Horror

All posts tagged Horror

Sex Work is Work – Talking with the Inventive Creators of Blowie

Published July 20, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

In celebration of the Midwest premiere of their gay, sex positive slasher Blowie, co-creators Ed Aldridge and Sam Lidbetter recently, through the incredibly natural wonders of email and long-distance communication, sat down with Brian Kirst of Big Gay Horror Fan to discuss this important addition to the contemporary horror scene. The two reveal some of the behind the scenes thought processes involved with the film and analyze whether queer representation has finally entered an age of equality where terror on celluloid is concerned.

Big Gay Horror Fan: What was the initial inspiration for Blowie?

Ed Aldridge and Sam Lidbetter: We’ve always been huge horror fans, especially classic films like Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. We’d spent years working with adult performers and knew firsthand how talented, professional, and committed they are. We always felt they could bring something unique to a horror film, and we knew they’d be excited to take on a fun project like this. The character of Blowie came from wanting to create an iconic slasher villain with a distinctive look, like Freddy or Jason. Since the film centers around sex workers, the mask and the character naturally evolved from that setting.

BGHF: Do you have a most memorable moment from the set when filming the project?

EA & SL: The entire shoot was an incredible experience. It was a lot of fun, but it was also incredibly demanding. We had a crew of just seven people filming over nine days, so everyone wore multiple hats and worked tirelessly to make the film happen. What made it so memorable was the sense of collaboration. Every single cast and crew member gave everything they had, and Blowie simply wouldn’t exist without that collective effort. One specific memory that comes to mind is that both of us (Sam and Ed the directors) had minor roles in the film. Ed was Blowie in the vacbed crawling out of the river and Sam was the head double for Kali for the bottle smash, mostly because we felt like we had to give something for the art!

BGHF: That seems like definite proof that the film is going to be super fun for audiences to watch! Were there any underlying social messages or personal experiences that you were also trying to express here, though?

EA & SL: We started our careers in mainstream television and film before moving into adult filmmaking, and when we decided to make our first feature, we never wanted to distance ourselves from that part of our journey. Instead, we wanted to embrace it and tell stories inspired by a world we know well. At its core, Blowie is about sex workers and sex positivity. The message is simple: sex work is work, and the people who do it are just like anyone else, they’re professionals doing a job. While the film is a horror-comedy, it also offers a glimpse behind the scenes of the adult industry and shows that, despite the stereotypes, much of it is surprisingly ordinary and mundane. That felt important for us to portray alongside all the blood, laughs, and mayhem.

BGHF: I love that! What has been your favorite reaction from an audience member to the project thus far?

EA & SL: Premiering the film in the UK last year was an amazing experience. Watching it with a live audience for the first time and hearing people laugh, cheer, and react together was incredibly rewarding. It really felt like a midnight movie experience. One of our favorite things has been seeing both horror fans and LGBTQ+ audiences embrace the film. We always knew Blowie sat between genres, so seeing people connect with it from different perspectives has been the best reaction we could have hoped for.

BGHF: Leviticus has just been released to very solid critical and audience reaction. Do you think we are in a good place for gay themes to enter mainstream horror on a more consistent basis or do you think we still have a lot of work ahead of us?

EA & SL: I think we’re definitely in a better place than we were even five or ten years ago. The success of films like Leviticus shows that audiences are increasingly open to stories with LGBTQ+ themes.

That said, I don’t think we’re at the point where queer themes in mainstream horror are fully normalized yet. There are still relatively few studio horror films that place gay characters and relationships at the center without making their identity the entire point of the narrative. Horror has always been a genre that explores people on the margins, fear of the “other,” and social anxieties, so it’s actually a natural space for queer storytelling.

BGHF: I wholeheartedly agree! Thanks for taking the time to speak with me! I can’t wait for the Midwest premiere on Saturday!

Blowie will be the headliner at a special celebration of LGBTQIA+ horror at the Debut Studio Theater, 1205 McHenry Road in Buffalo Grove, IL on Saturday, July 25th, 2026. Doors open at 6 PM and the tickets are $15. A presentation of Dead Walk Fest, advance tickets are available at http://www.deadwalkfest.com.

