Homoeroticism and homosexuality have been expressed in a very meaningful and powerful way in horror films for as long as the genre has been on the screen. Vampires feed on mere mortals of the same sex. Monsters, such as the one made by Dr. Frankenstein, seek redemption in the opposite sex (Bride of Frankenstein) only to find it unfulfilling. Characters such as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde have dark sides that are at odds with society’s moral code.

The monsters of cinema have always been troubled by — and troubling to — outsiders, who often threatened the social order in which they lived. The predators that appeared in the early history of horror films preyed on society’s families — and values — irrespective of their sexual orientation.

There is no question that today, in 2004, television and film portray a wide range of GLBT characters struggling with their identity and with society’s pressures. Scholars today are taking a very close look at the body of work typically referred to as “horror films” and suggesting that some of these may more appropriately be classified as “homo films.”

Thomas Jason Davis is the writer and director of the upcoming film Scab, an explicitly gay vampire film.

“I think because of the very nature of film,” says Davis, “there have always been queers and gays in the entertainment industry. The artists in film are expressing their own voice. In earlier times, though, that voice often had to come through in implied images and subtext. One of the ways to do that was to bring in gay characters as the monsters. Hence you have a great deal of homoeroticism in horror films.”

While there are hundreds of gay films that have gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes and characters engaging in relationships that are explicit and straightforward, homoeroticism in film is typically explored as a subtext, rather than being the primary goal of the writer.

The first group of horror films that were laden with homoerotic subtext appeared in the early- to mid-1930s. Films such as Dracula and Bride of Frankenstein are among those most commonly cited for their influence.

“Director James Whale, who was himself the subject of the film Gods and Monsters, virtually defined the classical Hollywood horror film,” said Harry Benshoff, author of Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film, speaking at last summer’s OutFest LGBT Film Festival in Los Angeles. “[Bride of Frankenstein] starred many of his gay friends, including Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Praetorius, a prissy, nasty mad scientist who comes into Frankenstein’s bedroom at night and steals him from his bride, so they can go off and procreate without having to resort to heterosexual intercourse.”

Beyond Frankenstein’s relationship with Dr. Praetorius, there is also the relationship of Frankenstein and the blind hermit, who set up house in one of the first loving onscreen same-sex households.

Interestingly, the Production Code of 1930 actually forbade any openly homosexual characters portrayed on screen. Hence, Benshoff argues, the resulting collection of homoerotic subtext during this time period.

World and cultural wars kept film occupied in other areas during the 1950s and 1960s.

With few exceptions (see below: Lord of the Flies and I Was a Teenage Wolf), it was not until the 1970s that there was a resurgence of horror films that once again spoke to GLBT audiences.

A reemergence of homoeroticism in horror films took place in the 1970s, much in partnership with what is called “blaxploitation.” The most notable film that crossed into both areas was Blacula, released in 1972. Blacula tells the story of Manuwalde, a cultivated and articulate African prince who visits Count Dracula in 1780 and is subsequently turned into a vampire by the Count and locked in a coffin. Fast forward to 1972. Two interior decorators uncover the coffin and transport it to Los Angeles, thereby unleashing Blacula’s wrath on the “cultural deviants” and homosexuals in the City of Angels.

Until the 1970s, lesbian homoeroticism was scarce.

Enter The Vampire Lovers, the second film in history to ever receive an “R” rating for audiences.

Roy Ward Baker’s controversial piece primarily appealed to heterosexual men and lesbians, as beautiful female predators sank their teeth into the supple breasts of the mortal women around them.

The 1980s and 1990s are typically viewed as the postmodern age of horror films. Likely one of the leaders in postmodern literature and film in the area of homoerotic subtext is Anne Rice. Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and The Mayfair Witches are among the most widely cited for their homoerotic subtext.

“I know many [readers] prize the darkness in my work,” says Rice, in a recent correspondence with the Gay &Lesbian Times, “the bitter loneliness of the characters, their misery as they roam through a world that can never really be theirs in a fruitful way. And God knows I felt a deep drive to share that dark vision, and a strong identity with the outcast and the damned was the engine driving my writing for years.”

