Spooky Season is the best time of year to dive into the horror/thriller genre as much as possible. I mean, who doesn’t love to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and binge through the classics or venture into something new and scary? From psychological thrillers to haunted horrors, the horror/thriller genre has started to include actual queer representation and produced some of our favorite characters within the past few years.
If you find yourself like me, scrolling through Netflix for something that packs all the scares plus the bonus of queer representation, this list is for you! So, sit back, relax and get ready to binge-watch everything on this list!
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American Horror Story/American Horror Stories
We couldn’t start this list without mentioning one of the most queer-filled and longest-running horror series to date — American Horror Story. Although their spin-off series American Horror Stories is pretty new, it deserves inclusion for its queer characters.
Since the first season, this show has done a lot to include queer characters, starting with the famous previous tenants of Murder House: a gay couple forced to live in the house forever after their murders. Though every season boasts many characters, the writing does a great job of remembering to give each character their own story and providing us with the horror and scares we love.
American Horror Story Seasons One to Nine is streaming on Netflix, and Season 10 of American Horror Story and Season One of American Horror Stories are currently streaming on Hulu.
Fear Street Trilogy
Though this second entry on our list is a reasonably short three-episode series, it hit the ground running as not only one of Netflix’s best horror stories but also one of the best queer reps of the younger generation in horror. For three episodes, we follow the tale of a queer teen couple and their friends to uncover the traumatic bloody history of their town that spans centuries.
Fear Street puts a queer love story in the middle of this epic three-part slasher series in a way you wouldn’t expect. Loosely based on R.L. Stine’s book series of the same name and taking inspiration from classics like Scream, The Blair Witch Project and Friday the 13th, it takes us back to one of the scariest times in history: the Salem Witch Trials.
This story provides us with everything a solid horror series needs — an enticing account, great characters and villains that haunt you. To top it off, fantastic queer representation! You can watch the series on Netflix.
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The Haunting of Bly Manor
The Haunting of Bly Manor, brought to us by Mike Flanagan, follows the story of a young au pair, Dani, who moves from America to the UK to look after two young children in a countryside manor home to many haunting figures. Dani’s tragic past haunts her and the house’s ghostly presence.
However, as things begin to unravel, the show tells the story of Dani coming to terms with her sexuality and allowing herself to fall for the Manor’s quick-witted gardener Amelia. This series is fantastic because it tells this epic love story without straying from the horror aspect, which countless shows and movies have failed to achieve.
It’s hard not to fall in love with Dani and Amelia as we see their love grow and mature. We finally get to see a genuinely great queer love story take center stage in a horror show that’s also written with genuinely solid storytelling. This nine-episode series is streaming on Netflix.
The Haunting of Hill House
Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House centers around a family of five as they move into their new terrifying home, Hill House. This installment tells each character’s story and the tragedy plaguing their lives because of the house.
Among the family is the queer and gifted middle sister, Theo, who appears to possess psychic powers through touch. Her tale is one of many, as it’s mixed in with her parents and siblings. We don’t get as much screen time with this powerful queer character as we’d like. However, if you’re looking for a classic ghost story with plenty of jump scares, this show is perfect for a Halloween binge-watching session! Watch all episodes on Netflix.
Mindhunter
One of Netflix’s most famous psychological thrillers, Mindhunter, gives us plenty of real-life horrors as it follows the stories of two FBI agents and a psychologist as they try to analyze the minds of serial killers. Both seasons occur in the late 1970s to early 1980s as the FBI interview real-life haunting figures like Charles Manson, Edmund Kemper and David Berkowitz.
We only get glimpses into the life of psychologist Dr. Wendy Carr in the first season as we see her struggle with being a queer woman in the FBI during the ’70s. This show accurately portrays the lives of each character while still inspiring fear in the minds of its viewers with real cases and studies based on the FBI’s actual Elite Serial Crime Unit.
It realistically showcases Dr. Carr while balancing being openly gay when the gay rights movement had just begun. We’re given insight into her internal struggle during the second season as she strives to create the first-ever profile on serial killers. In addition, she is living her life as an openly queer woman in a heavily cis male-dominated workforce.
We hope to see more of this fantastic character in Season Three since it feels like we barely scratched the surface of what makes her great. This show only has a handful of jump-scare moments, but the actual horror comes from diving deep into the minds of history’s most infamous serial killers. Catch Seasons One and Two on Netflix.
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We look forward to the horror-thriller genre adding more queer representation in the future, but for now, we hope you enjoyed these selections from some of our favorite series. Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below and on social media!
Article written by Taylor Rose
This article was originally published in 10/2021.
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This article is too good!! I’m a big fan of Hill house and Bly manor is great too