124. Queer Frights & New Media: Horror Beyond the Screen (with Bobby Torrez)

Snarky Opener (0:00)

Bobby Torrez

I didn't really see too many people that looked like me, as far as Black queer men talking about horror, you know, and I wanted to be that representation for other people.

And even like my friends and family was like, do something creative with this. You always talk about horror movies. We always go to you for like, horror movie recommendations. Do something cool.

So, I said, Alright, I guess I'll do it.

Episode Introduction (0:42)

Rob Loveless

Hello, my LGBTQuties, and welcome back to another episode of A Jaded Gay. I'm Rob Loveless and, today, I am a non-jaded gay because recently, the weather has finally cooled off.

It's feeling like fall. It's dark, it's overcast. Yesterday I spent all day watching scary movies and drinking my pumpkin iced coffee from Dunkin.

It was such a fall vibe and like we're here, we've made it everyone. I'm so excited.

Spooky New Media (1:06)

Rob Loveless

And keeping it consistent with the fall themes, I am super excited to have a very special guest joining us today to talk all things spooky. We'll get into it shortly, but you know the drill, let's pull our tarot card.

Tarot (1:21)

Rob Loveless

So, we drew the Six of Wands in reverse. As you may remember, Wands is tied to the element of fire. It's masculine energy, which is very action-oriented.

And Wands is connected to our creativity, our passions, and sometimes our sexuality. In numerology, six is tied to balance, choice, and harmony.

And I think it's important to note that this immediately follows five, which is sometimes referred to as the conflict number.

So, we're beginning to move away from that hardship or conflict in five and working to establish some balance in six.

However, the Six of Wands in reverse usually shows up when there's a delay to our success or events aren't going as planned.

But let's ask the question, are we delayed in achieving successes we think we need to achieve or are things not going our way because we were told they need to happen a certain way?

Basically, this card is suggesting we create our own definition of success. So, let's look within to see what we actually want for ourselves and make sure we're not just seeking the approval and validation of others.

Once we align with what success looks like for us, hopefully, we'll notice that it's easier to move toward those things because we're letting our energy flow freely in that direction, instead of blocking it, trying to achieve what everyone else thinks we should.

Guest Introduction (2:34)

Rob Loveless

And with that in mind, I am very excited to welcome our next guest. He is a horror tuber and podcaster who likes it on the spooky side. Please welcome Bobby Torrez.

Hi, Bobby. How are you today?

Bobby Torrez

I'm pretty good. How are you? Thank you for having me.

Rob Loveless

Doing well, thanks. Thanks for coming on. I'm very excited for this episode like we were talking about before we started recording.

I've just been for so long now in the Halloween mood, and we're finally here. So, I'm excited to join another horror lover to talk all things spooky.

And I think it's fitting that the first time we hung out, we actually were at Travis McMaster's birthday at Moster Vegan. So just ties the whole spooky theme together.

Bobby Torrez

Yes, yes, that was a good time. You know, the whole atmosphere. Travis is, you know, a great friend brought us together. And yes, I'm happy that you're having me here for spooky season.

And yeah, we're gonna talk all things spooky, and I guess queer, and all the good stuff.

Rob Loveless

All the best things. I mean, combining queer and horror, you can't beat it. So, we have a lot to cover today, but before we get into it, can you introduce yourself to the guests?

Tell them a little bit about yourself, how you identify, your pronouns, all that fun stuff?

Bobby Torrez

For sure. So, I'm Bobby Torrez with Z, not an S. And yes, my pronouns, he/him/his. And yes, I'm a horror movie lover. I've been to since a kid. We'll get into that.

And yeah, I have a YouTube channel, also a podcast. I'm talking about horror, having fun, talking about those genres there because I've been in love with it forever.

And one of the reasons why I started it was because, like, I didn't really see too many people that look like me out there in the world, especially on YouTube. So yes, I'm Bobby Torrez with a Z, not an S.

Rob Loveless

And today, are you a jaded or non-jaded gay and why?

Bobby Torrez

I guess I'm, I would say I'm a non-jaded guy, because, I mean, as I've gotten older, you know, life, especially in the gay community, has been very, very interesting.

I used to be very jaded, very especially in my 20s. I'm now my 30s, and I'm in a relationship and things like that now.

So maybe that helped. But yeah, just dealing with everything within the community or relationships other just people, and just everything about it, it molds you and turn you into a different person as you get older.

We're not the same people who we were 5, 10, 20 years ago. And I will be lying if I said I was jaded. I don't regret anything I did in the past. You all learn from it.

