The Queer Film Guide: 100 great movies that tell LGBTQIA+ stories

by Kyle Turner

Enjoy your night in with these movies that tell queer stories.

Have you noticed something about every “100 Greatest Movies Ever Made” list? The people in those movies . . . they’re almost all straight, white men. With so much incredible cinema to choose from, those lists only begin to peer into the cinematic and wider world.

It’s time to push past the gatekeepers of what makes a movie “great” or “culturally significant” and get a broader view of what’s out there. Kyle Turner has selected 100 of cinema’s greatest queer films that are often overlooked but foundational to the art form and the wider culture.

Starting in early cinema with trailblazers like Making a Man of Her and Different from Others , the list progresses through the eras, from Hitchcock’s Rope to cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show to today’s fast-growing list of queer films, including Carol , The Duke of Burgundy , and Moonlight . From lesser-known names to Academy Award winners, The Queer Film Guide offers a fresh take on what defines great cinema, lending a voice to the diverse creators and characters who’ve shaped the art form.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, LGBT, Queer, Pop Culture, Gay

208 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Ronald McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overall list of queer films. I know not everything can be covered, but there are some notable absences especially from stories relating to the time of HIV/AIDS in the late 80s early 90s that were groundbreaking and profoundly affected the lives of people at the time.

While the plot summaries were good, I felt that there was sometimes a lack of depth in the analyses and some of the language used is questionable. For example, in the review of Parting Glances, the innovative use of music in the film is central to the story seems neglected, apart from the use of the derogatory term 'opera queen'. I felt that there was a lack of research into many of the films and their contexts - some of the films I know very well, and I also know some of the filmakers, and so maybe I have a vested interest in them, but I felt a lack of depth in many of the summaries.

Having said all of this, it's a useful list and as a way into queer film and I would have given it fourstars. Why I didn't was because the book is terribly designed. The page colours often make reading the text very difficult to easily read and my friend with colour blindness said there were pages where the text was invisible to him. In addition, there is no table of contents or index of the films, so it's really hard to go back to the book to find the description of a particular film. These design features make this book a very difficult physical read.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paste Magazine contributor Turner proves himself an affable, knowledgeable, and succinct tour guide, offering a broad overview of 100 recommended queer-themed films.

Arranged in chronological order, from the 1919 German-language "Different from the Others" to 2022’s Jane Austen–inspired comedy "Fire Island," each film is celebrated over a two-page spread containing Warren’s vibrantly colored illustrations and Turner’s sharp, critical assessments, plot summaries, the background on the making of the film, fascinating tidbits, and an additional film it could be paired with.

The wide-ranging list of films is impressive and often surprising; it contains classics ("Victim", "The Children’s Hour", "Tea and Sympathy"), underground films ("Pink Flamingos", "The Raspberry Reich", "Scorpio Rising"), documentaries ("The Queen", "The Times of Harvey Milk", "Southern Comfort"), and foreign movies ("Knife + Heart", "Stranger by the Lake", "Happy Together"). There are also surprises, such as "Bringing Up Baby", "Seed of Chucky", and "The Fly", whose inclusions are persuasively argued.

Represented directors include Alfred Hitchcock, Pedro Almodóvar, David Lynch, Barbra Streisand, Bob Fosse, George Cukor, Angela Robinson, Ed Wood, Lizzie Borden, Ang Lee, and Lana and Lily Wachowski.

An enjoyable, concise, and well-written international guide to a century of queer-themed films.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

If nothing else, this informative book has given me a ton of movies I plan to add to my various streaming queues or even purchase as physical media. A lot of great movies, some I've seen and many others I have not, are discussed over the course of the book's 200 plus pages. I didn't give this book 5 stars because I sometimes felt like the author was over-analyzing movies and coming up with images or messages that maybe the writer or director of the movie was not intending or even hinting at. Some movies are just meant to enjoy simply for being in existence. Plus, there is the inclusion of one movie that I wholly disagree with as being a "queer movie." That one would be David Cronenberg's "The Fly," starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. That movie is about a romance between a scientist and a reporter that goes horribly bad when he is transformed into a fly. I think it's a huge stretch to say it's a body horror allegory for HIV/AIDS. Huh?! There's nothing gay about the movie whatsoever. The movie appearing on the list irked me especially when so many other films were left off Turner's list. Yes, I know everyone will have their own list of 100 Great Movies, but "The Fly" being on his still doesn't make sense to me. Overall, though, this book is a great piece to have on the shelves for movie lovers.

