternally villainous Peter Lorre seem sympathetic. As Mavis Marlowe in 1946’s The Black Angel, Constance Dowling actually hits that mark again and again, creating a queen of mean for the celluloid ages.

A blackmailing torch song singer, Marlowe claims multiple victims in this black and white noir with stylish direction from Roy William Neill (Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, The Black Room). Nicely, Neill’s aesthetic here also includes encouraging Dowling to work with a flinty eyed haughtiness and a steely superiority. Whether verbally thrashing down a housekeeper or gleefully persecuting her ex-husband, Dowling’s Marlowe definitely gives the notorious women played by such genre fixtures as Barbara Stanwyck and Rhonda Fleming a run for their money.

Indeed, as mentioned above, even Lorre as Marko, a mysterious nightclub owner who is central to the plot here, comes off with a sympathetic aura due to this blatant femme fatale’s poisonous machinations.

Interestingly that same year, before she eventually left Hollywood for work in Italian films, Dowling essayed another sinister baddie in Boston Blackie and the Law.

A return to the US found her embracing marriage and motherhood and leaving behind her performing career. Unfortunately, after years of seeming happiness, a heart attack at the age of 49 assured that she would make no onscreen comebacks.

Still, the skillful viciousness with which she supplied Marlowe assures her a place in the history of dark cinema for all of time.

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

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Hopelessly Devoted To: Rosemary DeCamp

Published September 7, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

Whether represented by the vigilant Diane of Poltergeist or the psychotically murderous Mrs. Voorhees of Friday the 13th, the character of the mother has been intrinsically important to the horror film. Interestingly, years before these films hit the cinema, producer William Castle followed this dueling outline of matriarchal personality types in his projects, as well.

Famously, Joan Crawford’s Lucy Harbin in Strait-Jacket represented the more unhinged maternal aspect. Rosemary DeCamp, meanwhile, perfected the traditional caretaker as Hilda Zorba in 1960’s 13 Ghosts. Of course, by the time her stint with Castle came around, Crawford had already helped define the Grand Dame Guignol genre with her work in the eternally classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? But DeCamp, who arguably became best known for playing Marlo Thomas’ mother in That Girl, had also appeared in Eyes in the Night, a moody noir-detective story that was described as being “startling as a scream!” at the beginning of her career.

Further espousing terror pyrotechnics, DeCamp went on to roles in The Painted Mirror, an episode of Night Gallery (featuring Zsa Zsa Gabor), and the genre specific comedy Saturday, the 14th. The television episode, in particular, might resonate with older movie fans as DeCamp outwits an evil Gabor there.

Nicely, Tigers In My Lap, DeCamp’s truly enjoyable memoir, shares on set highlights of many of her projects. To that end, her reminiscent details about working with Castle aren’t plentiful, but they are apt. She notes that her role didn’t involve a lot of acting chops and that she even had trouble discerning the celluloid ghosts onscreen at the film’s premiere. Still, she rejoices a bit in the producer’s showmanship, claiming that she had the most stills of that movie out of all her projects-all due to Castle’s knack for publicity.

Thus, while DeCamp isn’t necessarily eulogized as a Queen of Scream, her connections to the genre are significant enough for fans of all ages to embrace her and her work.

Fun Fact: DeCamp’s contributions to movie musicals are also of note. While she blazes with snappy power as Kathryn Grayson’s bohemian aunt in So This is Love, a biography of opera singer Grace Moore, On Moonlight Bay and By the Light of the Silvery Moon, both starring Doris Day, are nostalgia buff’s favorites by far. Illustrating the significance of these projects, Day even lovingly contributed the forward to DeCamp’s book.

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

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