That's what makes you, makes you who you are as a person. And yeah, I would say I'm a non-jaded gay because I really don't have any like qualms or just anything. We're evolving.

You know, that stuff within our community. It is what it is, to me.

Rob Loveless

That's awesome. It's always great having a non-jaded gay in the house.

And I love your answer too because I think it is a journey. You know, we all have our jaded moments, and I think especially, you know, maybe when you first come out, or you're younger, you're trying to find where you fit in this community.

You know, there's not necessarily the clearly outlined path that our straight counterparts have, so you kind of have to journey on from jaded to non-jaded. So, that's awesome.

Bobby Torrez

Yeah, definitely, definitely. It's like I said, it's been a journey. Like, if I was to go back to, like, 10 years ago, maybe 15-year-old, but 15 years ago, Bobby, yeah, yeah, I could definitely say complete different person looked at things way differently and yes, felt, definitely felt self-love, for sure.

Bobby’s Experiences with the Horror Genre (6:32)

Rob Loveless

Awesome. Well, moving on from jaded to scary, let's get right into it for Halloween. Can you tell us about your love of the horror genre and how it began?

Bobby Torrez

Yes, so I always loved horror since I was a kid, my family is surprisingly a horror household. They put on like every, like, Friday, Saturday nights, it would be like kind of like a treat for me, because we would go to our, like, local video store.

There was this video store around the corner from where we used to live called West Coast Video, and we would go there all the time and rent like a new film, whether that's horror, non-horror, but I always wanted the horror films.

So that's how I first seen like Leprechaun and Child's Play 2 and like all those things, just back in the day, you know, you had the like, VHS covers and all that stuff, and you just see the scariest monster on that cover.

So, you're going to want to rent it, and then you realize the movie's trash, probably when you watch it, and they put the scary monster on the cover, but when you watch the actual thing, it's trash. But I think that's the joy of it. I kind of miss it.

But yeah, I got into horror because of my family, like, we rented the videos, like every Friday, Saturday at West Coast Video, and I got into, like, Chucky for the first time, Pennywise from Stephen King's It.

And that's the one that traumatized me, that clown got me out of here. But yeah, family loved horror. We made it a thing. I had aunts or uncles that I consider more like brother and sisters because we're kind of close to in age.

And like, usually when my mom had to go to work or whatever, they would like, babysit me, and they would like, you know, pull pranks on me and, like, do the scary thing, wear the mask, like, ah, all that craziness.

Um, so, yeah, that's what got me into horror. Ever since then, I grew up to be a, you know, a horror-loving person.

Rob Loveless

I love that you brought up It there and Pennywise, because I feel like I knew exactly which one you're talking about.

I feel like the It reboots from, I think 2017 and 2019 I think overall, the movie, because it was more updated, had a little bit more scares.

But I think Pennywise the clown from that original TV movie that they did that Pennywise was it Tim Curry, who played him?

Terrifying, like, even though the movie itself might not be as jumpy, just the clown, the voice, the whole presentation. So, I think the clown was way scarier in the originals.

Bobby Torrez

For sure. I try to tell people that, like I first of all, I have respect for Bill Skarsgard, who plays the updated Pennywise in the remake. He put his own twist to it.

I like both of those movies, but the OG one, it was a TV film, and it was, uh, broken up into two parts. And I remember when I was a kid, I didn't watch the second part because I was so scared of the first half.

And that's what made it more scarier for me because I didn't know how it ended. So, in my head is all these scenarios playing out with Pennywise and like how he's killing these kids and doing that.

And like you said, Tim Curry's performance was just like, even to this day, like when I watched that movie, or see like the image, or even a video pop up online, like I get goosebumps because traumatized.

And it's just something about the whole film that just feels off, like it's, it feels eerie. It's just like the whole atmosphere of it all, and even it's a TV movie, so you don't see necessarily, like blood and guts and kids getting their limbs ripped off, but all they had to do was just like, you know, insinuate that's what happened, and you're still scared.

It's still very much effective. So, I think that's what did it for me. Even to this day, when I hear the theme song, I'm like, turn it off. I just can't. Oh man, but yeah, the updated one is definitely good. I loved it. I went to the theaters to see both, and they're great, but that OG one still gave me like the shivers.

Rob Loveless

Oh yeah. Well, luckily, it seems like even though, while that movie really scared you, it didn't scare you away from the horror genre.

Bobby Torrez

No.

Horror on YouTube (10:47)

Rob Loveless

Because you've gone on to create your own YouTube channel, Bobby Likes It Spooky. So how did your love for the genre lead you to that?

