Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

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

39 reviews

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

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

mallory10100's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

sydneynorman's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Classism

overbooked207's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.75

📖 It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror edited by Joe Vallese Book Review 📖

6th book of January 2023 and 6th of the year:

I love the fact that I’m getting really into nonfiction books over the past few years! Being a queer person who loves the horror genre, this immediately caught my attention, with it being a nonfiction book by queer authors that talks about the queerness, whether seen explicitly in the text, in subtext, and/or through the audience’s interpretation, in horror media throughout the years and how the representation affects and is affected by the world around it! I enjoyed some of the stories a lot more than others, with some of my favorites being ‘The Girl, the Well, the Ring,’ ‘Three Men on a Boat,’ ‘Loving Annie Hayworth,’ ‘Centered and Seen,’ Sight Unseen,’ and ‘Black Body Snatchers,’ but I recommend it as a whole and want to read more things like it! I also love the cover and the title! TWs for ableism, abortion, abuse, bigotry, blood, body horror, death, drugs, gore, grief, homophobia, medical content/trauma, mental illness, miscarriage, murder, pedophilia, pregnancy, racism, rape, self-harm, sexual content, transphobia, violence, and vomit.📚🧟‍♂️🎃☠️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer and Infidelity

mihrreader's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

3.75

It was pretty eye opening to re-experience horror movies through other queer lenses and see how one piece of media can mean many different things to many different people. I understood before that the queer community tends to have a deeper and more personal affinity for horror, and the extent of that understanding was limited to camp and gender-bending villains, but now I see there are more (and sadder) reasons for it. Many essays touch on the theme of young queer and trans people, especially those who came of age during the AIDS crisis, feeling monstrous in some way and thus relating to horror movie monsters. Reading about that opened my eyes to how lucky I am to not have that same relation to monsters, murderers, and horror. This book is definitely in some ways a queer history book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Sexual violence, and Violence

keelin's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Mental illness

aliciawhatsthestory's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

4.0

Book 37 of 2022: It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As someone who has always been fascinated by horror movies, the premise of this book appealed to me immediately. It is a collection of essays from 25 different authors that reflect on horror in a memoir style. Though film theory is certainly discussed, this book is an interesting and accessible hybrid between social theory, film theory, and self-reflection. 

That said, it comes with all the difficult content one might expect from a book written by a large group of marginalized people reflecting on how fictional horrors reflect their own lives experience. Some of these essays are hard to read.

However, I found them all to be insightful, interesting, and (for the majority) very well written and readable, even if you are not familiar with the films they address. Due to the wide array of experience represented in this anthology, it is highly likely that no reader will connect with every single essay, just as no horror fan loves every single horror movie. 

However, for any fan of horror, or any person interested in how queer people have been represented in horror movies, this is definitely a worthwhile read.

Please be aware that this book discusses at least 20 different horror movies, and the content/trigger warnings from each movie should apply, including but not limited to: body horror, vomit, blood, murder, harm by fire, abuse, and captivity. Other triggers may also be present in the authors’ commentary on their own lives, including homophobia, transphobia, racism, slurs, sexism, lesbophobia, divorce, and other potential triggers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

This book is about horror movies. Please be aware that I may not have remembered every single trigger mentioned. Due to its theme, the book is filled with references to violence and abuse in the context of the movies and in the context of the lives of the authors who relate to those movies. Know what you are going into before you read this book.