“If it gets too real, you can always turn it off.”
– Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)
For the fifth year in a row, Autostraddle is diving into horror as part of our annual October series, Horror Is So Gay. While past versions of this series haven’t had a specific theme beyond, well, queer horror, we’re trying something new and exciting this year. For the fifth iteration of Horror Is So Gay, we’re considering the Slasher. It feels right, in the year that brought us Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, to take a stab at this particular subgenre of horror. This series has always explored the thin line between fear and desire, and slashers more than any type of horror live in that in-between. They’re all about flesh and fluids, as Billy Presley puts it.
Drew Burnett Gregory and I once teamed up to rank every Stephen King film adaptation in our list with a somewhat jokey title, Two Lesbian Critics Rank Every Stephen King Film Adaptation. Building on that work, we’ve got another ambitious list project in store for you: We will be ranking all the films in every major slasher franchise. That’s right, we’re bringing you Two Lesbian Critics Rank Every ‘Scream’ Film, Two Lesbian Critics Rank Every ‘Halloween’ Film, Two Lesbian Critics Rank Every ‘Friday the 13th’ Film and so on and so forth for Child’s Play, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Yes, most of these films are overwhelming straight. Many of them are problematic. But as we wrote in our Stephen King project, we’re interested in queer and trans perspectives on horror that isn’t necessarily textually queer. That’s the outlook on art that the entire Horror Is So Gay series was built on. Every pop culture site has these ranked slasher lists, and now we will, too. But ours will be better because they will be gayer. Check back throughout the month to see us passionately defend our underrated favorites. Argue with us! We welcome it!
And there will of course be more than just lists. We’ve got a slate of fresh essays contending with the Freddys, the Jasons, the Michaels, the Chuckys, the Ghostfaces, the Leatherfaces of horror cinema. And we might just introduce you to a slasher or two you’re less familiar with. It’s a more expansive genre than you may realize, and the essays coming your way will slash their way into the heart of what makes the genre so compelling, disturbing, enduring, and (sometimes, yes) erotic.
Happy horror month, and remember: Slashers are so gay.
Revisit the past Horror Is So Gay issues:
Horror Is So Gay (2022)
Horror Is So Gay 2 (2023)
Horror Is So Gay: The Threequel (2024)
Horror Is So G4Y (2025)
And if you want to settle into our Slashers theme, revisit these essays published in past HISG issues that are about slasher films:
“Knife + Heart” and the Thin Line Between Desire and Destruction
Two Decades Ago, a Lesbian Slasher Movie Came Out — Then It Turned Into a Ghost
“A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” and the Horror of Generational Trauma
I Want To Get in Your Car: Hitchhiking and ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’
‘Sleepaway Camp’ Was Kinda Heterophobic if You Think About It