Unsung Heroines of Horror: Hayley Mills

Published June 28, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

Fifty-six years before her much anticipated genre reappearance in M Night Shyamalan’s Trap (2024), perennial Disney sweetheart Hayley Mills entered the world of horror and exploitation by taking on the leading role in Twisted Nerve (1968). Directed and co-written by her husband Roy Boulting, the film was definitely not up Mills’ creative alley, as recounted in her memoir Forever Young, and it ultimately faced controversy over its implied correlation between intellectual disability and psychotic behavior.

Mills, naturally, is the sweet faced heroine. Appearing with frequent co-star Hywell Bennett, she unwittingly becomes the target of the obsessive behavior of Martin, his character. Pretending to be cognitively impaired, Martin becomes a boarder in the home run by Mills’ slattern mother Joan, played with acidic grace by the great Billie Whitelaw..

Whitelaw, who provided the original The Omen with some of it’s many highlights as Damian’s obsessed nanny, is also a force of powerful attraction here. Her performance won her the BAFTA for supporting actress and the scene in which she tries to seduce Martin by wriggling her fingers into one of the front pockets of his jeans is pure cinematic salaciousness.

Mills supplied the same sort of fresh faced honesty to her next project with Bennett, 1972’s Endless Night. Based on an Agatha Christie novel, she is an heiress named Ellie Thomsen here, allowing her to play someone that was a far cry from the working class innocent in the duo’s previous project. The actress’ charming yet dignified lightness is a perfect match for this character and the hiring of Swedish sexpot Britt Eklund to play her best friend is a brilliant casting choice of contrasts.

Despite warnings of doom from small town eccentrics, Ellie builds her new husband Michael’s (Bennett) dream home in a countryside valley with a notorious history. At first, Michael’s caustic relationship with Eklund’s overbearing Greta, Ellie’s longtime friend and professional companion, is the only major impetus to the neophyte couple’s happiness. But as murder and death raise their heads, someone eventually meets their inglorious end. Naturally, in true Christie style, many twists and turns are delivered until the real culprits are finally revealed.

Unexpected tragedies also surrounded Mills in her second season appearance for the British horror anthology Thriller. Only A Scream Away (1974) finds her paired with a very handsome David Warbeck. Years before his Euro fame in such Fulci projects as Black Cat and The Beyond, Warbeck’s beginnings as a male model are apparent here and the two make a truly compatible pair. That danger lurks for Mills via a character played by the arbitrarily golden Gary Collins only adds to the story’s competent yet fairly standard psycho-from-the-past feel.

Still beautifully active as of this writing, these projects ultimately prove that while the 80 year old Mills may not always favor the genre, it certainly always favors her.

True Survivor:

In her memoir, Mills reveals that, when she was a young teenager at Catholic boarding school, a priest named Father Mike tried to lure her into an inappropriate relationship. Using her wits, she was able to extract herself from the situation. Her sense memory of the incident surely must have played into the authentic way that she portrayed the above roles, proving that, for the luckiest, a painful past can lead to an authentic artistic release. #triumphantsurvivor #bancatholicism #burnthechurch

Wrong Turn 4 Podcast

Published March 22, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

I grew up outside of Buffalo, a legitimate oasis for snow during the winter months ,,,and sometimes even well into spring.

I’ll never forget one Easter break when I was a pre-teen. On our first Saturday off, the temps hit the ’70s. Annette Funicello beach movies were playing on the local station – and I thought we were heading into a summery paradise. That night, though, we were struck with a blizzard and I was dodging one frozen tundra after another for the next 13 days.

Fortunately, that scenario wasn’t nearly as terrifying as the one that hits the ski loving gang in Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings. Out in the icy wilderness, they run into the extremely violent Hillicker brothers and, as it always does in this series, physical trauma & death soon come for them.

Unlike the other entries, the LGBTQIA community enters the scenario here via two of the main characters, a frisky lesbian couple – thus earning it a spot as one of my entries in Queer Horror: A Film Guide.

