Queer For Fear Episode 2 Presents Mixed Bag Of Horror Insight

Shudder’s Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror focused on two directors moving through Hollywood during the time of the Hay’s Code and struggles with coded characters. Following the work of James Whale and Alfred Hitchcock, the episode gave insight into a majority of their works while putting a major focus on a select few.

Some moments from Queer for Fear‘s second episode were incredibly poignant and insightful, but I wish there were a better exploration of the impact of outside influences, such as foreign horror directors and individuals pushing the boundaries of gender expression and identity. Favorite parts from the episode include the conversation about Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein and about the life of Anthony Perkins, especially those of his son, Oz Perkins. It was a beautiful and heartfelt expression of understanding for those actors and creative people in horror that were either out of the closet or being pushed back in. 

Queer for Fear looked at the use of villainous queer-coded characters in Hitchcock’s work which is numerous when seeing his career in directing. Although important to look at his work, I do wish other people around his time in horror were also focused on. This episode felt like a bonus round instead of progressing forward and diving into what is a rich history of queer cinema affecting the horror genre. It is definitely worth the watch, and the information given is important to queer history, but things could have been structured better overall. The inclusion of narration, like with the note from Whale, is an added touch I’ve come to appreciate with this docuseries deeply, and I’m glad it continued in this episode. I hope to navigate through the topics within the LGBTQIA+ umbrella going forward. It would interesting to see Queer for Fear examine something more than queer men in the next episode.

Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror Episode 2

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Review by Brittney Bender

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7/10

Shudder’s Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror Episode 2 is definitely worth the watch and the information given is important to queer history, but things could have been structured a little bit better.

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