Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese

11 reviews

cardaisy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.75

This was a bit of a mixed bag, like a lot of anthologies and collections are, but overall I really enjoyed it. What I find interesting is reading reviews where people felt annoyed that it was a bit repetitive and that everyone's essays had the same couple of themes, or focused too much on their personal lives, when really that's what I expected. When it comes to the horror genre and queer identity, I feel like there are really only a limited number of ways that someone can feel represented or seen, but I found it interesting to see how that came through in all these different movies for each author

Some of my favourites were:
*The Wolf Man's Daughter (The Wolf Man) - I just loved this one. It really poignantly, imo, touched on the emotional estrangement some queer people have from their families, and parents in particular, and how many of us compartmentalize different aspects of our life and relationships. Also I think that it's the only one that made me cry 
*Loving Annie Hayworth (The Birds) - The author gives a great analysis of the sapphic subtext that appears in this movie, and parallels that relationship with her own experiences of an ambiguous relationship she had as a teen and how neither situation ever got closure  
*The Healed Body (In My Skin/Dans ma peau) - Just so good. The analysis that the author presents of the intense body horror in this movie relating to how some people experience dysphoria was incredibly well done 
*A Demon-Girl's Guide to Life (The Exorcist) - I thought this was a great opener that really set the stage for the rest of the book and what to expect from it. I loved how the author described her experience watching the movie at three different times in her life and how she related to it differently each time 
*Three Men on a Boat (Jaws) - A fun queer analysis of Jaws, and an emotional reflection on the invisibility of bi/pansexuality. What makes this one even better is the angry 1 star review I saw where someone was so affronted at people "making up same sex narratives that never even happened" that they gave their copy away because they couldn't stand to see it on their bookshelf

And two honourable mentions, one for The Girl, the Well, the Ring (The Ring; Pet Semetary), which was one of the few entries to really touch on the anger at seeing yourself in the people demonized by some horror movies, and The Trail of His Flames (Nightmare on Elm Street), which, in addition to being a reflective piece, was also just an excellent breakdown of the movie 

Also, I just wanted to say that strangely there seems to be another edition of this book that features a forward and additional story by Kirsty Logan? It's odd because I can't really find any promotion of the newer edition including a new story, but the page count is longer and the index includes reference to these added sections. I was using a preview of an ebook to follow along as I listened and was so confused when one story was completely skipped

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*A Demon-Girl's Guide to Life (The Exorcist) - 4.5
Both Ways (Jennifer's Body) - 4
My Hand on the Glass (Hereditary) - 2.5
*The Girl, the Well, the Ring (The Ring; Pet Semetary) - 4
Imprint (Grace) - 4
Indescribable (The Blob; Society) - 3.5
A Working Definition of the Monstrous (Godzilla) - 3.5
The Wolf in the Room (Good Manners/As boas maneira) - 3.5, really enjoyed this but it ended so abruptly! Wish there was more 
*Three Men on a Boat (Jaws) - 4.5
*The Wolf Man's Daughter (The Wolf Man) - 5
Twin/Skin (Dead Ringers) - 3
*Loving Annie Hayworth (The Birds) - 4.5
The Same Kind of Monster (The Leech Woman) - 3 
Centered and Seen (Candyman) - 3.5
Blood, Actually (Friday the 13th, Part II) - 3
*The Trail of His Flames (Nightmare on Elm Street) - 4.5
The Me in the Screen (Us) - 4
*Sight Unseen (The Blair Witch Project) - 4.5
Bad Hombre (Is That You?/¿Eres tú, papa?) - 4
*Black Body Snatchers (Get Out) - 4.5
Long Nights in the Dark (Halloween) - 4
On Beauty and Necrosis (Eyes Without a Face) - 4.5
Good Guys, Dolls (Child's Play) - 1.5
*The Healed Body (In My Skin/Dans ma peau) - 4.5
Notes on Sleepaway Camp (Sleepaway Camp) - 2

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Violence, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

melissaamy7's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Blood, Grief, and Medical trauma

kalebd_2125's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

Some interesting thoughts, wish it focused more on the films themselves and not how they mirrored the lives of the authors.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Violence

torismazarine's review

dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

elysianbud's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault

danimacuk's review

challenging emotional funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Self harm, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

taelights's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

While I did like some of the essays in this book and found some of the topics in it fascinating, this wasn't what I expected. I pictured more of a focus on horror through a queer eye and why the authors believe certain horror movies portray queer experiences. While some of the essays focused on this I found a lot of the essays were mainly focused on the writer's personal lives with some vague connections back to the horror movies. I did enjoy this a bit but wouldn't really recommend it because of some weak essays and a lot of them being more just memoirs than queer looks at horror. 

My favorite essays (in order of book) were:

- The Girl, the Well, the Ring 

- Imprint 

- The Wolf Man's Daughter 

- Loving Annie Hayworth 

- Blood, Actually 

- Sight Unseen 

- Bad Hombre 

- Black Body Snatchers 

- Long Nights in the Dark 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

technicolorlady's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book compelled me to pick up a highlighter to mark all the parts I loved and wanted to reread easily. Wow. What a read. A must read for anyone interested in the intersection of queerness and horror.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer and Infidelity