Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

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

18 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

emzhay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Ableism, Child abuse, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Pregnancy, Gore, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, and Biphobia

Minor: Sexual assault

obscurepages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

Can you believe I've been reading this for 7 months?! 😭😂 This started out as a Libby loan for me, and now I have a physical copy! And I've finally finished it!!

This book was so good 😭 I love watching horror, reading horror stories. I think as a genre, horror is so flexible and versatile and transcendent. 

This anthology does an amazing job of showing just how versatile and profound horror movies can be, especially when viewed in a queer lens. Reading this, I think I gained a better understanding of how horror functions and what it can serve to the viewers. I learned about gender and sexuality from personal accounts and stories from the authors. I also learned how gender, sexuality, race, religion, and geographic locations can intersect and how that unique experience can be shown in a genre like horror. And as a queer person, reading this book also gave me more insights about the relationship that the queer community has with horror—why we relate to it, why it gives a safe place, how we can shape it to tell our stories. I loved it and it just reinforced to me how horror is such an excellent genre.

There were a few of essays that seemed dull/drawling, but there were also some that were so well-written and poignant. Some essays that stood out for me are:

• Three Men on a Boat by JEN CORRIGAN (Jaws)
• The Me in the Screen by STEFFAN TRIPLETT (Us)
• Black Body Snatchers by SAMUEL AUTMAN (Get Out)
• The Healed Body by JUDE ELLISON S. DOYLE (In My Skin)

I also just wish every essay came with specific content warnings. Some of these can be really triggering. It's also why I had to stop every now and then because some essays are harder to digest and process compared to others.

Still, this was an excellent read overall. I can see myself going back to specific essays and reading them all over again.

Exact rating: 4.5 ⭐️ (Might post a detailed review on the blog!)

Find me elsewhere: <a href="http://www.instagram.com/obscure.pages/">Instagram</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/lxndrnae">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://enthralledbookworm.wordpress.com/">Blog</a>

Marking this book as part of my reading challenge: <a href="https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/fcf9e7dc-39a5-49e2-9f7d-a243f5073985">#ReadQueerly2024</a>.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Death, Blood, Racism, Transphobia, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Gore

madmads126's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Miscarriage

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

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

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

atuin's review against another edition

3.5

A collection of essays connecting horror films to queer peoples personal experiences. Some are better than others, but all have interesting points and most have compelling stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Self harm, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Racism

moreadsnrambles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, and Physical abuse