Psychotic Women: General Hospital’s Kristina

Published April 18, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

General Hospital‘s Kristina Corinthos-Davis (Kate Mansi) has been acting like a case study out of House of Psychotic Women in recent episodes of the 62 year running show. That tome, Kier-La Janisse’s emotionally charged exploration of trauma, exposed the nervy, emotionally warped femmes of genre cinema and this longstanding soap character definitely would fit, perfectly, within its pages.

After losing the baby she was carrying last summer, Corinthos-Davis has definitely been at odd ends. The murder of her beloved sister Sam (Kelly Monaco) in the fall furthered that tremulous descent. That the dewily manipulative Ava (Maura West), the person she holds responsible for the death of her child, was still constantly underfoot, demanding cash and excessive favors from her family, provided this beleaguered character’s final push into murderous instability.

Sure that Ava was out to steal her younger sister away from her crime lord father (Maurice Bernard), Kristina cut the brakes to the car that was in her parking spot. Staying true to the dramatics involved with the daytime pedigree, the vehicle actually belonged, instead, to Rick (Rick Hearst), Ava’s lawyer and the father of Kristina’s other sister, Molly (Kristen Vaganos).

Thankfully, Rick and Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst), his passenger, survived the crash that impetuous act caused, but now Kristina is sure to be driven even further into cascading unpredictability. Lucky (Jonathon Jackson), Elizabeth’s ex-husband and current paramour, quickly realized that she was to blame and Ava and Rick weren’t far behind him.

Now, Ava is blackmailing Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn), Kristina’s mother, and once Molly finds out who injured her beloved parent, worlds are definitely going to be rocked. This will surely keep this nutty heiress in emotional crosshairs for the months to come.

It might even be conceivable that, despite Alexis’ fervent efforts, she winds up in Ferncliff, the serial’s mental institution, bringing even more exploitation goodness to the canvas. Last utilized when the trusting yet gutsy Sasha (Sofia Mattson) was drugged and locked up by the evil Damon Montague, a little misadventure at the hands of an unstable doctor could definitely make Corinthos-Davis redeemable again.

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

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Hipster-Restaurant Regan & the Queer Book of Horror

Published December 31, 2023 by biggayhorrorfan

As with many physical media collectors, my stacks of films are ever growing and sometimes years will pass before I watch something that I purchased at some dusky garage sale or found for supercheap online. Naturally, my bounty was further enhanced with the unfortunate decline of neighborhood video stores. I, for one, could not resist even the shoddiest looking homegrown horror flick if it was only going to cost me a buck or two. One night, while at my restaurant gig, one of my tables commented on whatever movie related t-shirt I was wearing at the time. We started chatting about films and I discovered one of them had appeared as an extra in one of the low budget terror extravaganzas that I had recently picked up. “I was the girl who pukes at the frat party in Terror at Baxter U,” she informed me, somewhat sheepishly. Photo ops, naturally, ensued.

Due to that encounter, I sped up my timeline for viewing this particular oddity. I found it to have its own set of weird, low budget charms – the most significant being the strange reveal of a May-December romance between an aged professor and one of his male pupils, resulting in a kind of extreme take on the Billy-Stu dynamic from the original Scream. Furthering the story, I was asked, soon after, to be one of a several essayists for an encyclopedia style book about queer characters and themes in horror films. Naturally, Baxter found itself a major place in my writing for that.

Flashforward almost 10 years and that book is finally almost ready for release. Thus, I send a word of thanks out to my very own hipster-restaurant Regan and, wherever she may be, I hope she is proud, in her own way, of the literary conduct that she inspired.

Meanwhile, more information on Queer Horror: A Film Guide is available from the publisher at:

Queer Horror – McFarland (mcfarlandbooks.com)

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

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Book Review: Testament

Published April 2, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

At the midway point of Testament, queer horror writer Jose Nateras’ debut novel, the protagonist is speaking with an experienced LGBTQIA historian about the gothic happenings that are occurring in his life. As I read, I began remembering all the amazing journalistic mentors I’ve had in my career – Ralph P. Gernhardt, co-founder of Gay Chicago Magazine…Louis Weisberg and Larry Bommer of Chicago Free Press, all leaders in queer publishing and community reporting. The ability to have this personal connection to a piece of literature is ultimately why Nateras’ book is so important. It is so rare to have a complicated, sympathetic gay narrator as our guide throughout a genuine work of terror fiction.

