Celebrate Pride Month with 3-Day Event FRIGHTGOWN Kicking Off Tomorrow!
Josh Millican
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Salem Horror Fest and the Horror Queers podcast have announced the final schedule of events for the inaugural Queer Horror Pride celebration FRIGHTGOWN, a new 3-day virtual Pride festival celebrating queer voices in a series of features, shorts, panels, virtual hangouts, exclusive content for fans and allies alike in support of the Transgender Law Center. The event kicks off tomorrow, Friday, June 25th, and runs through Sunday, June 27th.
Headlining the event will be a pair of feature films with the virtual premiere of Bad Girls directed by Christopher Bickel and an encore of Death Drop Gorgeous directed by Michael J Ahern, Christopher Dalpe, and Brandon Perras-Sanchez. The program will also feature more than two hours of horror shorts that represent characters and creators from all aspects of the rainbow spectrum from directors Kaye Adelaide, Mylo Butler, Michelle Garza Cervera, Yann Gonzalez, Sydne Horton, Richard Louprasong, Neal Mulani, Mark Pariselli, Brodi-jo Scalise, Mariel Sharp, Sean Temple, Michael Varrati, and Sarah Wisner.
A series of panels and Q&A’s will feature tributes to Queer Horror classics Nightbreed and Bit with director Brad Michael Elmore hosted by critics and creators Ten Backe, Dani Bethea, Reyna Cervantes, Wren Crain, Dax Ebaban, Brother Ghoulish, Anthony Hudson, Joe Lipsett, Leigh Monson, Stacie Ponder, Kaila Ren, Trace Thurman, and Bobby Torrez. Legendary professor and author Dr. Harry M Benshoff joins a discussion about the themes covered in his influential book Monsters in the Closet.
Participants are invited to explore a Killer Prom virtual environment designed by Exile PR hosted by Gather Town for live interactions and broadcasts. Users will be able to communicate with each other in real time and discover hidden easter eggs of exclusive content such as GRIM Journal with articles by Alice Collins, Valeska Griffiths, Paul Le, Mary-Beth McAndrews, Terry Mesnard, and Adam Messinger and profiles of queer horror academic Dr. Darren Elliott-Smith, and queer horror podcasts Slash Her and Ghouls Next Door.
The Killer Prom platform also features an exclusive podcast episode on Tragedy Girls from This Ends at Prom featuring BJ and Harmony M. Colangelo, as well as podcast compilation samplers devoted to Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 and Bride of Chucky from Attack the Queer Wolf, Dead for Filth, Gaylords of Darkness, Dirty Little Horror, The Homos on Haunted Hill, Horror Homos, Horror Queers, ScreamQueenz, Slash HerFear, Stop! Horror Time, and The Talking Queers.
Everyone is invited to join late night watch parties for Bit, Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker and Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 (available on SHUDDER and tubi) with the Twitter hashtag #frightgown hosted by Nay Beaver, Devin Baldwin, Wren Cain, ImmortalGraves, Michael Varrati, Matty Zaradich, and more.
Closing the festivities will be Hot Ghoul Summer, a one hour showcase of gender queer performances hosted by Salem drag queen Cain featuring Andrew Barret Cox, Violencia Exclamation Point, Chris Griandher, Complete Destruction, Freddye Dollma Starr, Dick Kayin, Miz Diamond Wigfall, and Peewee Vermin.
Tickets to attend are $25 general admission, $110 VIP. All proceeds go to the Transgender Law Center. VIP members will be able to access the program and additional content on-demand and will receive a limited-edition Pride Day the 13th hockey mask designed by Uncle Boogieman. For tickets, schedule, and program details, please visit frightgown.com.
Message from organizers Joe Lipsett and K Lynch
FRIGHTGOWN is first and foremost a celebration of Queer Horror.
There has always been a significant queer presence in horror, but it was silenced, marginalized and closeted in popular discussions of the genre. In recent years, however, the dialogue has begun to change.
Now is the time to acknowledge and celebrate queer horror.
After more than a year of being kept apart, isolated and disconnected from our community, the need for a communal experience has never been more vital. Queer people deserve a celebratory event – an opportunity to reconnect, and to engage with the films, people and discussions that contribute to our experience as fans and contributors to the horror genre.
These ideals led us to create FRIGHTGOWN, a weekend event aimed at uniting the queer community and its allies. It is a chance to come together, to celebrate queer texts both old and new, and to acknowledge the vital contributions and tenacity of our community.
Like so many Pride events before it, FRIGHTGOWN is also founded in political activism. In response to the heinous attacks on the trans community across the United States, this event is also a fundraiser for Transgender Law Center, which “changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression.” All proceeds of FRIGHTGOWN will go to the TLC, as well as funds from the raffle.
If we can’t be together in person, let us come together virtually: to celebrate, to connect, and to fight for equality on and off screen.
Will you be attending FRIGHTGOWN this weekend? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican. Dread Central is now on Google News!
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