QUEER HORROR

SLEEPAWAY CAMP

JUNE 18, 2015

Directed by Robert Hiltzik, SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983) follows the painfully shy and slightly traumatized Angela (Felissa Rose), as she moves in with her eccentric (see also: bizarre) aunt Martha and cousin Ricky following a family tragedy. Martha sends the kids to Camp Arawak for summer camp, and soon after their arrival, a series of bizarre and increasingly violent accidents begins to claim the lives of various campers. Who is the twisted individual behind these murders? Beyond its undeniable queerness – and a suprising amount of queer characters – SLEEPAWAY CAMP is remarkable for being one of the few camp slashers to actually feature adolescent actors, while the final revelation of the killer’s identity is one of the most shocking climaxes in the history of American cinema.

BEETLEJUICE

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Directed by Tim Burton, BEETLEJUICE (1988) follows Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin & Geena Davis) after a sudden car accident leaves them haunting their own home. Soon these two fledgling ghosts seek the help of “bio-exorcist” Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to banish the well-to-do Deetzes before their once-quaint farmhouse gets turned into New York’s trendiest new summer art center. Featuring iconic starring turns from Catherine O’Hara & Winona Ryder as Delia and Lydia Deetz – and out actor Glenn Shadix as the unapologetically-in-your-face queer psychic interior designer Otho – BEETLEJUICE celebrates a campy and colorful otherworld where art is dangerous, family is chosen, women call the shots, and outsiders can proudly proclaim: “I myself am strange and unusual…”

ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES

NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Directed by Barry Sonnenfield, ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES (1993) picks up as a mustachioed baby Addams is born, Wednesday and Pugsley head off to summer camp, and Uncle Fester falls for a black widow killer looking for love and a Ballerina Barbie. Written by out screenwriter Paul Rudnick with music by Marc Shaiman (Hairspray) and starring queer icons Anjelica Huston, Christina Ricci, Carol Kane, Christine Baranski, Dana Ivey, and the incomparable Joan Cusack as Debbie, ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES turns the family film on its (severed) head like only the Addams clan can.

BOUND

FEBRUARY 14, 2017

Directed by revolutionary trans sisters Lana & Lilly Wachowski (THE MATRIX, SENSE 8), 1996’s BOUND follows Violet (Jennifer Tilly), a mobster’s girlfriend, and ex-con-for-hire Corky (Gina Gershon) as the two fall head over heels and hatch a daring plot to run off with $2 million in blood money in a deadly race against time. Featuring some of the steamiest love scenes in any mainstream film and responsible for the meteoric rise of the Wachowskis, BOUND offers an adrenaline-fueled Sapphic twist on Mafia heist films guaranteed to hit straight in the heart.

SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE

APRIL 6, 2017

Written by queer activist Rita Mae Brown and directed by Amy Holden Jones, 1982’s SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE follows high school senior Trish Devereaux (Michelle Michaels) as she invites her best friends over for the titular sleepover only to become targets of an escaped killer with a predilection for power drills. Relying on each other – and with help from their high school Coach Jana (Pamela Roylance) – the women band together to take down the killer in a Freudian climax that paved the way for feminist revenge fantasies as far-reaching as Quentin Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF to Disney’s MALEFICENT.

DROP DEAD GORGEOUS

JUNE 15, 2017

Written by Lona Williams and directed by Michael Patrick Jann, 1999’s DROP DEAD GORGEOUS follows Minnesotan teenage beauty queens vying for the title of American Teen Princess – and the killer intent on taking out the competition! Bringing together a jaw-droppingly talented cast including Kirstie Alley, Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Brittany Murphy, Denise Richards, Mindy Sterling, Nora Dunn, Mo Gaffney, and the film debut of Amy Adams, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS is an endlessly-quotable black comedy and a modern camp classic that proves if looks can kill, laughter is twice as deadly.