Directed by Neil Jordan (Crying Game), Interview With the Vampire, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, was released in 1999 and was based on Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. It was a huge hit internationally. It was followed in 2002 by Queen of the Damned, starring the late Aaliyah. The homoerotic subtext was overlooked by general audiences, it seems, because of the film’s genre. The Sacramento Bee, however, likened the film to that other gay film icon, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The discussion of homoerotic subtext in films has not been limited to horror films.

Even Bill Simmons, a writer for ESPN, has delved into the homoerotic-subtext-in-film discussion with his analysis of Top Gun.

“As Quentin Tarantino’s character first pointed out in Sleep With Me, gay undertones permeate many aspects of Top Gun,” writes Simmons, “to the point that you almost wonder if the script was written by the five guys from ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.’ There’s the ultra-close friendship between Mav and Goose. There’s the charged, uncomfortable tension between Cruise and Kilmer (when do you ever see guys talking with their faces two inches apart?). There’s the surreal volleyball scene, which plays like a ‘Schmitt’s Gay’ beer commercial on SNL.”

Simmons, who is best known for his NFL analysis, continues: “There are lines during the action scenes like ‘I’ve got your tail’ and ‘Watch your rear.’ There’s the bald commander yelping, ‘I want butts!’ There’s the fact that Kelly McGillis’ character went by ‘Charlie,’ or that she dressed up in the manliest way possible to win Cruise’s affection (in the elevator). And of course, there’s the memorable ‘Tail’ exchange between Cruise and Kilmer at the end. It’s funny to watch Top Gun again and look for these things.” Ravenous, a 1999 film Starring Guy Pearce (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, LA Confidential), and Robert Carlyle (Angela’s Ashes), was directed by Antonio Baird of Priest. The story takes place in the late 19th century in the Sierra Mountains of California. Pearce plays Captain John Boyd who has been sent to the post after a disastrous encounter in the Mexican-American War. When Carlyle arrives and begins telling the story of his unit that was forced to survive by eating one another, the film shortly becomes a vampiric tale of male appetites. While not intentionally written as a gay film, the characters themselves are so steeped in this male homosexuality subtext that it would nearly qualify for a gay film festival.

The 21st century is bringing films that are more about monsters who are evil and who, incidentally, happen to be gay. No longer is the homosexuality coded in the subtext. Instead, writers are more and more presenting pieces with GLBT characters.

Martin Sherman, most notable for his productions of Bent and Indian Summer, finds that this new freedom for writers can be very liberating. For Sherman, the connection to homoeroticism in the subtext of film can be compared to the experiences of his characters in the German concentration camps during World War II.

“Because the prisoners were stripped of their sexuality, and because they were stripped of their sexual outlets,” says Sherman, “they lost their personalities. What I did with Bent was to find a way for the men to re-find their sexuality and find a way that expresses a love for each other that defies prescribed conventions.”

For Sherman, his characters are expressing themselves undercover from the guards, but not undercover for themselves. In that way, Sherman says, he respects the postmodern attempts by writers to break out of the prison of relegating their self-expression to the subtext.

Davis’ upcoming horror film Scab is among those films being released on screen at GLBT festivals around the country that tell stories about evil groups of GLBT characters.

“I wanted to see myself, my community, in horror films,” says writer/director Davis. “It’s just a natural evolution of what and who I know. My goal was to make the characters’ sexuality overt. I wanted audience members to stop having to wonder, ‘Are they going to kiss?’ or ‘Are we going to see a male body?’ I wanted the students to go beyond wondering so that they could get to the actual characters.”

Gay horror is not just coming to the big screen, though. Here! TV has produced a show called “Dante’s Cove”. The series is set to air sometime in the first quarter of next year.

Meredith Kadlec is the Development Director for the project.

“We are trying to create material where LGBT visibility is increased,” says Kadlec. “What we liked about ‘Dante’s Cove’ is that it is gothic horror. It is so different from anything else out there in the LGBT media. And yet it is very familiar in many ways. We anticipate our audience to be those who like shows such as ‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Charmed’.”

And there is nothing ambiguous about the characters’ thirst.

“We’re in a new phase with this type of project,” says Kadlec. “There is a novelty with what we are doing on the show. We haven’t seen a world populated by mostly gay characters, and then throw in the gothic horror element.”