[REVIEW] Divergent Terrors: At the Crossroads of Queerness and Horror

While society stereotypes us as moody, depraved individuals, horror fans are as diverse as they come. What I love about horror fans is despite how someone might appear, I can almost never guess what their favorite horror film is. In one instance, I was particularly taken aback when a woman decked out in pink Hello Kitty merch revealed she was an avid horror film fan. Her favorite film: Martyrs. A film that nobody would expect to be her favorite if she was spotted on the street. Off-Limits Press’ Divergent Terrors: At the Crossroads of Queerness and Horror edited by W. Dale Jordan is a collection of essays by queer horror writers that explores the intersection between horror and queerness while proving that horror as a genre is deeply personal.

Divergent Terrors is a unique collection, providing marginalized voices a chance to discuss horror in relation to their own queerness regardless of their past publications and merits. I enjoyed that this collection wasn’t simply essays by queer horror writers you might recognize from bookstore shelves or Twitter feeds, instead featuring many talented new-to-me authors. The essays’ topics differ wildly, ranging from Twilight to the AIDS epidemic while incorporating touching personal anecdotes of queer discovery and difficulty. Divergent Terrors has a little bit of everything for horror fans, featuring academic deep dives alongside more grounded, personal essays. Editor W. Dale Jordan succeeds at compiling a table of contents that also doesn’t fall into the trap of being repetitive, as authors cover a diverse array of horror classics, lesser-known indies, and video store-worthy B-horror films. 

If you’re a horror fan, I believe that Divergent Terrors has something for you to dig your fangs into, regardless of if you’re a Splatterpunk sapphic or Gothic gay. “Reinventing Tropes” by Mark Allan Gunnells succeeds due to its deep dive into nostalgic horror, while postulating on the diverse and unpredictable future of the genre. On the more academic side, we have Jonathan W. Thurston-Torres’ “Books of Infected Blood: Tales of HIV/Aids in Horror Media”, a well-researched exploration into the portrayal of STIs in horror films with examples ranging from Cronenberg’s Shivers (1975) to It Follows (2014). “Castrationsploitation!” by Louise Weard particularly impressed me, reading like a thesis on castration in horror and exploring this transformation through the lens of gender and metaphor. While some authors choose to remain broad and sweeping with their genre exploration, other essays like Catherine Lundoff’s “Gothic Queer, Edward Gorey and Me”, a love letter to Edward Gorey, paid homage to very specific films, filmmakers, and writers.  On occasion, I felt like the cohesion between the essays’ personal anecdotes and the films discussed could have been stronger and had a more streamlined narrative or treatise.  But more importantly, so many of these essays introduced me to new films, filmmakers, and ways of looking at films I’d seen before, leaving me with an impressive watchlist.