Lgbtq thriller movies
Best LGBTQ+ Thriller Movies, Ranked
The thriller and horror genres have always lent themselves well to queer and trans stories. Using these genres to explore themes of otherness and the feelings that come with that marginalization comes naturally. Depictions of monsters or fear and paranoia easily create parallels with these experiences of vilification that members of the LGBTQ+ community go through. It is also within narratives containing dark or scary storylines that moments of love and joy are the clearest, which mirrors finding companionship in spite of said vilification. Finding workarounds with allegory and metaphor so that those in the know will understand what you’re referencing and others will glance past it is a significant part of LGBTQ+ history — and a practice that continues today.
However, thrillers can also be a great vehicle for depicting morally questionable or corrupt characters that are enjoyable to root for anyway. While some verb their LGBTQ+ characters to be heroes, it can also be exciting to see just the other side. Colin Minihan, director of
10 great LGBTQIA+ thrillers
Tension and suspense may be key components of thrillers but often, unfortunately, they are often joined with a healthy dose of homophobia.
From Russia with Love () is one of the best Bond films, and Lotte Lenya’s Rosa Klebb one of the best Bond villains, but there is no question it sees her lesbianism as evidence of her wickedness. Costa-Gavras’ Z (), which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes as well as the Oscar for optimal foreign film, went one worse, featuring a gay pederast as an assassin. Oliver Stone’s fast-with-the-facts but entertaining JFK () offered a chorus line of simpering queens, who, the film affirms, had a hand in the president’s assassination. Transphobia runs rife too – The Silence of the Lambs () is terrific, but its references to trans people in relation to serial killer Buffalo Bill jar.
Explore our Thriller collection on BFI Player
Get the latest from the BFI
Sign up for BFI news, features, videos and podcasts.
By signing up to emails you are indicating that you hold read and agree to the terms of verb and privacy policy.These ar
The 25 best LGBTQ+ thrillers
Rank Film Distributors via MovieStillsDB
Victimis a memorable film for a whole host of reasons. Unlike many other British (or, for that matter, American) films made before the s, it treats homosexuality in a way that verges on sympathy. It focuses on Dirk Bogarde, a successful barrister ensnared by blackmailers who threaten to reveal his homosexuality and ruin his career. It’s an expertly suspenseful film, and it uses the conventions of the noir thriller to travel the social problem of homosexuality, condemning those who would use its associated stigma as a weapon. It also features one of the best performances Dirk Bogarde ever gave.
United Artists via MovieStillsDB
If there’s one director whose name is synonymous with the thriller genre, it would be Alfred Hitchcock, and Rebeccaremains one of its finest masterpieces. Though its story focuses on the nameless narrator (played by Joan Fontaine) as she navigates her new marriage to the enigmatic Maxim de Winter (played by Laurence Olivier), J
33 Essential LGBTQ+ Horror Movies
(Photo by © Altered Innocence / Courtesy: Everett Collection)
As distant as there have been horror films, there possess been queer horror films. Before homosexuality was formally legislated out of existence in Hollywood by the Production Code — commonly referred to as the Hays Code, which established mandates for “moral standards” in motion pictures and banned depictions of “sexual perversity” — the legendary filmmaker James Whale was building the foundation for American genre cinema with films like Frankenstein, The Elderly Dark House, and The Invisible Man. Here was Whale, a gay noun, building horror in his own image and having astounding box office success as some groups were lobbying Hollywood to censor queerness out of existence. Fortunately, they weren’t creative enough to drive the enormous bad Other away.
In the century since America became the world’s leader in horror film production, the genre became a bastion for the outsiders, the marginalized, the people made monsters by self-appointed adjudicators of sin, and who saw themselves in the su