This Canadian film is an underrated delve into queer relationship dynamics through a horror trope lens. A lesbian couple arrives at a remote cottage to spend a romantic anniversary weekend away, but quickly one of the women’s murderous motives is revealed. The other partner tries to negotiate her escape as they run after each other in the deep woods—lots of lesbians in flannels. A rather gory film, but if you love movies with hot women who look like they could murder you (and sometimes do), this is the one for you.
While its companion show, The Haunting of Bly Manor, relies on the queerness of the two main characters as an integral part of the plot, The Haunting of Hill House deploys more casual forms of representation. The Haunting of Hill House follows a group of siblings who grew up on a haunted property. It tracks their lives from childhood into adulthood and demonstrates the impact of the house on each sibling and their family unit. One of the sisters, Theo Crane is a lesbian. While it’s a part of her character in the show, it isn’t made a big deal of by any of the other characters. It’s just who she is, and sometimes I find these portrayals of subtle queerness to be some of my favorites.
This is one of my favorite recommendations because it’s equal parts queer representation and trash television. Before there was The Queer Ultimatum, there was Are You the One Season 8. This is my favorite season of reality television out there, which, coming from me, is saying something. I think Are You the One should be queer all the time—nevertheless, this season is exactly what you want it to be: 16 sexually fluid singles in a house dating each other and trying to find their perfect match. There’s drama, there’s sex, and there’s true queer love and joy.
This novel is for queer women by queer women and can be alienating if you don’t know the ins and outs of the community, but that’s what I love about it. It’s for us. It follows the story of Sasha, a feminine lesbian, who struggles with many aspects of her identity. Sasha and her masc-presenting partner embark on a couples vacation with two other queer couples. This novel explores the butch-femme dynamic in a modern setting and is a very raw piece of writing. I love it. If you absorb any of this media, make it this.
This is a fun read which always excites me to discover. Patricia Wants to Cuddle is a spoof on the classic reality TV show The Bachelor. It becomes clear there’s something strange going on when members of the cast and crew start seeing bigfoot-sized footprints and mysterious shadowy figures looming. A part horror, part comedy novel, the contestants on the show “The Catch” begin disappearing on the remote island they’re filming on. It’s about queer utopia and what happens when straight people try to invade said utopia.