[Holly Cruise · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of these '100 great [x]' books out there so to be any good requires them to have a little something extra than just descriptions of the usual suspects plus some superlatives. This book is a good and worthy entry into the genre because:

- It looks great, the abstract art for each film is very pleasing and camp
- It's not claiming these are the BEST 100 films, just that they are 100 great ones
- Turner aims for diversity within the genre, bringing in as many types of queer life, film genre and parts of the world as possible
- The writing is passionate and comes across as someone who just REALLY wants to tell you about these films in a way which feels pure and heartfelt

Loses a star for not including the best film ever made, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.

[OneDayI'll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no clue that there movies reflecting LGBTQ loves so early in history! As early as 1919 in German films. I was floored looking through the titles and the information listed. My only complaint is that as beautiful as the colorful pages are, some of them are hard to read. There's not enough contrast between the page color and ink colors to easily read some of them so I missed about an 1/6th of the book. I'll have to find a digital copy in B&N so I can read what I missed from the paper copy of the book.

[Anouk⭐ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect resource to diversify my Letterboxd watchlist! Nicely illustrated introduction to queer films with a nice selection. A few more vaguely queer films could have been replaced by explicitly queer ones but I enjoy the analyses nonetheless. Some of my favourite mentions: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), The Watermelon Woman (1996), But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) and Jennifer's Body (2009). Can't wait to watch the ones I haven't yet!

[Scott Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably about a third of the films listed here are ones I haven’t seen. Some of these are foreign films about which I’ve not even heard. I’ll have fun adding these to my to-watch list.

Andy Warren’s design and graphic art are extremely expressive but I do wish the book made use of stills from the films it discusses. My copy has a wonderful scent of ink and glue that I enjoyed immensely.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've seen about 1/4 of these and have added a lot more to my to-be-watched list. This is a great book; Turner makes interesting arguments for why a film should be considered queer, and even if I don't end up liking what he recommends, I'm always glad to have watched it and read his thoughts on it.

[bryan peavey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0
a cute coffee table book!

    ”this book, i hope, is a healthy argument to support this idea — queer cinema has a vast and varied history of types, genres, styles approaches, subjects, and tones, as broad as cinema itself can be, but gifted with the perspective of those usually on the outside looking in, whether at a society we’re kept apart from or one we’ve made for ourselves.”

    first off, this book is really beautifully illustrated and is almost worth purchasing just for that, but it also offers pretty insightful readings of these films without veering too much into plot details or spoilers.

    i definitely want to try to watch the rest of these that i haven’t seen. it’s hard not to feel like there are gaps or things missing in a list of 100 films, but i think they do a good job of picking notable successes along with lesser known films that they love.

    if you’re interested in the list of the films, here’s a link to a letterboxd list!

[Jonathan Pavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book and great to see a mix of movies I revere and hearing of other ones. I did find there were some glaring omissions. And sometimes the one pagers hugely a little light or too broad /almost unrelated.

[John Bleasdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Spencer Robelen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and fabulous read that includes both classic and contemporary films for the LGBTQ+ community to embrace.

[Fiore · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gorgeous book! Lovingly designed with fascinating tidbits about the people behind the movies alongside a quick rundown of why the films are included on this list.

[David Taffner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated and designed, the films included here adjust for historical biases to include a deeper and broader understanding of what it has meant to be queer. Highly recommended.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great intro to queer cinema!

[Soren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great, I'm glad this isn't just about US made films too!

[mina!! · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a great and quick read that i used to add movies to letterboxd #iloveletterboxd

[Vi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why I picked it up:
Avid Reader Queer Literature Book Club Book for February 2025 (I didn’t participate since the library hold only became available after the scheduled book club)

Review:
I got a few movies to look into after reading this, just in time after I setup my Kanopy account