The narrator in question here is Gabe Espinosa, an emotionally devastated Latinx man. Still recovering from a hasty suicide attempt due to romantic misadventure, he soon finds himself the target of an entity that seemingly wants to destroy him not only for his sexuality, but for his racial background, as well. This plot point is another of the significant pleasures of this quick moving 195 page tome. Nateras imbues Gabe with many of the concerns and conflicts facing minorities residing in an already marginalized culture. Fetishism, invisibility and lack of status and opportunity are all explored here with taut emotion and sensitive reasoning.

Nicely, there are magnified scenes of shock and intrigue here, as well. A frenzied mob attack on the CTA in Chicago is almost heart stopping in intensity while the film’s penultimate encounter is also viciously rendered. In fact, one almost wishes Nateras had utilized more descriptiveness in closing out these supernatural details. A longer climax may have actually benefited this already exciting and relatable story, allowing readers to truly grasp the combative nature that Gabe must employ to fight back against what is haunting him.

The fact that Nateras writes such compelling characters also comes in to play here, as well. It is easy to fall in love with Gabe and his friends, especially his ne’er do well, bisexual roommate Bryan, and to have had the pleasure of their company for a moment or two longer would have truly been a gift. Thus, Nateras should be proud of this spooky, culturally valuable work and I can’t wait to read his next efforts in genre writing.

https://ninestarpress.com/product/testament/

https://www.amazon.com/Testament-Jose-Nateras/dp/1951880153/

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

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Thrift Store Find: Art Saves!

Published March 7, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Rolling Stone

I first got The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll as a confirmation present from one of my uncles. For awhile I carried it with me everywhere. A day or so after that confirmation, my parents came to pick me up from some event. I had been confirmed with one of my mom’s students and he overheard some of the other kids saying that I was gay in the parking lot afterwards. He told my mother about this…and she was furious…with me.

“Why would they say that, Brian?!?” “What have you done to make them think that?!?” “Do you know how embarrassing this is for me?!? For my own student to come to me about something like this?!?” As she hammered away at me on the car ride home, I murmured soft responses back while burying myself in this book., wanting to disappear. But as I poured over epic black and white photos of Little Richard, David Bowie, a pre-fame Aretha Franklin, a pert Annette Funicello clinging to a properly attired Dick Clark… I suddenly knew that eventually everything would be okay…that the world was full of magnificence and unusual artistry and someday…it all would be mine!

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

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Book Review: Queer Stories for Boys

Published February 8, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

Genre enthusiasts may know writer-director Douglas McKeown best for The Deadly Spawn, the 1983 cult classic that has garnered deserved love from monster kids, worldwide. But McKeown has also spent substantial time as a teacher and a theatrical artist, often directing and designing for the stage. He is also the facilitator of the Queer Stories for Boys workshop, which resulted in an outstanding self-titled 2004 collection, from Thunder’s Mouth Press.

Carefully edited by McKeown, this book shares a wide offering of experiences from a variety of gay men, ultimately, showing the diversity and strength of the community, as a whole.

In particular, Brad Gretter’s stories about growing up legally blind resonate with a wild sense of self-humility and otherness. His recounting of a childhood accident in a grocery store is hysterically funny while his tale about finding his sexual power in a leather club as an adult is both humorous and profound, offering up hope for anyone with self-doubt or esteem issues.

James Campbell’s Miss Betty, meanwhile, is story of pure beauty, elevated by the narrator’s sense of surprise and humbled discovery of how understanding and loving a true family can be. Miss Betty, herself, meanwhile emerges as a colorful character that all readers wish that they had gotten to know.