DEATH BECOMES HER

AUGUST 24 & 26, 2017

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, 1992’s DEATH BECOMES HER turns lifelong Hollywood rivals Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) into immortal frenemies after they acquire an elixir of youth kept by the mysterious Lisle von Rhoman (Isabella Rossellini). Unfortunately everlasting youth – and Madeline and Helen’s feud – survives well after their pulses cease. Also featuring Demi Moore’s ex-husband Bruce Willis, DEATH BECOMES HER is jam-packed with breakthrough effects, iconic one-liners, and legendary performances that cement its status as a camp classic for an eternity to come.

BATMAN RETURNS

DECEMBER 14, 2017

Directed by Tim Burton, 1992’s BATMAN RETURNS pits Batman (Michael Keaton) against an inexperienced shock politician (Danny DeVito) funded by a woman-murdering CEO (Christopher Walken). Meanwhile, as the men of Gotham squabble amongst themselves, the mysterious vigilante Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) is born from beneath a swarm of alleycats and prowls the streets of Gotham in search of vengeance. Simultaneously the greatest and least-Batman film ever made, BATMAN RETURNS is the only gothic childhood Christmas classic featuring Siouxsie and the Banshees and an exaltation of the avenging, chaotic feminine led by the battle cry “I am Catwoman – hear me roar!”

BRIDE OF CHUCKY

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

Directed by Ronny Yu, 1998’s BRIDE OF CHUCKY throws a queer femme wrench in the CHILD’S PLAY series when Chucky’s old flame Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) finds the original Good Guy doll and resurrects her grimly beloved – but old habits die hard and Tiffany finds herself trapped in a doll’s body for one hell of a honeymoon! Featuring Alexis Arquette, Katherine Heigl, Kathy Najimy, and Brad Dourif as Chucky – and written by Don Mancini, the out queer mastermind behind each entry in the so-far-seven-part franchise – BRIDE OF CHUCKY sets the groundwork for the funniest, craziest, and queerest slasher series of all time.

FRIDAY THE 13th PART VII

FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2018

Directed by John Carl Buechler, 1988’s FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII follows telekinetic teenager Tina (Lar Park Lincoln) after she unwittingly frees Jason (Kane Hodder) from beneath Crystal Lake and fearlessly commits to returning the hockey masked-slasher from whence he came! Featuring out queer actors Kevin Spirtas, Susan Blu, William Butler, Craig Thomas, and Jeff Bennett in a camp-fest that can only be described as Carrie Goes to Camp Crystal Lake, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD is as insane and unstoppable as the bloodline of Pamela Voorhees herself!

SCREAM

JUNE 21, 2018

Directed by Wes Craven and written by out queer screenwriter Kevin Williamson, 1996’s SCREAM follows final girl Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) as a ghost-faced killer knocks off her friends one by one – and the only way to survive this real-life scary movie is to know the rules! Featuring Courtney Cox, Rose McGowan, David Arquette, and Drew Barrymore in one of the most iconic opening scenes of all time, SCREAM completely altered the course of millennial horror – inspiring its own franchise, TV series, and decades of imitators – and continued a century-long legacy of queer filmmakers shaping the cultural consciousness of an entire film genre with gleeful wit and buckets of blood.

THE FINAL GIRLS

AUGUST 23, 2018

Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson and written by Joshua John Miller and his husband M.A. Fortin, 2015’s THE FINAL GIRLS takes recently-orphaned Max (Taissa Farmiga) to a memorial screening of the ‘80s camp slasher film CAMP BLOODBATH starring her late actress mother (Malin Akerman). After a freak accident in the theater, Max and her friends find themselves trapped inside the movie itself, leaving Max to team up with her mother’s cinematic doppelganger against an omnipotent ‘80s slasher. Also starring Alia Shawkat and Adam Devine, THE FINAL GIRLS is like CABIN IN THE WOODS meets THE LAST ACTION HERO, but as a harrowing, hilarious, and heart-wrenching homage to the horror genre and the women who lead it.

