As the Stab Burns: Another World’s Sin Stalker

Published June 14, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

After years of playing proud and upstanding types on daytime dramas like The Doctors and Search for Tomorrow, well known gay, New York based actor David O’Brien got his Norman Bates on by playing Dr. Alan Glaser AKA “The Sin Stalker” on Another World throughout the spring and summer of 1987.

Famously, Glaser stalked popular country singer Crystal Gayle for singing lustful odes at Felicia Gallant’s (Linda Dano) top flight nightclub and even killed off established cast member Petronia Paley, who had played the notable Quinn Hardy for six years, in a particularly vicious attack.

Goaded on by the voice of his long dead mother, ’60s Hitchcock-style, Glaser soon became obsessed with the assumedly virginal Lisa Grady (Joanna Going), eventually determined to make the upstart heroine his (very reluctant) bride. Naturally, the fact that Lisa was a psychic, often receiving flashes of the Stalker’s evil actions, only added to the soapy intrigue.

Legacy character Donna Love, then played by Philece Sampler (of Days of our Lives and Rituals fame), didn’t fare so well with Glaser’s affections, though. Trapping her in a lighthouse tower, Glaser intended to put an end to Love and her often mischievous ways. A rescue attempt by John Hudson (David Forsythe), the frightened lass’s brother-in-law, resulted in an audience reveal of Alan as the formerly-mysterious killer and a highwire fall that left the heroic Hudson temporarily blinded.

Kindly doctor Jamie Frame (Laurance Lau) also felt the wraith of this twentieth century marauder. Its obvious that O’Brien is having a great time as he rises up from behind a garbage dispenser and, sneakily, attacks Frame in a parking garage.

In fact, it is his commitment and actorly-reveling here that helped make this story so memorable to passionate fans of the show. Of course, the week long appearance of Gayle as a potential victim, the noir-style lighting that decorated Gallant in several red herring sequences and the presence of Lisa’s supernatural abilities all added grand flourishes to this story, helping to bring it a significant notch or two above a standard psycho on the loose tale.

Pride Notes:

O’Brien, who died of AIDS in 1989, spent well over two decades in daytime television, making him a perfect (if previously unheralded) Pride Month subject. While his life was cut much too short, the amount of entertainment he was able to give throughout his career was paramount, making his impact on the genre one of long lasting significance. An honored member of our community, his impact should never be forgotten.

GH’s Angel of Mercy

Published February 11, 2025 by biggayhorrorfan

I am always down for mysterious killers and rampant cycles of death winding their way throughout the landscapes of my daytime dramas. Obviously, the parallels to the horror films that I love are heavily rooted in those storylines and those types of tales were what drew me to soaps in the first place.

Currently the deviously magnetic Cyrus on General Hospital, as enacted by ever versatile Emmy winner Jeff Kober, is playing angel of mercy in Port Charles by killing off prominent citizens with doses of heart attack causing digitalis.

First off, feisty private eye Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco), one of the show’s longest running heroines, met her end in the late fall of 2024. Dex Heller (Evan Hofer), the star crossed Romeo to teen queen Josslyn Jacks’ (Eden McCoy) Juliet, was the next to suffer an unexpected coronary.

The almost demise of Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell), another of the serial’s legacy characters, brought the fact that a killer was on the loose to light, though. Now, those suspicious of Cyrus are a veritable Rainbow Book Club.

This includes the program’s splintered (yet hopeful) gay couple, (often duplicitous) lab technician Brad (Parry Shen) and the upstanding Dr. Lucas Jones (Van Hansis.) Hospital administrator Portia (Brooke Kerr) is also on the case – even semi-teaming up with Brad, despite her misgivings, hoping to pave the way for more vacancies on the morgue slabs, not less!

Now, even Josslyn, in classic final girl mode, is dancing ever closer to the fire, sniffing around Cyrus’ lodgings, looking for clues. Her escapades last week even brought her into contact with character actor David Ury.

Ury, best known for his roles in latter day Rob Zombie projects like 31, added a bit of exploitation sleaze to the proceedings. As a suspicious slumlord manager, he added a danger factor to the young girl’s escapades, signaling that, despite everyone’s concentrated efforts, more death and destruction might be on the way for the beloved residents of this fictional Midwest burg.

I, for one, couldn’t be more excited.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Looky-loo

Published May 3, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

I know not to make contact with the delirious, searching eyes of the unfortunates on my early morning train rides. Disaster assuredly lies there. It’s probably why I can’t stand watching true crime broadcasts. Something bad really can happen to me at any moment in time and I, for one, don’t want to dwell on my imminent demise unless I truly have to.

In an artful way, Jason Zink’s Looky-loo takes us into the heart of this fear. A feature length travelogue of a serial killer’s journey throughout the neighborhoods of a city, done entirely through their point of view, this experimental exercise reminds viewers of how vulnerable they really are. What is especially interesting here is how Zink allows the everyday objects this stalker comes into contact with – a welcome mat, bathroom products, kitchen utensils – to really come to life here. The heightened colorization and savage utilization of these ordinary items really illustrates a true invasion of personal space, resulting in visual takes that remain in the consciousness long after the film ends.

Zink should also be commended for always taking risks with his art. While 2014’s Night Terrors celebrated more traditional horror. his 2019 feature Straight Edge Kegger was a gritty, punk infused exploitation flick. Looky-loo, which might be more at home in a museum of contemporary art than a movie theater, continues that determined evolution with varied, almost Warhol-ian results.

Learn more about Zink and his work at https://www.facebook.com/weirdontoppictures.