Bobby Torrez

So, this was probably a year or two before the pandemic. I think 2020. And I again, I watched a lot of creators on YouTube, but kind of back to what I said earlier. I didn't really see too many people that looked like me, as far as Black queer men talking about horror, you know.

And I love all the creators that I watched, you know, and they all brought something different to the table, but what I wanted to bring to the table is just me and personality.

And I will admit, in the beginning, the first, those those early videos, were a little stale, because I was still trying to find my footing and trying to figure out what I actually wanted Bobby Likes It Spooky to be.

And then eventually I started to do, like, more funny things and with edit and effects and kind of just make it more my own within time. But yeah, I didn't see people like me, and I wanted to be that representation for other people, and even, like my friends and family, was like, do something creative with this. You always talk about horror movies.

We always go to you for like horror movie recommendations, do something cool. So, I said, Alright, I guess I'll do it. So, then I started doing like movie reviews and things like that.

And then later on, started collabing with other people and talking about reviews and trailer reactions, and sometimes I do like little fun theme games and stuff like that with folks.

So, I try to have fun with my YouTube. I don't try, I'm not trying to make it like a whole oh, I want to be like a Rotten Tomatoes critic and stuff like. That's a goal of mine.

But that's not necessarily why I'm doing this. I'm doing it for the fun, and I'm doing it for representation. And even though I haven't put out a video in a while, it's still cool to get messages from people that say, like, hey, I found this video. Thank you for showing love to this movie.

Or, oh, like, I'm happy to see another, you know, Black guy talking about this, like it's just little messages like that. It's pretty cool to get.

And that's like my whole purpose because I want to be that representation for other people. Because I didn't really see much of that when I first started.

Rob Loveless

Your channel and your Instagram profile describes yourself as a horror YouTuber and that your channel is part of Horror Tube. So, I'd never heard of that term before. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Bobby Torrez

So, like a HorrorTuber, so it's like YouTube, a YouTuber, but just in the horror world, I guess. So technically, I'm a YouTuber, okay, because, you know, it's on YouTube, but you know, HorrorTube has more of a catch to it.

It's more fun, and it's in I guess different part of YouTube, because, you know, YouTube is obviously a huge platform, and you got people talking about different things on there.

You got people talking about regular movies, music, and all, like all types of movies, but I'm sticking necessarily just to one genre, where I'm not doing everything.

So that's why I just thought it would be fun to just say HorrorTuber. As far as the community, again, I met a lot of cool people in the HorrorTube world, and I think that's what we just call ourselves. It's fun.

Rob Loveless

Nice. I definitely love that. And I think too, especially with the rise of TikTok, I think it's given more awareness to online communities and online spaces.

You know, there's booktok, tarottok, all these, and I think now it's kind of, I mean, I think it's always been there on YouTube, that there's been these sub-communities within there, but I think now with the rise of TikTok, it's given more awareness to these other online spaces and communities.

So that's awesome. I know earlier you touched upon how you do some trailer reactions, movie reviews. So, can you tell us a little bit more about what kind of videos you post?

Bobby Torrez

So yeah, I so usually when I first start, well, when I first started, I tried to review, like the newest horror movie that came out in theaters and do trailer reactions.

So, like, I would do the trailer reaction first, and then for the build-up, and then I would do the review and try to have some fun with that. And that's been the thing for a while. I think one of my first videos I did, I remember, was it was the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie, like the trailer and that play. And I remember this every it those trailers played during the Super Bowl.

So, and I watched the Super Bowl every year, even if I'm not a big sports person, like, I still watch just because, hey, it's big. And then also, who's headline? It's like a concert.

I'm not too sure who performed that year, but I know I was there, but, um, yeah, so like during those commercials, I was like, oh, I gotta react to these, because I was looking forward to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark because, you know, we read the books, or we seen the books, at least when we were young, those illustrations were terrifying, so I was excited that they were finally doing a movie.

So, I started doing one of my first videos were, was the trailer reactions to the teasers that they released. And then eventually I ended up doing a movie review, and I say, Imma keep doing this. And then I went into doing, like horror series. So, like I did Scream. I think it was the Scream season three series.

I did American Horror Story, not all of them, because I started a little bit late. But I think when I started doing this, 1984 was starting, I believe. Could be wrong. And then every season after that, I started doing then eventually I fell off, because the show was just getting ridiculous, and I just couldn't keep up.

It was like, and with that one in particular, I didn't want to just talk by myself, like with 1984 I invited my best friend. She she loves horror, but she's not necessarily in, like, the YouTube world, or she's online and stuff, but she doesn't do, like what we do.