HALLOWEEN: H20

OCTOBER 25, 2018

Directed by Steve Miner from a treatment by producer and out queer screenwriter Kevin Williamson (SCREAM), 1998’s HALLOWEEN: H20 finds Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) living under an assumed identity as a private school headmistress in Northern California, two decades after she became the sole survivor of her brother’s bloody rampage in Haddonfield. When Michael returns to finish what began on Halloween night in 1978, Laurie must rediscover her inner survivor to save not just her own life but those of her only son (Josh Hartnett) and his girlfriend (Michelle Williams). Also starring LL Cool J and Joseph Gordon Levitt, HALLOWEEN: H20 is the original sequel to ignore the rest of the franchise and pit Laurie Strode in a relentless fight to the death with Michael Myers – and in the process creating a feminist warrior more fierce than death itself.

Candyman

December 6, 2018

Directed by Bernard Rose and based on a story by queer horror legend Clive Barker, 1992’s CANDYMAN stars Virginia Madsen as Helen Lyle, a white graduate student studying urban legends at the Cabrini-Green projects in Chicago. After hearing the tale of Candyman (Tony Todd) from resident Anne-Marie (Vanessa Williams), Helen and her friend Bernadette (Kasi Lemmons) soon find themselves face-to-face with a terrifying legend brought to life! One of the first mainstream films to confront the real-life horrors of racism and slavery in the horror genre (and to inspire such films as GET OUT by Jordan Peele, who is currently working on a remake) CANDYMAN hooks you with a lullaby-like score by Philip Glass and will keep you from ever looking into a mirror – or the mirror of American history – the same way again.

SEED OF CHUCKY

February 14, 2019

Written and directed by series creator and out queer filmmaker Don Mancini, 2005’s SEED OF CHUCKY drops Chucky (Brad Dourif) and Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) in Hollywood on the set of film-within-a-film “Chucky Goes Psycho,” starring Oscar nominee Jennifer Tilly herself! But this time the killer couple finds themselves raising their non-binary child Glen – or Glenda? – (Billy Boyd) and plotting to take over Jennifer Tilly and Redman’s bodies in order to establish a nuclear family all their own. Also starring the High Pope of Trash John Waters, SEED OF CHUCKY plays like KRAMER VS. KRAMER with a family of murderous dolls, and firmly establishes the CHILD’S PLAY franchise as the absolute queerest, funniest, and most risk-taking and genre-bending slasher series of all time!

THE STEPFORD WIVES

March 15, 2019

Adapted from Ira Levin’s classic thriller, 1975’s THE STEPFORD WIVES follows photographer Joanna Eberhart (Katharine Ross) as she moves with her husband and children to a quiet suburban community in Connecticut. But something strange is happening in the town of Stepford, where the local women have replaced their careers and ambitions with cooking and cleaning – at least ever since the town’s defunct women’s group was visited by Betty Friedan – and Joanna and fellow newcomer Bobbie (Paula Prentiss) find themselves in a race against time to learn what lurks behind the walls of the Stepford Men’s Association. Derided upon its release for being both too “anti-men” and “a rip-off of the women’s movement,” this incisive and ahead-of-its-time satire is more relevant, hilarious, and terrifying than ever before.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

April 11, 2019

Directed by Jonathan Demme and based on the book by Thomas Harris, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS opens with FBI trainee Clarice Starling (out queer actor Jodie Foster) being assigned to interview Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) with the hope of profiling and catching a serial killer called Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). But Clarice and Hannibal form an unlikely connection that will radically alter not only their lives but that of the Senator’s daughter (Brooke Smith) trapped in Bill’s well. Winner of the “Big Five” Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Screenplay), THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is a modern-day Persephone myth that is as problematic and complex as it is staunchly feminist, queer, and absolutely terrifying.

RESIDENT EVIL

June 13, 2019

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson from the smash-hit video game series, RESIDENT EVIL opens with Alice (Milla Jovovich) waking up in a mansion without memories – until she’s quickly swept away by a tactical response team into the Hive, the evil Umbrella Corporation’s underground biological weapons lab where a nefarious security system will stop at nothing to contain an unfolding outbreak of the zombifying T-Virus. Co-starring out queer actor Michelle Rodriguez, RESIDENT EVIL is ground zero for the relentless and completely bonkers action franchise starring perpetual badass and queer icon Milla Jovovich!

HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT 2

September 5, 2019

Directed by Bruce Pittman from a script by out gay screenwriter Ron Oliver, 1987’s HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT 2 – connected to 1980’s PROM NIGHT only in name and setting at Hamilton High – opens with 1950’s bad girl Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) dying in a smoke bomb accident at her coronation as prom queen. Thirty years later, the vengeful spirit of Mary Lou makes her homecoming and possesses good girl Vicki (Wendy Lyon) so she can finally live the prom night of her dreams – and everyone else’s nightmares! Co-starring genre legend Michael Ironside, HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT 2 is a wild, sleazy joyride with one of the most liberated and unapologetic killer women in horror, leading Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron (on the How Did This Get Made? podcast) to say of it, “I have seen hardcore porn with less horniness than this movie!”

ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK

October 31, 2019

Starring (and written by) Cassandra Peterson as the titular horror host, 1988’s ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK drops Elvira into the small-minded small town of Falwell, Massachusetts, where she hopes to fund her next show with an inheritance from her deceased aunt Morgana. But when the will leaves her nothing more than a house, a poodle, and a recipe book, Elvira has to draw upon her newfound friends and her bad-ghoul street smarts to raise the money she needs and defeat her evil warlock uncle. Co-starring Edie McClurg as conservative clown Chastity Pariah, ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK is a campy, comedic cult classic living up to the name of one of horror’s best and bustiest icons. Unpleasant dreams!

THE SENTINEL

December 12, 2019

One of the last great prestige horror films of the 1970s, Michael Winner’s THE SENTINEL (1977) stars Cristina Raines as Alison, a model looking for a New York apartment away from her overbearing boyfriend Michael (Chris Sarandon). When a shady realtor (Ava Gardner) shows her the perfect brownstone, she immediately falls for it and her eccentric new neighbors – including a flamboyant cat-owner (Burgess Meredith) and lesbian ballet dancers (Sylvia Miles & Beverly D’Angelo) – until she realizes the building has a horrifying history, and it might have something to do with the blind priest on the top floor. With a stacked ensemble including Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Jerry Orbach, José Ferrer, John Carradine, and Deborah Raffin, THE SENTINEL is simultaneously a glitzy time capsule, a gay panic nightmare, and a masterfully made horror classic packed with stars, cats, cakes, and demons aplenty.

CHILD’S PLAY 2

February 14, 2020

Written by out queer filmmaker and Chucky mastermind Don Mancini, 1990’s CHILD’S PLAY 2 finds Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) in the care of foster parents (Jenny Agutter & Gerrit Graham) after his first encounter with serial-killer-turned-killer-doll Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif). But the nightmare begins all over again when a revived Chucky finds his way home – and Andy’s only hope is his street-smart foster sister Kyle (Christine Elise). Co-starring genre legends Grace Zabriskie and Beth Grant, CHILD’S PLAY 2 lays gleefully gory groundwork for one of the scariest, queerest, and still thriving horror franchises of the last three decades.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

December 3, 2021

Presented on the cusp of its 25th anniversary and written by out queer screenwriter Kevin Williamson (SCREAM), I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER follows four teens (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr, and Ryan Phillippe) who cover up an accidental hit-and-run only to find themselves stalked by a hook-wielding fisherman one year later. Co-starring 1990s horcruxes Johnny Galecki and Anne Heche, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER broke the brains of countless queer teenagers between Sarah Michelle Gellar's iconic chase scene, the bold choice to make Jennifer Love Hewitt a Final Girl, and Ryan Phillippe in a towel.

THE LURE

March 31, 2022

Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska and featuring music by Barbara & Zuzanna Wronska, THE LURE chronicles Silver and Golden (Marta Mazurek & Michalina Olszanska), two man-eating mermaids adopted by a washed-up lounge singer (Kinga Preis) to entertain at the sleaziest club in 1980s Warsaw. But when one of them falls in love with a human man, their victims won’t be the only ones ripped apart. Partially based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid," THE LURE is a surreal, frenetic, and gorgeously gory queer fantasy on rocking techno waves.

