Through the lens of horrorfrom Halloween to Hereditaryqueer and trans writers consider the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences.

Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropessuch as the circumspect and resilient final girl, body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closetspark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world.

It Came from the Closet features twenty-five essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifers Body, Jude Ellison S. Doyle on In My Skin, Addie Tsai on Dead Ringers, and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.

Through the lens of horror–fromHalloweentoHereditary–queer and trans writers consider the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences.

Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes–such as the circumspect and resilient “final girl,” body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet–spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world.

It Came from the Closetfeatures twenty-five essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado onJennifer’s Body, Jude Ellison S. Doyle onIn My Skin, Addie Tsai onDead Ringers, and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.

Joe Valleseis coeditor of the anthologyWhat’s Your Exit? A Literary Detour Through New Jersey. His creative and pop culture writing appears inBomb, VICE, Backstage, PopMatters,Southeast Review,North American Review,Narrative Northeast,VIA: Voices in Italian-Americana, among others. He has been a Pushcart Prize nominee and a notable inBest American Essaysfor his essay “Blood, Brothers.” He is currently clinical associate professor in the Expository Writing Program at New York University, and previously served as site director and faculty for the Bard Prison Initiative. Joe holds an MFA New York University, and MAT and BA degrees from Bard College.

Carmen Maria Machadois the author of the short story collectionHer Body and Other Parties, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the bestselling memoirIn the Dream House. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and the Abrams Artist-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania.

Bruce Owens Grimm is a Pushcart-nominated, queer ghost-nerd based in Chicago. He is a coeditor ofFat and Queer: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Bodies and Lives. His essays and reviews have appeared inThe Rumpus,Brevity’s Nonfiction Blog,Sweet: A Literary Confection,Entropy,AWP’s Writer’s Notebook, and elsewhere. He attended the 2021 Tin House Winter Workshop as well as residencies and workshops at The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Vermont Studio Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) among others.

Zefyr Lisowskiis a trans and queer writer, artist, three-time Pushcart nominee, and North Carolinian currently living in New York City. She is the author ofBlood Box, winner of the Black River Editor’s Choice Award, and the microchapWolf Inventory. She is the poetry coeditor forApogeeand was a 2019 Tin House Summer Workshop Fellow. Lisowski’s work has appeared inLiterary Hub,Nat. Brut.,Muzzle Magazine, andDIAGRAM, among others. She has received support from Sundress Academy for the Arts, McGill University, the New York Live Ideas Fest, the Blue Mountain Center for the Arts, and the 2019 CUNY Graduate Center Adjunct Incubator Grant.

Richard Scott Larsonearned his MFA from New York University, and he is the recent recipient of fellowships from MacDowell and the New York Foundation for the Arts. His creative and critical work has appeared in theLos Angeles Review of Books,Chicago Review of Books,Harvard Review,Colorado Review,Electric Literature, and elsewhere. His writing has also been listed as notable inThe Best American Essays, and he is an active member of the National Book Critics Circle.

Sarah Fonsecais a self-taught writer from the Georgia foothills who lives in New York City. Her fiction and cinema writing have appeared inBosie,Evergreen Review,Leste Magazine, theLos Angeles Review of Books, Museum of the Moving Image’sReverse Shot, and others. She is a coeditor ofThe New Lesbian Pulp(Feminist Press 2023).

• Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY (October 4, 2022)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 400 pages
• ISBN-10: 1952177790
• ISBN-13: 9781952177798
• Item Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 8.5 inches