But I know she's a horror fan, and she loves American Horror Story so I said, why don't you review some of these with me? And she has. And then with the later seasons, I started inviting people from online that I met, and we started doing, like, uh, little panels on the American Horror Story show.

And we even did the spin-off. So that was pretty cool, like, so I like, just attach myself to anything new horror that's coming out, and then also themes, like I did a theme videos where I it was called see Original vs. Sequel, and this was something a little bit different.

I really hasn't I haven't seen people do much, but I would take their original movie and put them against their sequel. And I would invite somebody on, and we would literally talk review the first movie, the second movie.

And then I would choose different categories and see who would win between, you know, the two movies. And a surprise, some people was championing the first movie, but when I started pulling up those categories, there was like, oh snap, maybe I do like the second one more because this was better.

So, I like doing stuff like that because it's a lot of fun. So, I like being interactive with people in the horror world.

And yeah, so those are the type of videos I do. I'm always trying to find new and creative things to do, and that's why it's taking me a little bit while now to put anything like new right now because I'm trying to find something new and fresh.

But yeah, that's what I do. It's a lot of fun. And yeah, it's been great doing these videos. A lot of time, of course, but they've been a blast.

Rob Loveless

So, having watched and reviewed so many horror movies, what types of movies are your favorite?

Bobby Torrez

So, it changes. So, I love the slasher genre, like, they're a lot of fun, but they get old really quick. So, I mean, I love the slashers. I love like, 80s. I always go back to my comfort movies, which a lot of them are from the 80s.

So, I'll go back to them. But also, like, uh, like possession films, like demon possession films, because some of them are like, most of them are all the same. But I like how goofy they can be sometimes, and I like how sometimes they could be terrifying.

And that's like, my favorite type of films to go to. Like, I love the psychological films. And I like, you know, what else we have, like, outside of slasher, I mean, we have the, obviously, the possession we have, like revenge. What is it called? I forgot it's called revenge something like, those are cool too.

But I like a little fun with my movies, and then it's like, what actually, I go, I take that back. I'm sorry. I'll take that back. I like a little fun, but I'm also the type of person where a lot of people laugh at me, but when I watch film, I just don't watch it all the time for the entertainment reasons, like I want to be entertained, entertained but also, I look at the cinematography, I listen for the music.

Sometimes acting is there, and all those things there make a movie for me so somebody could be like, I hate this movie. It makes no fucking sense.

And when I go into films and I review them, I try to, at least now, to not say, like, I hate a film, or like, I dislike it, because a film that I might not like, somebody else might enjoy, and then you also have to think too like, so this is probably somebody's dream film that they made, and they put a lot of time into this, the actors and money, just everything in it.

So, I always say that is like, not for me. That's like the most, I guess, innocent answer I can give, because I don't want to be, you know, ignorant, or I don't want to be rude to somebody's work.

Like, yes, I've seen a lot of movies that, to me, wasn't that good, but though I have friends that might enjoy those movies, and I think that's what makes an awesome discussion, too.

Because when you have those discussions on why that person likes it and why I dislike it, and we bring up interesting points, sometimes you could change somebody's mind, or sometimes it's just a friendly debate, and that's all it is.

Because, you know, everything is subjective as far as art, you know, music is, movies are. So, when I watch these movies, I try not to, like, you know, be too serious about it.

So, so yeah, like, if you bring up again, like, Halloween is, like, my favorite horror movie of all time. We'll talk about that. So obviously we had the three movies come out. You know, a couple years ago, Halloween, Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends, and a lot of people hated Halloween Kills.

I'm a Halloween Kills stan kill over here. I fucking love that movie. And I get why people strongly dislike it. I get it, but the reasons why I like it.

And I could debate with somebody for the reasons why I like and why certain things make sense, but sometimes people understand it, and they get it, and I could change their mind, sometimes not. But again, I like those discussions. I love them.

But sorry, that was a long-winded answer. But yes, slashers and like, demon possession films are, like, my go-to. I used to be over demon possession films, but I'm slowly like, you know what? They're doing something different now. And I'm loving this.

Rob Loveless

See, demon possession films are the one I can't do, because I had a very traumatic experience with The Exorcism of Emily Rose as a kid, and, like, it left me terrified.

Also, like, I think, for me, so I grew up Catholic, so for me, there's a level of, like, potential truthfulness there where it's like, all right, the odds of this, you know, dead slasher that's coming back to life every 100 years to kill, very minimal.