SCREAM 2

April 29, 2022

Written by out queer screenwriter Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven, SCREAM 2 (1997) finds Sid Prescott (Neve Campbell) on the college quad when a bloody bout of copycat murders starts up thanks to a new horror film called STAB. Co-starring Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Jada Pinkett, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Heather Graham, Tori Spelling, Portia De Rossi, Rebecca Gayheart, and Laurie Metcalf as Debbie Salt, SCREAM 2 is one of the best and most fun slasher sequels of the 20th century—and the only one featuring Aunt Jackie.

ALL ABOUT EVIL with Peaches Christ

June 24, 2022

Written and directed by Joshua Grannell (Peaches Christ), ALL ABOUT EVIL (2010) tells the tale of Deborah Tennis (Natasha Lyonne), a mousy librarian who takes over her late father’s movie theater—and the series of grisly murders caught on camera that transform her into the new queen of indie splatter cinema. Co-starring Cassandra Peterson (Elvira), Mink Stole, Thomas Dekker, Heklina, and Peaches Christ herself, ALL ABOUT EVIL is a beautifully bloody and queer love letter to depraved horror films, independent moviehouses, and the rabid fans who love them.

PSYCHO

August 19, 2022

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring legendary gay actor Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, PSYCHO finds Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) checking into the Bates Motel after stealing $40,000 from her employer. But when Marion disappears without a trace, her sister (Vera Miles), her fiance (John Gavin), and a private investigator (Martin Balsam) uncover the shocking truth behind Norman Bates and his mother. Featuring the most famous shower scene ever committed to film, an iconic score by Bernard Herrmann, and a killer queer twist, PSYCHO remains a horror masterpiece today just as it was in 1960.

BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA

October 31, 2022

Directed by Frances Ford Coppola, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA takes the titular text and throws it in a blender with every Dracula film before it. This time Jonathan Harker is a silver-haired Keanu Reeves with a vaguely British accent; after being held hostage in a castle by old Dracula (Gary Oldman), Jonathan's feminist fiance Mina (Winona Ryder) and her best friend with benefits Lucy (Sadie Frost) find themselves in danger of becoming undead. Can the weird, loud, Dutch, and arguably queer Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) and a coterie of Victorian men save these women from liberation? Co-starring Cary Elwes, Monica Bellucci, Richard E. Grant, and Tom Waits as Renfield, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA is queer in its remixing of the Dracula mythos and its feminism, and is downright gorgeous to look at—complete with a slew of in-camera effects that still stun 30 years later.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

December 1, 2022

Directed by Neil Jordan from a screenplay by Anne Rice herself, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE brought gay vampires into the mainstream with some of the '90’s biggest stars. After Louis (Brad Pitt) finds himself newly undead as the chosen companion of the vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise), the two venture from New Orleans with their vampire child Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) while everything in the world changes except for themselves. Featuring a breakthrough performance from 10-year-old Dunst and one of Tom Cruise's most compelling characterizations—so much that Anne Rice, who intially spoke out against his casting, put a two-page ad in Variety praising his work—and co-starring Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater, and Thandiwe Newton, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE is a lush and crucial entry in the saga of queerness, not just in horror but on film as a whole.

February 14, 2023

Directed by Peter Weir from Joan Lindsay's classic novel, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK follows an Australian girls' school's titular class picnic on Valentine's Day, 1900. But when three girls and their teacher suddenly vanish, as if into the Hanging Rock itself, it sets the remaining schoolgirls, their unflinching headmistress Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts), and the neighboring colony on a collision course with obsession and doom. Gorgeously filmed (and inspiring Sofia Coppola's THE VIRGIN SUICIDES) and featuring multiple queer-coded characters, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK is a sumptuous masterclass in existential terror and how to make it beautiful.

EVIL BABYLON

May 13, 2023

A film by local collective Body Academics, and supported in part by the Regional Arts and Culture Council, EVIL BABYLON is a phantasmagorical, psychosexual science-fiction movie musical masterpiece: the story of a sexually-repressed evangelical race car driver and the kink-positive party planet that leads him on a journey towards self acceptance. Made with all-original music, incredible animation, and starring a bevy of Portland drag all-stars, EVIL BABYLON is a riotous new spectacle that must be seen to be believed.

