McFarland Press

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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 Here’s my (previously unpublished) take: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/

Queer Horror: The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Published October 5, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

After a 9-year publishing odyssey, Queer Horror: A Film Guide is finally a reality. For a variety of reasons, not all of my pieces made the final cut. I will share some of those unpublished essays here, from time to time. A link to purchase the book is featured, below, as well.

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Writer: Rita Mae Browne, Amy Holden Jones (uncredited)

Director: Amy Holden Jones

Cast: Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Debra De Liso, Andre Honore, Joseph Alan Johnson, Pamela Roylance, Brinke Stevens, Pamela Canzano

Beginning life as a script entitled Don’t Open the Door, director Jones heavily reconfigured writer Browne’s original work while still retaining that legendary lesbian author’s humorous, feministic intent here.

The plot, unsurprisingly, is typical ‘80s slasher fare. A notorious killer (Villella) escapes from the psycho ward, descending upon a group of momentarily parentless teens who are imbibing beer and pot while indulging in sexual antics. Yielding his drill like a phallus, the killer makes his way through the hard-partying population until the final act when the very pretty, very unpopular girl next door (Stille) puts a decisive end to his days of murderous marauding.

Low budget even by typical grindhouse standards, this film ingratiates itself by smartly emphasizing the real-life fear of losing one’s virginity with almost every death sequence and by broadening the perspectives of its feminine protagonists. Led by the subtly assured De Liso as Kim, the female teens here are more knowledgeable about sports stats than their male counterparts and gender stereotypes are subverted with all of the film’s maintenance support staff being played, nonchalantly, by women, as well.

Despite Browne’s involvement, the Sapphic action is ultimately understated here. Reversing expectations once again, the girls’ kindly coach (Roylance) is decidedly soft spoken. Only Canzano in her short scene as a carpenter gives off a decidedly gay vibe with her fun, efficient characterization.

Queer Horror

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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