But like, things I heard in church, I'm like, uh, maybe somebody could be possessed, I don't know. So that's the one I tend to avoid.

Bobby Torrez

I mean, yeah, I understand, especially, you know, if you grew up in a Catholic background. Even, like for me, like my family, parts of my family were religious.

As I've gotten older, I kind of like gotten out of that long story, different conversation, but it's still parts of me that's just like, should I be watching this because I don't know how, and it's like, I'm not that superstitious.

Like I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm not watching that movie because it's gonna bring demons in the house. Like, have you not seen my background?

So, it's just like, I don't believe in it like it's art, it's film. I don't think the film is cursed or anything like that. I own like, three copies of The Exorcist in my house.

I'm chilling like I'm not possessed, as long as I'm not playing no Ouija board, I'm good.

Rob Loveless

No, it's just something about that one.

Now, I did see The Exorcist for the first time a few years back, actually, when I lived in Pittsburgh, there was a movie theater that showed like, old movies on like screen every once a month, or whatever they do a special night thing. So, I did see that.

And I think because it's a little bit dated too, it's not as scary. And I've seen some other ones, like The Conjuring, which, like touches upon possession, and those, while they scare me, not like, freak me out, but Exorcism with Emily Rose.

I mean, I made the mistake of turning it on on TV when it's, like, the counting scene where she's like, screaming in the barn and I'm like, okay, I think I made a mistake.

Bobby Torrez

Yes, I seen that. I remember I was in high school. I was, like, in 10th or 11th grade, when that movie came out, we seen it in theaters. Freaked out. Me and my friends loved it.

And then, um, we had rented the movie, and we had like, a little Hangout or whatever. So, another friend that haven't seen the movie, and we still was, like, freaking out, but loved it. That is a good ass movie. It's real dark, and like you said, that scene that you're talking about in the barn.

Woof, yeah. I can see how Exorcist is definitely dated. Uh, for its time, I can see why it was the scariest movie of all time, because 1973 who's seen stuff like that?

Like, how did you get away with somebody levitating? How did you get away with somebody head turning around? Like they weren't aware of, like the practical effects.

And, you know, in today's standard, we use CGI. They didn't use CGI in that but, yeah, but when, if you're like, a newcomer going into watching that movie, you've seen probably a bunch of possession films that up the ante with the effects compared to The Exorcist.

But Exorcist is still, for me, it's still a great movie in a lot of ways. It's not scary to me, but for a movie itself, like in general, it's pretty dope. It's still, it's really, really good.

Rob Loveless

Definitely. Exorcist, to me, it's one of those movies kind of like Poltergeist, where it's not the jump scares that you're used to in today's horror, but it definitely still can leave, like an unsettling feeling or just a really, I think they're more atmospheric, especially for the time they were so scary because there wasn't things like that shown on on theaters typically.

Bobby Torrez

Yes, yes.

The Queer Horror Connection (25:58)

Rob Loveless

Well, having seen so many movies, so many horror movies, do you think that there's a connection between that genre and queerness?

Bobby Torrez

Yes. So, for me, I've been on like, panels and stuff in the past where we would have this conversation. I actually had a panel maybe two years ago where we talked about queer representation in horror, and I invited some like friends I knew that's in the horror space, and we had this conversation as far as like is the difference between, you know, queerness and, you know, and horror.

And one of the things that we talked about was that you watch these award shows and you see how everything gets, like, awarded, and all that stuff, but horror is always put on a put in a corner, not talked about, you know, it's just like, oh, we recognize, we see you, but we're not going to acknowledge you really, or we're not going to give You any accolades, because you're that.

You know, and as a queer person, we can probably feel the same way. You know, we can be the most creative, the most you know, talented or whatever.

But if you bring up you know your sexual orientation, or if they just figure it out, or just see it, that can just put a stop to everything depending on what you're trying to go for and what you're trying to do.

So, there's a lot of comparisons as far as like being the other. And that's why I think a lot of queer people love horror too, because it's kind of like, it's something different, and it's just like, alright, like, this is not getting very much this is not getting much love.

So, you know, I'm connected to this. And I think that's another reason why a lot of queer people are, uh, they usually root for two things. Obviously, the final girl, because we love a final girl, like, hello, like we love, you know, a sassy cunty girl running from a killer, looking all that, you know.

So, and then or we can identify with the killer because of what probably happened to them, as far as traumas and stuff like that, and they are getting revenge. You know, that's why a lot of people love Carrie. Like Carrie is treated like the other because she's different.