June 3, 2023

Directed by Robert Zemeckis and co-written by queer screenwriter Martin Donovan, 1992’s DEATH BECOMES HER turns lifelong Hollywood rivals Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) into immortal frenemies after they acquire an elixir of youth kept by the mysterious Lisle von Rhoman (Isabella Rossellini). Unfortunately everlasting youth—and Madeline and Helen’s feud—survives well after their pulses cease. Co-starring Bruce Willis, DEATH BECOMES HER is jam-packed with breakthrough effects, iconic one-liners, and legendary performances that cement its status as a camp classic for an eternity to come.

PRACTICAL MAGIC

August 31, 2023

Based on the book by Alice Hoffman, PRACTICAL MAGIC stars Academy Award winners Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, two sisters in a family of witches whose husbands are all cursed to die. But when their aunts (Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest) leave town, they soon find themselves raising the dead and simultaneously fending off demonic possession and a handsome murder detective (Aidan Quinn). Co-starring Goran Visnjic, Evan Rachel Wood, Camille Bell, Chloe Webb, and character actress Margo Martindale, PRACTICAL MAGIC is a cross-genre oddity and classic that will leave you craving midnight margaritas.

HELLRAISER

October 31, 2023

Written and directed by out gay creator Clive Barker, HELLRAISER follows Kirsty (Ashley Laurence), who just wants to live a normal teenager's life. Unfortunately, her family has just moved into the home of her hedonistic, sadomasochistic, and freshly-skinned Uncle Frank (Sean Chapman), who has entered into a murderous love game with Kristy's wicked stepmother Julia (Clare Higgins), just in time for Pinhead (Doug Bradley) and the cenobites to come and collect what's theirs. A stunning debut based on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart, HELLRAISER is a gorgeous, gory, and outrageously horny injection of iconic '80s queer horror.

Black Swan

January 25, 2024

Directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman in an Academy Award-winning performance, BLACK SWAN transforms Portman into Nina Sayers, a hungry young dancer suffering under the expectations of herself, her domineering mother (Barbara Hershey), her predatory artistic director (Vincent Cassel), and the angry diva (Winona Ryder) she's set to succeed in a new production of Swan Lake. But as Nina tortures herself to become the Black Swan, a romance with a beautiful rival (Mila Kunis) sends Nina spiralling into a whirlwind frenzy of self-discovery, self-actualization, self-destruction, and ultimate perfection.

BIRDS OF PREY AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANICIPATION OF HARLEY QUINN

March 31, 2024

Produced by Margot Robbie and directed by Cathy Yan, BIRDS OF PREY AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF HARLEY QUINN stars Robbie as the queer psychiatrist-turned-antihero, right on the heels of her breakup with Mr. J—and Gotham is coming for Harley with a laundry list of grievances. But when gay crime boss Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) and his hench-boyfriend Victor Zsasz (a bleached-blonde Chris Messina) put a bounty on teen pickpocket Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), Harley allies with Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), chanteuse Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) to take back Gotham with a wave of radical femme vengeance. A frenetic, ultraviolent explosion of color, sound, wicked writing, and pitch-perfect performances, BIRDS OF PREY is the end-all Harley Quinn film: a chaotic queer fantasy in line with TANK GIRL and the funniest feminist superhero film ever made.

BASIC INSTINCT

May 31, 2024

Directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Sharon Stone in a legendary performance, BASIC INSTINCT follows no-good, gun-happy, coke-snorting homicide detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) as he investigates a sex murder ripped straight from a book by queer novelist Catherine Tramell (Stone). Did Catherine kill her lover (played by pinup legend and Elvira's former beau, Bill Cable)? Will she kill Nick? And what will Catherine's murderous raver girlfriend Roxy (Leilani Sarelle) and Nick's psychologist girlfriend Beth (Jeanne Tripplehorn) do about it? Written by Hollywood's sleaziest screenwriter, Joe Ezsterhas (SHOWGIRLS), and partially inspired by Verhoeven's queer thriller THE 4TH MAN, BASIC INSTINCT is an anti-cop, anti-Hollywood satire that lampoons Americans' love for law and fear of sexuality—all dialed up to 11 and featuring one of the greatest femme fatales in film history.