Your Zodiac Sign’s Queer Horror Movie Night Pick for Spooky Season

If you didn’t already know, now you do, that Halloween has modern roots as the gayest holiday of the year. In the 1960s, laws across the United States were passed to prohibit cross-dressing. Women had to wear at least three pieces of feminine clothing, and men had to do the same with masculine attire. These anti-cross-dressing laws remained until the mid-1980s, forever intertwining the more modern tradition of getting dressed in costume with LGBTQ+ liberation. Halloween was the loophole under cross-dressing laws.

Similarly, we know that horror fiction and films are overflowing with queer subtext. The Hays Code, which existed from 1934 to 1968, censored films, greatly reducing what could be explored culturally. If queer people appeared on film, they were often queer-coded villains, as homosexuality fell under sexual perversion in the clause. Name a Disney film, for example, and you can see where queerness reigns in the underpinnings of it all. Horror has been and always will be a place to explore social anxieties, and there is always fear surrounding LGBTQ+ identities and the threat they bring to heteronormativity.

One of the most recognizable queer figures in the horror genre is the vampire. One of the earliest depictions of the vampire was written in 1872 as a sapphic love story, none other than Carmilla. The vampire is yearning to come out of the shadows, the proverbial closet, if you will, and get their life back (i.e., bloodsucking).

Whatever your take or position, there is no denying that Halloween is queer. Want to start off your countdown to Halloween? Use this guide of fantastically queer films to kick off your spooky season. Happy haunting, divas!

Aries: The Old Dark House (1932)

Thankfully made prior to the Hays Code and one of the influences behind The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this film was done by the first openly gay filmmaker James Whale. A hauntingly dark film uses the queer gaze to have a conversation about identity. This film is perfect for any Aries. As the first sign of the zodiac wheel, you have just started your journey through the signs. What better way to be seen?

Taurus: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The glamour of it all screams Taurus. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a queer masterpiece that shifted culture and is still shown today alongside live drag performances. As a sensual sign, Taurus definitely goes with corset-clad Tim Curry (RIP). Don your rhinestones and glamorous heels for this powerhouse of a film.

Gemini: The Hunger (1983)

An erotic gothic vampire flick that is bold in its unapologetically sexual fluidity. This film will appeal to Gemini’s nature of wanting to be seen: the term “vampire” is never used, but it is shown at every turn. This film came out during the height of the AIDS crisis, making a cultural splash with a star-studded cast featuring David Bowie and Susan Sarandon. To ignore the sexual liberation this film offered is to ignore the times in which it was made, and we know Gemini loves to cause a little well-intentioned chaos.

Cancer: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)

A sapphic slasher by a nonbinary filmmaker? Sign me up! Let’s be honest, Cancer: you have a lot of hidden anger, and this film will highlight all of it while also delivering a love story. This is the third film in Jane Schoenbrun’s cinematic universe. If you leave this viewing experience still hiding within yourself, you may need to watch it again. Lean into the experience of expanding your worldview.

Leo: Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

A whodunit but make it horror and add a splash of comedy. Terrifying, creepy, and atmospheric, this campy film draws you in like your personality, Leo. Step into the world of the elite for the night: do you think you could survive? This film satires the generation and class divides, providing substance to an otherwise overdone trope.

Virgo: Hellbent (2004)

Who doesn’t love a little gay slasher brimming with the perfect amount of dreamy gore? Especially when you whip out the little fun fact that it is the first gay slasher and from the 2000s. Step into the fever of Y2K with a masked killer, a tour guide. Lean into every cringe-worthy moment Hellbent serves to you, Virgo. This film has always been hotly debated due to its lack of substance, but just consider it a good brainrot.

Libra: Queen of the Dead (2025)

A flashy film for a flashy diva is exactly what you need, Libra. A drag-queen-filled zombie film set in an LGBTQ+ strip club is the perfect metaphor for the AIDS crisis, don’t you think? The same way that celibacy haunts straight horror flicks, queer drama is frothy with its STD comparisons. Find a good laugh served with a bit of bloody goodness.

Scorpio: Vampyros Lesbos (1971)

Sexy, sexy vampires and sapphic? It is in the name, and we’d all be lying if we said Scorpio wasn’t rightly represented by a vampire trope. Vampires are the ultimate symbol of lesbians, much like witches are the perfect symbol for women’s liberation. Lean into your kinky, hedonistic desires with this queer classic. Created by Jesús Franco, who saw queer horror as seedy and debased, this infamous vampire film is deliciously taboo if you can look past the perverse use of the male gaze.

Sagittarius: Daughters of Darkness (1971)

A retelling of the daring life of Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory as a tragic historical figure. Bathory, or the Bloody Countess, during her time as a noble, was rumored to have murdered hundreds of women to bathe in their blood for youth. It was suggested that the claims of missing girls were unsubstantiated, and it was thought to have been a ploy by her royal cousin to control her estate, but during her trial there were a plethora of witnesses (among other evidence) to Bathory’s crimes. Bathory reclaims her glamour on screen in this 1971 film as a proper succubus. If you’re going to make a woman out to be a killer, at least make it daring, and a Sagittarius loves to set the record straight with a bit of revenge.

Capricorn: Jennifer’s Body (2009)

The most iconic film on this list, starring everyone’s queer awakening, Megan Fox. This revenge fantasy is the perfect way to encapsulate your desire toward order, Capricorn. This cult classic is the ideal bisexual dream but made horror, and may stir desire, so viewers beware. Light-hearted but also shamelessly campy, this film hits home every rewatch.

Aquarius: All Cheerleaders Die (2013)

It is a crime that this revenge fantasy horror comedy is not as beloved as Jennifer’s Body, but such is the life of an Aquarius. This film has the perfect concoction of gore and female tenderness. This flick will be beloved by anyone who enjoyed Promising Young Woman by Emerald Fennell. All Cheerleaders Die has a little bit of everything from the sapphic to the hauntingly undead and even a bit of the magical.

Pisces: Knife+Heart (2019)

What better way to appeal to the delicate sensibilities of a Pisces than Yann Gonzalez’s Knife+Heart? This flick pays homage to the gay French porn scene, complete with stalkers as masked killers. Surreal in its delivery, the violence builds fear in the viewer as we all navigate a queerphobic world on screen and in real life. And people dare to say a Pisces doesn’t have vision when they’re normally right eventually.