To me, there's nothing wrong with her, but in that movie, they treated her like an outcast, and then we rooted for Carrie when she got everybody out of here in that gym because they were terrible people. You know, we Carrie is considered the villain in actualities.

In my opinion, I don't think she's the villain. She just was fed up with everybody's shit, and she had these powers that she couldn't control, and she just unleashed. And I think that's why we was like, yes, Carrie, go for it.

So, there's a lot of things that, especially in different types of movies, that we can connect to these characters, because we can identify with them. And don't have to be necessarily the same exact thing, but we can still see them because of some of the things that they're going through.

So, I think that's why we can connect with it, and that's why they kind of go hand in hand a little bit too. There's this movie on the podcast that I have with my co-host Mike, and this movie is not necessarily horror, but it has horror elements.

It's called Reformed School Girls, and this is like a women in prison film. So, I invited another friend from a podcast on there, because he likes, like, cheesy a B movie stuff, and it's so camp when you watch that movie, it's a lot of horror elements in there.

But he was asking, like, why didn't you invite more? Like, you doing this for queer month? I'm like, you're not understanding the characters. Like, there's a character in here that literally is given, like divine, like drag queen-esque.

She's not a drag queen, but if you look at her, you could tell what her character is, who she's designed after, in a sense. Some of the girls in there, they're very animated.

They're very like, if they was, you could tell that they would have, like, gay best friends, in a sense. So, there's a lot of, like, queer-coded things in there.

But do you also say this is made for this, you know, the straight guy, you know the lens of a straight guy, because there's a lot of boobs in the film, you know, but also, the movie was made by a queer man, so it was just like, there's a lot of queer elements in here.

I suggest that everybody check out Reformed School Girls. So campy, it's so funny, it's so good. There are some trigger warnings in there, but definitely a good film.

And I feel like a lot of the community would love, would appreciate it. So, yes, I think Biqtch Puddin' the drag queen recommends that they did a commentary on it. It was her and, um, his name is Michael.

I think Michael Varrati, sorry, Michael, if I'm like, mispronouncing your last name, but they did a commentary on Reformed School Girls talking about how queer that movie is. So, I suggest you guys check that out.

Rob Loveless

I will definitely be adding that to my to-watch list.

And I think that's a great point you bring up that some of these movies aren't explicitly queer because they still had to be, especially the older horror movies, they had to be palpable for, you know, the mass audience of straight men and women, but there's enough queer coding in there and subtle nods that as a queer person, you can identify that and then moving forward into today's representation, now we are having explicitly queer films.

It doesn't have to be just purely queer-coded. And I also love that you brought up Carrie because I watched that recently, actually, for the first time, and like you said, when she at the end, when the bucket of blood gets poured on her and she's getting her revenge.

Like, I know it's supposed to be scary, but in my mind, I just thought I'm like, good for you. Like, you know, you show them. Like...

Bobby Torrez

Yes, like, even when I was young, like, rooted for her. Like, I like, why is she the villain? Like, why are they picking on her? Like, why?

Like, because she looks odd to me, she don't even look odd, like it was just, I don't know, but yeah, a lot of people, a lot of us, can, like, see ourselves in that character. Because he was like, we could be like, like, just because we're gay, we're being treated this way, or we probably not even out being gay.

They might just assume that's what we are, and they treat you a certain way. So, I mean, that's what happened to me.

I mean, obviously, I'm gay now, but I didn't come out at the time, you know, and people assume certain things just because maybe body language, or who I hung out with, and, um, it sucked because I was still trying to figure myself out at that age.

So, it's just like, how Who are you to tell me what I am and I don't even know what the fuck I am? Yeah, it's very interesting thing, and I think that's why a lot of people identify with Carrie and a whole bunch of other characters too.

Rob Loveless

Well, with that in mind, what's your favorite queer horror movie? Whether it's queer-coded or explicitly queer?

Bobby Torrez

Whoo, time already talking a lot, but I'm gonna give you just a few. So, there's so I mean, obviously Nightmare on Elm Street two is queer-coded because of Jesse, the character.

If you haven't checked out the documentary screen Scream Queen is a documentary talking about Nightmare Elm Street 2, and the actor who went, he went all the things that he went through in that. And he's obviously an out actor, and it's a good documentary.

He just talks about everything in it. I actually have a YouTube video talking about my queer-coded characters. So, movies that you probably seen in like, I never thought that character be queer. Now I pull out some information you like, you know what?

That makes a lot of sense. But for me, there's one of my favorite movies right now is called Climax. Climax is a French horror thriller film. When you first get into it, it's more like a dance type of thing.