Recently, during the official podcast for the book, I joined editor Sean Abley in looking at the sapphic intricacies of this fun offering in this long running, low budget horror series.

Be sure to listen, hopefully in some warm & inviting environment, at Podcast Addict (link below) or your favorite streaming service!

Queer Horror: A Film Guide – The Podcast – Podcast Addict

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 silvery 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.

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Paul Jabara

Published January 4, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

Joyful and energetic, Paul Jabara’s music helped define the mid-to-late ’70s. He co-created one of the greatest duets of all time, Enough is Enough, with Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand. His tracks with solo Summer, Last Dance, and solo Streisand, The Main Event, also lit up the dance floors, back when your grandparents were swinging into the wee hours with their navel bearing dress shirts and multi-towered heels.

Of course, the homosexuals among us will probably know him best for the iconic fruit-swirled track Its Raining Men. Sung by the irreplaceable Weather Girls, this tune has worked its way into the background of many a celluloid adventure, including the horror comedies Scary Movie and Vampires Suck.

Sadly, Jabara, who once had the herculean task of replacing Tim Curry as Frank-N-Furter in the Los Angeles production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, was one of the many queer creatives who lost his life to AIDS. His legacy will live on, though, via online play lists and the countless speakers that are still blaring his music from the streets of New York City to the rainforests of Borneo.

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/

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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Shark Bait Retro Village: Children of the Night (1985)

Published November 15, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

A bit more serious in nature than many of the women-in-peril tele-flicks that populated the primetime airwaves, Children of the Night, first aired in the fall of 1985 on CBS.

A fictionalized look at the life of Lois Lee, a doctoral student who founded the titular organization to help teen sex workers get off the streets, the dangers facing the young cast here are definitely nerve chilling. They hue closely to a sense of very grimy reality.

While rarely physically graphic, the screenplay here does talk of, and acutely show, the aftereffects of, the emotional, physical and sexual abuse the teens face. These are the circumstances that Lois, played by the reliable Kathleen Quinlan, is determined to save them from. Eventually forming a tight bond with the street-smart Valerie (Lar-Park Lincoln), Lee is soon housing her and other runaways. Facing off against a handsome pimp (Mario Van Peebles), she eventually gets through to Valerie, who as the credits start to roll, is shown joining her in her work.

As gritty as this exercise gets, there are still elements of TV Movie of the Week expectedness here. In the last arc, Quinlan’s journey to a darkened crack house is full of horror film jump scares. The script also doesn’t allow Peebles, who gives his Roy Spanish a quietly intense hue of evil, much leeway. Thus, Spanish is reminiscent of many of the smooth-talking villains that were seen on shows of that era like TJ Hooker and Matt Houston.

But horror fans, in particular, will be thrilled that The New Blood‘s Lincoln, who sadly passed away from breast cancer in 2025, gives a nervy, full-bodied performance here. It is probably one of the best roles that she received in her Hollywood career and she, proudly, executes all the varied tones and stumbling triumphs of the young girl that she plays. Nicely, Marta Kober, another Friday the 13th film series veteran, provides a true sense of lived-in sass in the smaller role of Linda, as well.

Indeed, the cast as a whole, including Nicholas Campbell (The Hitchhiker) as Lee’s devoted yet wavering boyfriend, has a sparkling sense of genre pedigree. Quinlan has appeared in everything from the apocalyptic disaster-horror Warning Sign to the 2006 reimagining of The Hills Have Eyes. Peebles, meanwhile, has lit up the cinemas in such cult oddities as Jaws: The Revenge and the cult werewolf flick Full Eclipse.

Importantly, for those who chronicle the rise of LGBTQIA representation in media, the trio of screenwriters (William Wood, Vickie Patik, Robert Guenette) give a full sense of expressiveness to Marty, the gay hustler that Lois takes in. Painted as both razor sharp and exceedingly vulnerable, actor David Crowley takes this wise and human material and brings it to full, blood flowing life. In that era, when our community was still being painted, on shows such as The Streets of San Francisco and Matlock, as schizophrenic cross dressers, this well-rounded portrait is a rare and important thing.

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

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…

http://www.debbiegibsonofficial.com

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