Horror Film and the Queer Spectator: An Empirical Study of the Spectatorial Relationships between Queerness, Genre, and Drag Performance

Petrocelli, Heather O (2022) Horror Film and the Queer Spectator: An Empirical Study of the Spectatorial Relationships between Queerness, Genre, and Drag Performance. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

Queer connection to and presence in horror has been theorized for decades, yet previous research emphasized the queer relationship to horror as being subtextual, allegorical, and figurative. This research undertook a groundbreaking study of the queer spectator of horror film, building upon theoretical discourse with empirical data to evidence that queer embodiment has ontological and phenomenological connections to the horror genre. This study gathered 4,107 survey participants and conducted 15 in-depth oral histories, leading to the presentation of the first empirical, comprehensive, and inclusive understanding of the queer spectator’s horror opinions, habits, and tastes. The conclusion made by engaging and analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data results, simply stated, is that, to the queer spectator, horror is queer. The mixed-method data also evidences that a significant percentage of queer spectators actively and therapeutically engage with horror to work through their queer trauma and knowingly have a camp relationship to horror. Furthermore, this study establishes the importance of the queered presentation of horror films to queer audiences as live cinema screenings that feature live drag performance, investigated through case study examinations of Peaches Christ’s Midnight Mass and Carla Rossi’s Queer Horror. This interdisciplinary study makes overdue and impactful empirical contributions to the fields of queer, horror, trauma, camp, and live cinema studies. The investigations and conclusions of this study not only lead to the queer spectator of horror film being affirmed a place in academic discourse, but also function to make visible and galvanize the diverse community of horror-loving queers.