Queer For Fear, Shudder’s upcoming 4-part docuseries that exhumes horror history to answer why queer creators and fans have long been compelled by scary stories, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and everything in between.Whether it’s through the “monster as metaphor” or more overt explorations of gender and sexuality, Queer For Fear explores the genre as a frequent vessel for LGBTQ narratives.Related: From sexy to scary: The Queerty must-see Halloween screening listAccording to the official synopsis, the series will look back through time, “from [horror’s] literary origins with queer authors Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and Oscar Wilde to the pansy craze of the 1920s that influenced Universal Monsters and Hitchcock; from the ‘lavender scare’ alien invasion films of the mid-20th century to the AIDS obsessed bloodletting of 80s vampire films; through genre-bending horrors from a new generation of queer creators.”Queer For Fear comes from producers Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) and Steak House (Disney’s Launchpad) and will feature a rogue’s gallery of experts providing commentary, including Jennifer Tilly (Bride Of Chucky), Lea DeLaria (Orange Is The New Black), Mark Gatiss (Sherlock), Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body), Renée “Nay” Bever (Attack of The Queerwolf), Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry), Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), and director Oz Perkins—son of Anthony Perkins.Speaking of Anthony Perkins, the late and long-closeted star is the focus of an early Queer For Fear preview that premiered this past weekend at San Diego Comic-Con.
The clip delves into the queer subtext of Alfred Hitchcock’s timeless classic, Psycho, and how the character Norman Bates subverted the notion of the “Hollywood leading man” in more ways than.