The Closet Cases Restricted; Files Only
McClain, Jacob (Spring 2022)
Published
Abstract
The Closet Cases is a feature horror screenplay that combines a slasher flick with a gay coming-out romantic comedy. In the Midwest, suburban town of Cummins, the news of a local pastor’s brutal murder sends the townspeople into a gay panic. When his best friend, and the only out-and-proud gay in town, Cameron Lee dies from vicious stabbing, closeted teenager Joey Simons finds himself caught in a homophobic killer’s deadly scheme. When a gay hookup app yields more clues than the police, Joey takes it him upon himself to uncover who’s murdering the queer people of Cummins. Set during Halloween, this comedic whodunit slasher plays with gay film stereotypes, horror tropes, and expectations of teenage masculinity in suburban America. In addition, The Closet Cases also comes with a supporting creative statement, which details research regarding the screenwriting process, the horror genre, gay representation in fiction and film, a history of homophobia, and a reflection on the writing process. Further, the creative statement also details a subgenre of a gay films nicknamed Twink Flicks- teenage romantic comedies that most often feature gay, closeted, attractive, skinny, white, American teenage boys as protagonists- and how this script hopes to flip these movies on their head.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………… 4
On Writing the Screenplay ………………………………………………………………………. 5
On the Horror Genre ………………………………………………………………………….…. 7
On Contemporary Horror ………………………………………………………………………... 9
On Homosexuality & Homophobia ……………………………………………………………. 11
On Gay Representation in American Fiction & Film ………………………………………….. 14
On the Slasher Flick ……………………………………………………………………………. 17
On the Twink Flick …………………………………………………………………………….. 19
On Queering Horror ……………………………………………………………………………. 21
On Writing & Rewriting ……………………………………………………………………….. 24
Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………... 26
Works Cited ……………………………………………………………………………………. 27
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Primary PDF
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File download under embargo until 27 May 2024 | 2022-04-11 12:32:20 -0400 | File download under embargo until 27 May 2024 |
Supplemental Files
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File download under embargo until 27 May 2024 | 2022-04-11 12:32:25 -0400 | File download under embargo until 27 May 2024 |