Activism (highlighted by Ronald Gold’s tales), sexual longing (presented in extremely relatable levels by David Ferguson and Rich Kiamco) and struggles with sports (nicely accentuated by Harry Schulz’s self deprecating memories) are some of the other topics tackled here, as well. doug deadly spawn

McKeown, himself, ably narrates a couple of tales, too. Liza’s Kiss is a truly enjoyable retelling of his straight brother’s ecstatic encounter with LGBTQA icon Liza Minnelli. Children of the Night, though, will probably resonate with lovers of horror and macabre the best. Here, he tells of his childhood adventures as the neighborhood terror, disguising himself as classic monsters to terrorize some unsuspecting locals. The final moments of this accounting linger the most, though. Anyone who has ever regretted an exchange with a loved one will be haunted by the sorrow expressed by the angry exchange that is documented between the author and his mother…a witness to how powerful (and necessary) this collection is, as a whole.

While Thunder’s Mouth Press, unfortunately, no longer exists, copies of Queer Stories for Boys can still be found on Amazon. McKeown, meanwhile, is active on the web at https://www.facebook.com/The-Deadly-Spawns-director-Douglas-McKeown-91628635424/.

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

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Review: I Said Yes to Everything

Published December 15, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

Damien: Omen II. Visiting Hours. The Swarm. Airport 77. The Spell. The Cage. Academy award winning actress and acclaimed documentarian Lee Grant has appeared in more genre outings than even her most disciplined fans can often recall. Those interested in detailed accountings of such offerings, though, may be a bit disappointed by Grant’s emotionally complex, extremely well written 2014 memoir I Said Yes to Everything.

She gives only passing reference to many of these projects here – ignoring others outright – and sums up her experience working on them by saying that she eventually discovered that good acting work could be done in properties that often didn’t meet her qualifications of artistic merit.

Still, some glittering factoids do emerge. She, happily, recounts the tale of Michael Caine falling asleep, on camera, while filming The Swarm. Self deprecatingly, she also recalls consenting to do her own water stunts on the set of Airport 77 after witnessing the distinguished Olivia de Havilland, gleefully, taking a bath to make one of that film’s many scenes of destruction seem more realistic. Slasher Visiting Hours is also given a bit of notice as being the project that made the ever age conscious performer determine that her days as a leading lady were over and that it was time to devote her talents to behind the camera opportunities. lee grant damien

Nicely, Grant does major justice to the years she spent trying to regain her life after her complicated first marriage left her blacklisted by the House of Un-American Activities. The trauma of that relationship and her triumphant return to a career are definitely book highlights. Her honesty about her struggles to connect with an adopted daughter is also a revealing and intimate look at how hard parenthood and life, in general, can be.

Of course, all is not hardship and Grant’s tales of her loving, eccentric family and coming of age adventures lighten the atmosphere, giving readers a well rounded portrait of a woman who has successfully forged her own path despite all that life has thrown at her.

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

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Bucket O’ Blood Recovery Sale

Published September 21, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

bucket o' blood.jpg

In 1975, Jaws proved it wasn’t safe in the water. In 2017, the water did a 180 and decided that Bucket O’ Blood Books and Records’ stock wasn’t safe from it. Yes, unfortunately, Chicago’s premium spot for horror books and used vinyl suffered from some flood damage last week.

Rallying, as independent businesses must, the store is hosting a Flood Sale and Party this Friday from 12 pm to 9 pm. They will have some of their damaged product on sale at slashed prices. Other independent artists and businesses are offering exclusive merchandise and cut rate vinyl for sale, as well, with all of the proceeds going to the recovery effort.

More information is available on the exclusive page for the event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/475132829525773/

As always, it is awesome when philanthropy and shopping go hand in hand. So, I hope to see you there…and until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE,

Big Gay Horror Fan

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Help Horror Literature Live!

Published June 12, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

I know you love the spooky, but if you, also, adore terror literature and reference books and have an extra dollar or two rolling around in your pockets – then you might want to consider a little philanthropy, as well.

Bucket O Blood Books in Chicago, which is devoted to genre literature, is facing a financial crisis and may have to shut its doors.

The owners believe that even a dollar or two could help them at this venture.

Check out their FB page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bucket-O-Blood-Books-and-Records and if you feel motivated to contribute visit their campaign at http://igg.me/at/bobmove.

Local residents can, also, contribute at the store, itself.

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

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