When you watch and you introduce to these characters, and they're dancing, showing all different types of skill. And it's not just like a group of, like white people or Black people or Hispanic. It's like diverse, like, you get so many different, different people.

You got straight people, gay people, trans people, so you have so many different types of people in this film, just showing your talent. And what happens in this movie is somebody spike the punch when they're all having a good time with LSD, and now everybody's tripping out, and they're doing these very horrible, violent, graphic things to each other and to themselves.

And when you watch this film, when I watched this film for the first time, actually, I felt like I was on drugs because of how it was film. The film will, the camera would turn like upside down at certain scenes. And the colors would change. It literally would. It's like a mind trip, a mind fuck.

But it's so good because, again, you have all different types of people in here, and what happens at the end is just like, really, really, like, crazy. But it's a good, good film. I suggest watching Climax.

And you probably only gonna want to watch it one time if you can't take the violence that's going on in that film, but it's it deserves to be checked out once, but a lot of representation in that film. There's another one called Swallow, which is good. I checked that out last year.

It's not a porn doll, but it's uh about, you know, these two characters, they're both queer, and, you know, they're good friends, and this one character really enjoys the company of another friend, but he's doing his drug deal. And come to find out, it's not like your typical drugs.

And I'm not going to give much away, but just let you know there's a parasite involved, and things happening. And it's very queer. It's very, I would consider it body horror.

So, if you're really cringy and you're you know, you can't take what goes on with the body and stuff like that in horror, then if you're a little squeamish, then maybe, you know, take a step back. But I still suggest watching it. So that's one of my favorite ones.

Nightbreed. Another one is good. I'm not sure if anybody's seen Nightbreed, but Nightbreed is a film made by Clive Barker. He did the Hellraiser film the first one, at least. I think he did the second one too. Clive Barker is also a queer man. He did a film called Nightbreed with these creatures living under the cemetery.

And it's like three different plots going on in it. And here's like three different cuts, like you got the director's cut, and then, like the extended cut and all this craziness. But it's an overall good film.

I reviewed this film for a like a panel called Fright Gown. And Fright Gown was kind of like talking about different types of queer horror movies and things like that. And I chose Nightbreed because with these creatures, kind of, like I was saying with Carrie, they're considered like the other.

They had to hide. And I even compared them to like, kind of being in the house. And when I mean like a house, like, you know, like a like voguing and stuff like those type of houses.

And the reason why I compared it to that is because these creatures had to build their own family and give themselves their own name and kind of make their own world, because they weren't accepted into the real-life world, and they were used for different things, like each of these creatures had different powers, and it's very the effects is really great.

The creatures that creature designs is fantastic, in my opinion. Another one I suggest, and it's very queer-coded. They have a character near named Cabal, and he's in his underwear a lot, for no reason, you know. But Clive Barker is a queer man.

That's probably something that he wanted to see. So why not? You know? So, um, yes, those are, like, my three. I can go on and on, as far as, like, queer-coded ones. I could talk about The Lost Boys. I could talk about Jennifer's Body.

I can go on and on about queer-coded movies. Um, but we will be here all night. But those are just a few.

Rob Loveless

Well, definitely some great recommendations. So, listeners will definitely have checked that out. I know I'm going to add those to my list for this Halloween season.

Diversity in Horror (38:51)

Rob Loveless

Going off of the point of talking about the movie Climax you brought in the diversity within that film, within the horror genre. So, I want to shift gears a little bit about that.

So, in April of this year, Jose Nateras, who is the writer and producer of the LGBTQ+ horror movie Departing Seniors, came on the show to talk about the importance of diversifying queer horror.

Specifically, he's trying to create both Latine and queer representation in horror, since that's what he wanted to see growing up in cinema, but didn't really get the chance to see that.

So, can you tell us about your experiences or perceptions regarding representation and diversity in the horror genre?

Bobby Torrez

Yes. Shout out to Jose Nateras, thank you for doing it. Because if we can't get work from anybody else, or they're not making it, we have to do it ourselves to, you know, put it out there and build our own fan base. And, you know, um, yeah, we just have to do it ourselves. So, shout out to Jose.

But yes, I agree with what Jose is doing, and that's again, kind of going back to the point why I started doing my YouTube channel. Because, again, representation, there's not really much of us here, and not even just as a Black queer guy, but even just a queer person in general.

But now I have so many friends throughout the years, so many people, queer people, that I know are actually starting podcasts and making their own films, or, you know, at least attempting to make their own films, or short films and YouTube channels and things like that.

