“The Taking of Deborah Logan” (Adam Robitel, 2014)
Pro tip: If you’re going to watch “The Taking of Deborah Logan,” don’t do it in the middle of the night when you’re completely alone! This found footage feature debut from Adam Robitel masquerades as a plucky med student’s documentary project that quickly takes a freaky turn. Amateur documentarian Mia (Michelle Ang) persuades the financially desperate Sarah (Anne Ramsay) to let her film her mother, Deborah (Jill Larson) for a project on Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, there are darker forces than dementia at work in Deborah, and things soon turn sinister. If found footage isn’t your thing, ‘Deborah Logan’ might not be—it leans pretty hard into the shaky subgenre—but otherwise, it’s a solid, undeniably creepy flick. Adding to the pleasure is Sarah, a lesbian character torn between caring for her proper Southern mother and addressing her romantic desires. Sarah is honestly and tenderly drawn, and she has an intriguing history with the local female sheriff. This isn’t so much a lesbian horror film as it is a horror film with a surprisingly good lesbian secondary character, but still—we’ve gotta take what we can get!
“Women Who Kill” (Ingrid Jungermann, 2016)
Ingrid Jungermann wrote, directed, and starred in this pitch-black comedy about two ex-girlfriends who co-host a true crime podcast about female murderers. (Jungerman co-created “The Slope” with “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” creator Desiree Akhavan. They also dated, but that’s only necessary information for those of you keeping a chart.) Jungermann plays Morgan, a surly lesbian who, despite being allergic to feelings, has tenuous chemistry with her live-in ex, Jean (Ann Carr) and newfound romance with the intriguing Simone (Sheila Vand). Hijinks ensue when Jean suspects Simone might have a murderous past. This movie puts the “lesbian” in lesbian film. A co-op and a softball game are notable settings, and Shannon O’Neill plays Morgan’s boisterous butch best friend. While it doesn’t fit the “horror” bill quite so neatly, “Women Who Kill” is absolutely horror-adjacent—and the film’s jaw-dropping ending is anything but comedic.
“The Carmilla Movie” (Spencer Maybee, 2017)
This one goes out to Gen Z, who made the “Carmilla” web series on YouTube an insane hit—so insane, in fact, that it got its own movie. “Carmilla” is a riff on the original Sheridan Le Fanu tale, but set at college, where Laura (Elise Bauman) is a plucky student journalist and Carmilla (Natasha Negovanlis) is her moody roommate who just can’t go out in the sun for some reason. Their courtship evolves over the seasons until the two are true-blue girlfriends, and “The Carmilla Movie” finds them five years after the events of the series. Carmilla, now mortal, is forced to reconcile with her bloodthirsty past. Though it’s reportedly hard to follow if you haven’t seen the web series, “The Carmilla Movie” blew pre-existing fans away and offered one of those rare, delightful chances to see a same-sex couple happy and in love for the duration of an entire film. It’s like the web series, but with a bigger budget and a sex scene (!). Perhaps too unassuming for the more out-and-out horror films out there, “The Carmilla Movie” is a good time for anyone looking for something simple, sweet, and gay as hell this Halloween.
“Thelma” (Joachim Trier, 2017)
In a year clogged with great independent films, “Thelma” was somewhat lost in 2017’s fray. But those of us who saw it—including The Playlist’s own Rodrigo Perez—were immediately obsessed. This absolute mindfuck of a supernatural thriller follows Thelma (Eilie Harboe), an unassuming university student from an evangelical Christian family. When Thelma begins to develop feelings for her classmate, Anya (Kaya Wilkins), she also begins to develop supernatural powers. Both a story of female agency and repression, “Thelma” presents an unflinching character study as its protagonist grapples with internalized homophobia and first love (and, you know, the black snake that keeps following her around and trying to take over her body). Though I don’t find the ending to be quite as satisfying as some others do, it’s hard to find a well-made, hair-raising art film with great visuals that also leans into lesbianism. “Thelma” delivers on all those fronts and then some. But if anyone wants to go toe to toe on me about the ending, I’ll be out back in five.
I think that makes a pretty good primer for your homosexual Halloween, though there’s so much more to explore down the rabbit holes of lesbian vampires (go find a copy of “Blood and Roses!”), female serial killers (sorry, “Monster,” I still love you) and monstrous women. Go sniff out some good ones for yourself, then you can chew me out for liking “The Moth Diaries.”
Here’s a few trailer for some of the films playing at the Quad, including (in order) Harry Kümel‘s “Daughters of Darkness” with ‘Jeanne Dielman‘ star Delphine Seyrig,”The Blood-Spattered Bride,” “Lust For A Vampire,” José Ramón Larraz‘s “Vampyres” Michael Almereyda‘s “Nadja” starring Elina Löwensohn and Peter Fonda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFRuSbykaV0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_9sjHyrDMo
