Reviews tagging 'Grief'

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese

15 reviews

judassilver's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Ableism, Biphobia, Self harm, Outing, Transphobia, Body horror, Violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria

Minor: Deadnaming, Racism, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Pedophilia

itstheesilvie's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

If you’re gay and a fan of analyzing films, this book is perfect. Bringing multiple queer, trans, and POC perspectives “it came from the closet” reviews and dissects at least one (if not all) of your favorite horror/thriller films. 

Most importantly it allowed me as a reader to connect with each essay. Feeling heard and seen for finding comfort, entertainment, representation and inspiration in the genre is prominent in these essays. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Death, Grief, Blood, Cannibalism, Addiction, Outing, Alcohol, Body horror, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Murder

bebidocrimes's review

informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

This was such a great collection that covered not only a good range of sexualities and genders, but dove into some intersectionality of race and disabilities as well. It has encouraged me to interact with horror in new ways, inspecting its facets from all angles. After all, there usually isn't one right answer.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Biphobia, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Transphobia, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Gore, and Grief

cheye13's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

Approaching this as a queer reader (which I am) rather than a horror fan (which I am not), I found this an excellent book. The audiobook is very good, readers specifically chosen for each essay, and the physical version has cool art pieces, so either edition has something special.

The essays read easily as narrative and/or memoir rather than dry academic papers. There is film analysis (good, relevant interpretations of subject matter) but always in conversation with personal (and often highly specific) voice and experience. A couple essays flopped for me, but the collection is edited and composed very well.

Favorites (5⭐️)

• Both Ways (Jennifer’s Body) by Carmen Maria Machado
• Imprint (Grace) by Joe Vallese
• Three Men on a Boat (Jaws) by Jen Corrigan
• Loving Annie Hayworth (The Birds) by Laura Maw
• The Same Kind of Monster (The Leech Woman) by Jonathan Robbins Leon
• The Trail of His Flames (Nightmare on Elm Street) by Tucker Lieberman
• Bad Hombre (Is That You?/Eres tu Papa?) by Sarah Fonseca
• The Healed Body (In My Skin/Dans ma peau) by Jude Ellison S. Doyle

Honorable Mentions (4⭐️)

• The Wolf in the Room (Good Manners/As Boas Manieras) by Prince Shakur
• The Wolf-Man’s Daughter (The Wolf Man) by Tosha R. Taylor
• Centered and Seen (Candyman) by Sumiko Saulson
• The Me in the Screen (Us) by Steffan Triplett

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Violence, Murder, Gore, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content, Grief, Racism, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Homophobia

Minor: Biphobia and Sexual violence

Most content warnings are from descriptions of film scenes, but many essays narrate similar personal experiences to the films they're about, so be mindful going into each essay of which film it's discussing.

thegayestghost's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Biphobia, Death, Grief, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Infertility, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Child death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

amaranth_wytch's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Death of parent, Gore, Addiction, Bullying, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Classism, Death, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Transphobia

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Transphobia, Ableism, Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual assault

danimacuk's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Medical content, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Body horror, Self harm, Transphobia, Violence, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Bullying

taelights's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

While I did like some of the essays in this book and found some of the topics in it fascinating, this wasn't what I expected. I pictured more of a focus on horror through a queer eye and why the authors believe certain horror movies portray queer experiences. While some of the essays focused on this I found a lot of the essays were mainly focused on the writer's personal lives with some vague connections back to the horror movies. I did enjoy this a bit but wouldn't really recommend it because of some weak essays and a lot of them being more just memoirs than queer looks at horror. 

My favorite essays (in order of book) were:

- The Girl, the Well, the Ring 

- Imprint 

- The Wolf Man's Daughter 

- Loving Annie Hayworth 

- Blood, Actually 

- Sight Unseen 

- Bad Hombre 

- Black Body Snatchers 

- Long Nights in the Dark 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Biphobia, Blood, Homophobia, Medical content, Chronic illness, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Gore, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Ableism, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

mallory10100's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Deportation, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Pedophilia, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Gore, Sexual content, Body horror, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis