For those of you who aren’t caught up on Rob’s Amateur Hour podcast yet, Pride Month 2022 also runs concurrently with the Kickstarter campaign for the film he’s producing! HAUNTOLOGY is a queer horror road trip anthology from writer-director Parker Brennon, who is also an AE contributor. Just one day in, they’re already more than halfway toward their financial goal, which will help make the movie as perfect as it can be. You can donate, earn special perks (including a Special Thanks, a screener of the final product, or even a role in the movie), and learn all about the film at the link below:
Click here to donate to the Hauntology Kickstarter!
In honor of this brand new anthology that’s coming soon, I’ve decided to run through some of the best segments in previous horror anthology projects! I’ve tried to steer clear of some of the most obvious entries like the Zuni fetish doll sequence from Trilogy of Terror, but hopefully some of your faves are represented, or you can be exposed to some brand new killer content!
#5 “I Was a Teenage Werebear” Chillerama (2011)
written and directed by Tim Sullivan
Certainly the queerest entry on this list, “I Was a Teenage Werebear” is a John Watersian riff on suburban high school featuring actual gay porn star Brent Corrigan as a student who is bitten and uncontrollably transforms into a monstrous leather bear. It’s a deeply low-budget affair, but a completely affable and fun romp that also features a cameo from horror stalwart Lin Shaye!
#4 “The Gas Station” Body Bags (1993)
written by Billy Brown and Dan Angel; directed by John Carpenter
John Carpenter returns to the genre he helped create with 1978’s Halloween in this slasher riff about an attendant (Alex Datcher) working the graveyard shift at the world’s creepiest gas station while a serial killer (Robert Carradine) prowls around the property. This delectably spooky amuse-bouche features cameos from Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, and An American Werewolf in London‘s David Naughton!
#3 “Boys Do Get Bruised” Tales from the Hood (1995)
written by Darin Scott and Rusty Cundieff; directed by Rusty Cundieff
Tales from the Hood is an across the board harrowing and prescient film about the Black experience in America, but this segment is a standout for its visual creativity. A young boy (Brandon Hammond) has been making disturbing drawings of a monster attacking him that his teacher (Rusty Cundieff) realizes may be him subconsciously expressing that his mother’s boyfriend (David Alan Grier) is abusive. This segment visually expresses a young boy’s imagination as well as its supernatural denouement in an effects-forward explosion that highlights the story’s emotional impact.
#2 “They’re Creeping Up On You!” Creepshow (1984)
written by Stephen King; directed by George A. Romero
Business mogul Upson Pratt’s (E.G. Marshall) predilection for squashing the little guy won’t help him when his immaculate apartment becomes infested with giant, unkillable insects. If you have any sort of bug-phobia, this segment will certainly get under your skin in a major way.
#1 “Safe Haven” V/H/S 2 (2013)
written and directed by Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Evans
This segment eats up nearly half of the run time of the entire feature, and it earns every minute of that expansive run time. The story follows a documentary crew attempting to expose the inner workings of a mysterious cult in Indonesia. They quickly realize they have bitten off more than they can chew, and things go from bad to worse to holy shit in a manner of minutes, combining all-out action, skin-crawling horror, and a few well-deserved laughs.
Brennan Klein is a millennial who knows way more about 80’s slasher movies than he has any right to. He’s a former host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast and a current senior movie/TV news writer at Screen Rant. You can find his other reviews on his blog Popcorn Culture. Follow him on Twitter or Letterboxd, if you feel like it.