The gayest horror movie of the 1980s : A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 vs. Fright Night

 Being that it is October, and I was trying to work in a post about two of my most favorite subtextual gay horror movies, I figure why not now. Usually, my blog focuses on the anti-LGBTQ industry, but there are times in which I feel we need a break. Also, I love sneaking little bits of LGBTQ culture in from time to time.

Others may disagree but, in my opinion the two most subtextual gay horror movies of the 80s were A Nightmare on Elm Street Two: Freddy's Revenge (1985) and Fright Night (1985). They come from way back in the day in which openly gay characters weren't dared to be shown on screen, so there were a lot of implications and homoerotic undertones. 

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 is considered by many to be a very subversively gay horror movie. Of course, when I watched it, I was surprised and pleasantly pleased by the amount of male nudity is showed. Now, as our community has moved out of the closet and into the warm glow of sunshine, it turns out that the undercurrent of homosexuality in this movie was in fact intentional.

As further proof of this, you can either watch my friend Matt Baume espouse about it:

 

 

Or just skip to the good stuff: 

    

 And then there was Fright Night which I absolutely adored. This movie was about a young man (Williams Ragsdale) who discovered that his next-door neighbor (Chris Sarandon) was a vampire and rather than simply ignore it (which the vampire actually told him to do), he decides to save the day. 

Unlike Nightmare on Elm Street 2, the gay undertones weren't as blatant. But they were there:

 

 There was one specific scene which I watched repeatedly. It's when the vampire corners the young man's friend (Stephen Geoffreys) in an alleyway. Instead of simply attacking him, he seduces him in a nonsexual (but highly sexually hinted) way:

 

Many of Fright Night's cast members have places in LGBTQ cinema history.

Chris Sarandon (the vampire) received an Oscar nomination for his motion picture debut as Al Pacino's pre-op transgender boyfriend in Dog Day Afternoon. Amanda Bearse (Charley's girlfriend and the damsel in distress) became an LGBTQ icon when she came out while starring in the long running television show Married With Children.

Jonathan Stark (who played the vampire's attendant) later became a television writer and shared an Emmy award for co-writing the landmark episode of Ellen in which Ellen DeGeneres's character came out. Roddy McDowall (Peter Vincent) had been dogged for years about rumors of his sexual orientation. And even Stephen Geoffreys cemented a dubious place in LGBTQ film history by starring in several gay pornographic movies. He has since made a comeback to horror movies.