Queer Horror: The Horror of the Unrealized Self

Spoilers for I Saw the TV Glow (2024) and Interview with the Vampire (2022-). I have a visceral fear of being buried alive. To waste away slowly, trapped and confined and rotting away in a place where no one can find me. Suffocating under layers of dirt, not able to live or die. Watching I Saw the TV Glow, in which a character is buried alive, I could not help but think: what an apt metaphor for the queer — and especially transgender — experience. 

I Saw the TV Glow is a psychological horror movie directed by Jane Schoenbrun following Owen and Maddy through their teen and adult years as the TV show they are obsessed with, The Pink Opaque, leads them to question their identities.

Everyone Likes A Good Suck

When we think of vampires, a negative image usually tends to form in our minds. We imagine creatures of the night, surviving off the blood of humans and killing indiscriminately, without emotion. In the past year, with the release of Twilight, many (mostly adolescent girls and young women) saw this stereotype change. In fact, it seemed that vampires, non mortal creatures, could actually have the potential to garner characteristics that only humans are known to possess. These included empathy, compassion, and in the case of Edward Cullen from Twilight, romantic love.