Queer for Fear: Horror Film and the Queer Spectator

by Heather O. Petrocelli

A new analysis of the connection between the horror genre and the queer community.

Queer for Fear is the groundbreaking empirical study of the LGBTQ+ community that not only documents the opinions, habits, and tastes of the horror-loving queer spectator but also evidences how and why queers have a distinctive relationship to the horror genre. This interdisciplinary book makes impactful contributions to the fields of queer, film, horror, trauma, camp, and live cinema studies.

Genres: Horror, Nonfiction, Queer, LGBT, Film

288 pages, Hardcover

Published February 6, 2024

Reviews

[Tobias Hermansson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gud skitintressant studie faktiskt, får lite dåligt samvete för att ge ens betyg för ett akademiskt arbete.

[Micah Spiece · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful empirical study on how much queers love horror and some welcome data regarding why. I expected more theoretical concerns, some suggestive hypothesizing,maybe even irresponsible suppositions, but this pretty much keeps it all in line with the raw data, making it feel like the first stats-based conclusions on queer horror fandom that puts into firmly sourced conclusions ideas we had all already guessed at.

[Amie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly thorough and thoughtful book by Heather Petrocelli about the relationship queer people have with horror film. The research at the foundation of the book is rooted in real people from around the world (not just one person's theory or idea of things). It builds upon all the theory about why people like horror with evidence. The author focusing on an avid fan-base that is not frequently focused on: people from the LGBTQ+ community. There is a lot of data presented from their original research that future researchers will be able to build upon (so it's really important for academics and researchers in related fields—although it's written so that anyone could read it and get something out of it). It also delves into three important areas to horror-loving queers: trauma, camp, and live cinema events (ie, watching movies presented by hosts with pre-shows). I learned so much about myself from this book and it made me love the horror genre even more. I also felt very inspired by the wider community and ended the book feeling very connected to other horror-loving queers. Highly recommend this book for all queer people and horror fans!

(Disclaimer: I painted the artwork featured on the cover of the book.)

[Kauranen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional, groundbreaking research.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

my official review will appear in Revenant Journal