IT CAME FROM THE CLOSET contributor list: Do you like scary movies?
Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. In the new anthology IT CAME FROM THE CLOSET, twenty-five of your favorite queer and trans writers explore the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences.
From Jennifer’s Body to Eyes Without a Face, here are just ten of the movies (and writers!) featured in this book.
“I have a real soft spot for stories on conflicted, spectral, transient bisexuality. I always have.”
Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifer's Body, “Both Ways”
“Homophobia, especially internalized homophobia, demands we craft heteronormative versions of ourselves and erase any trace of our queerness. Other people are put inside of us. We’re both there and not there.”
Bruce Owens Grimm on Hereditary, “My Hand on the Glass”
“To give of my body in such a simple and tangible way healed something I couldn’t name but could feel coursing through me, like a revitalizing shock to the heart, with every bite.”
Joe Vallese on Grace, “Imprint”
“A new theory: What if love necessitates monstrosity, creates this terrible flesh by laying one’s wanting bare?”
Ryan Dzelzkalns on Godzilla, “A Working Definition of the Monstrous”
“As a small child, I loved all of the old Universal movies, but it was The Wolf Man . . . that most captured my heart.”
Tosha R. Taylor on The Wolf Man, “The Wolf Man’s Daughter”
“Much of what is depicted in the Candyman films, sometimes on the periphery, has affected me and my family in real life; I’ve seen it up close.”
Sumiko Saulson on Candyman, “Centered and Seen”
“I now understand the film [Us] to be more lyrical and complicated than the focus on the twist would otherwise suggest. The self is a slippery thing.”
Steffan Triplett on Us, “The Me in the Screen”
“The Blair Witch gives a masterclass in nonpresence . . . I prefer the original film’s commitment to the titular character’s erasure.”
Spencer Williams on The Blair Witch Project, “Sight Unseen”
“Get Out’s theme of navigating unwelcoming spaces is, in the heart and mind of this queer and Black man, the perfect lens.”
Samuel Autman on Get Out, “Black Body Snatchers”
“I passed my youth with my best mask forward.”
Sachiko Ragosta on Eyes Without a Face, “On Beauty and Necrosis”
Grab a copy of IT CAME FROM THE CLOSET wherever you get your books, including from our online store.
