The Best And Worst WLW Relationships In Horror Films

Some films are a win for our community and some are just pandering to the straight male gaze.

I love Halloween and I also love LGBTQIA+ representation in media, so when the two come together, I get incredibly happy… for the most part.

You see, there's a key difference between representation and exploitation (especially in horror movies) and that’s why I wanted to do a rundown of the best and worst depictions of WLW relationships in horror films.

In this piece, I wasn’t looking for perfect WLW romances (I mean, murder and satanic rituals aren’t in my dream relationship) just ones that weren’t envisaged as softcore to titillate men.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Best

All Cheerleaders Die

When the cheerleading team die in a car crash, they are brought back to ‘life’ by Leena, the Wiccan ex-girlfriend of the main protagonist Maddy (played by pansexual actress Caitlin Stasey), and start to pick on other students for food. Over the course of the movie, fellow cheerleader Tracy also begins to fall in love with Maddy.

The interactions between Maddy and her romantic interests had the potential to be pure male fantasy fulfillment (cheerleaders, femme, conventionally attractive) but they actually felt incredibly real to me, which was no doubt in part down to Stasey.

May

May has trouble making friends due to a traumatic childhood but when you find out what she does to her friends, you won’t be surprised. Over the course of the movie, she embarks on relationships with both Adam and Polly, eventually killing them both to create a quasi-Frankenstein that will never leave her.

May and Polly’s scenes are actually incredibly gentle and sweet (until the brutal murder, of course) and left me with a smile on my face.

Lyle

This modern-day retelling of Rosemary’s Baby features a lesbian couple who lose their first child, while expecting their second. Leah, who is heavily pregnant, is haunted by the loss of her daughter and begins to see and hear things that lead her to believe that a supernatural force was responsible for Lyle’s death.

This film, given that it’s about the loss of a child, is not raunchy in the slightest. Instead, the scenes between the two women are loving and tender in a way that makes your heart ache.

Worst

Lesbian Vampire Killers

When best friends Jimmy and Fletch embark on a trip to a remote village, the last thing they expected was to be recruited as vampire slayers but they come around quite quickly.

I know that this a comedy-horror movie and I should probably be a little more forgiving than I’m going to be but there is nothing less authentic in terms of actual representation than a literal curse that turns all women into lesbians. Every single WLW scene in this film was a ploy to get teenage boys to see the film. Sigh.

Jennifer’s Body

It’s a typical high school story- girl goes to concert, gets sacrificed to the devil by a struggling indie band, and comes back to eat the flesh of her class mates.

Now it’s time to stir up some drama in the comments section by saying that the make out scenes between Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried were designed to give a cheap thrill to the male viewers. It felt forced and unnecessary (which is something that I’ve never said about queer representation before). Ultimately, the film might have been better off without it.

Girl House

This slasher flick focuses on a house full of cam girls, including lesbian couple Kat and Mia. While they aren’t the main focus of the film, their initial make out scene was incredibly pandering. The pair even admit to playing up to the male fantasy angle in order to get more views (on the cam site, of course).

Although, I do have to admit that I was impressed by Kat’s attempt to defend her friends by wielding a hockey stick at the spree killer, even if she was eventually killed because of an incompetent security guard.

So, that’s my list of the best and worst depictions of WLW relationships in horror films. What ones would you add to the list? Let me know in the comments below and Happy Halloween.