Why I Love New York: Queers for fears

 
 "New York City boyyy ... where Seventh Avenue meets Broadwaaay!"

I may have mentioned in the past that I have a real soft spot for horror movies. Heck, I started the first gay horror movie website a number of years ago and still can't walk past a video store without peeking in to see what obscure delights their dusty shelves might hold. Some call it obsession, I call it being thorough.

But if there's one thing I've learned by going to horror movies in New York City, it's that I'm not the only gay horror fan out there, and that more gay men than ever are turning to horror movies for a guaranteed fun night out on the town.

In fact, I'd bet on Mrs. Voorhees' shrunken head that opening night of Friday the 13th will put the "camp" in Camp Blood.

Even 10 years ago, catching a slasher flick on opening night in NYC was a far more ... shall we say, "risk-adjacent" experience than it is today. Heck, I was almost shot when a squabble broke out during a screening of John Carpenter's Vampires in the East Village when popcorn buckets were dropped in favor of firearms. (And seriously, how much would it SUCK to be killed during such a lousy movie? Like I'd want to have to haunt that mess for the rest of eternity...)

But in recent years there has been a noticeable swelling of the gay horror moviegoing audience. I remember noticing for the first time at opening night of the Dawn of the Dead remake that the auditorium held more groups of thirtysomething gay men than teenagers. Coincidentally, the movie itself featured more rippling biceps and men's hair product than exploding zombies, but we'll get to that later ...

Two weeks ago Andy and I splashed out $15 a ticket with a few friends to see My Bloody Valentine 3-D on opening night. We arrived insanely early to get good seats (my OCD when it comes to moviegoing knows no bounds; do you know anyone else who walked out of Eight Legged Freaks and demanded a refund because he could tell that one of the speakers was out? Eight Legged Freaks, people, not Lawrence of Effing Arabia...) and as we were watching the audience file in I noted to my straight friends, "Just watch - this theater will be at least half gay men once it's full."

Sure enough, by the time the previews started the audience was full of chipper gay men in good-spirited groups. It was like a circuit party where everyone kept their shirts on and no one OD'd.

Jensen Ackles in My Bloody Valentine 3-D

So what's the deal here? Are more gay men going to see horror movies than used to? Or are gay men just more comfortable in this day and age with being themselves in groups out in public?

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that horror producers seem to be picking up on the fact that throwing a hot guy or two into the central cast isn't a terrible idea (is it a coincidence that both MBV3-D and Friday the 13th are anchored by male leads - itself a rarity for the slasher genre - and that both are pinups from The CW?). I mean, really ... thanks to the new 3-D technology, how much closer am I going to get to a lapdance from Jensen Ackles?  

I've already seen the Friday the 13th remake so I won't be there on opening night with all my horror-loving homo kin. But hey, at My Bloody Valentine I sat immediately behind JD, the adorably humpy massage therapist from the last season of Work Out, so if you're catching the movie in NYC maybe you'll find yourself face-to-face with a guy who doesn't need to hide behind a hockey mask.