Comic-Con 2016

Horror films, TV shows, books and comics have always attempted to bring us to the threshold of our fears and force us to come face to face with the "otherness" that exists outside of the mainstream. For those in the LGBTQ community, this sense of otherness within the genre is not only terrifying, titillating, and transgressive, it's quite often also relatable. The LGBTQ community has had a long history with the horror genre, from James Whales' Frankenstein to the oft-cited "gayest movie of all time," A Nightmare on Elm Street 2. Has the current surge of LGBTQ acceptance and civil rights influenced the horror genre? Does a gay horror genre exist, and if so what makes it different from mainstream horror? Or has queer horror finally stepped out of the darkness and into the light? Prism Comics and moderator/screenwriter Michael Varrati (Tales of Poe, Flesh for the Inferno) and horror genre professionals Jaclyn Chessen (Shock Attack), Alan Rowe Kelly (Tales of Poe, The Blood Shed), Chris Landon (Disturbia, Paranormal Activity franchise), Aja Romano (web culture reporter, Vox/fandom expert), and Darren Stein (Jawbreaker, GBF) discuss the history of this popular field from a queer perspective.