And I try my best to support those people because, uh, obviously, in general, like, who's gonna really support us in that way unless it become super big or super viral, you know?

Because that's all it is now. You become viral on TikTok or YouTube, and then you're what famous for, what, 15 minutes, and then they move on to the next big thing. That's just the world we live in right now.

But I just feel like as far as representation, and if you truly love this genre and you're passionate about it, and that's just with anything, it don't even have to be horror. It could be anything that you're passionate about, if you just stick to it, obviously, big things and great things will come for it.

You just gotta be patient, and your time will come. But representation matters.

I like to see more of us doing this, and then not even just queer people, even women directors, just us in spaces, in spaces, I'm sorry, in the writer's room, and just everywhere, because you can tell when you watch movies and the writers or directors are ignorant to certain things because they don't have the right people in those rooms with them, you know, to tell them, like, hey, maybe we should change this because this is not good for what we what it is today in the world.

Obviously, you could get away with so many things in the 80s, 90s, early 2000s, but now it's a little bit different, and I think a lot of people still ignorant to a lot of things.

And I feel like if you had just the representation, and not just outside, but inside those realms, things would be so much better, and things would be corrected and actually represented more, because you might have the other person say, hey, maybe instead of making this character a straight person, because I'm reading this and this person seems queer, coded.

Let's make the person queer, why not there we exist in the world? Why the hell not? So, I think that's very, very important. And I think that anybody that's starting to do anything like I mentioned before should just keep going.

Try to get in those spaces, try try to start that book, that movie, that YouTube, whatever it is, and just put it out there. And then find your tribe, you know, because we the ones that's going to support you, and you're going to have allies too, of course.

But obviously, you have to find your people, because that's what's that's gonna be your small support system right there, and that's what's gonna make it grow a little bit bigger, well, more bigger.

So that's just my thoughts on it. That's how I feel. And I think that's why representation is very important in the horror community.

I'm starting to see like, it's gotten a lot better within, you know, within the years, I didn't really see many of us, but now I see so many of us doing, uh, you know, starting these things.

And I want to see more like, I just want to see us take over. So, um, yeah, those are my thoughts.

Rob Loveless

As we're talking about diversity, there tends to be some tropes and stereotypes within the horror genre.

Specifically, one trope is the Bury Your Gays trope, which spoiler alert for everybody listening, that's actually going to be next week's episode.

So, besides the Bury Your Gays trope, are there any other stereotypes or tropes that Hollywood has relied on too much within the horror genre that you'd like to see them move away from?

Bobby Torrez

Okay, so outside of just like queerness, just in general, with tropes.

So, I talked about this often, especially with, you know, Black characters and the horror genre where there's a trope called The Magical Negro, or, you know, The Sacrificial Negro, where we're only on those screens for those specific things.

We don't have no development, no nothing. We just dare to be the supporting character for the main character, and then we're disposed of. And we're doing a little bit better in these movies where, you know when I like, you know, when we see ourselves in them.

And even this goes with the gay characters too, because they used to just get the gay character out of here. They used to just use us for certain things, and then just get rid of us. And I'm starting to see them do a little bit better with that now. We are represented a little bit more in these movies.

We're not just brought on just to help the character, and all of a sudden, we get killed by the killer, or we jump in the way. I can name a bunch of movies.

There's Annabelle with Alfre Woodard where she jumps out the window, sacrifice herself for this family for no reason, where it didn't do anything for the demon doll still trying to come after them. Well, the demon, not the doll, but so it was the point. Rochelle, in The Craft, you know, my issue with her, not with her, but with how they did her character, is that, you know everybody else, like Neve Campbell's character had, you know, those scars and you know all of that.

Nancy had, you know, she was like, what trailer trash or something like that, and she wanted to have money, she wanted to be wealthy, but then they made Rochelle pretty much be just a Black character and dealing with a racist person.

And that was really it. It's like, why did she had that? Why couldn't she have her own specific issues outside of racism, you know? Like, this is the 90s now. We know you Black, but come on.

So, this is, like, those type of tropes, is kind of just like, uh, can we just um, because we're so much more than that. Um, Kelly Roland sacrificed herself for her friend in, you know, Freddy vs. Jason, and, you know, got killed.

So, it's just those tropes I'm tired of. But again, with the newer movies coming out now, I am happy that we're doing a little bit better on. We're surviving. We actually have main parts in movies and yeah. So yeah, that's the trope.

Rob Loveless

Going off of that, as you mentioned, that, you know, Hollywood is finally starting to move beyond these tropes.

Are there any horror movies that you think that are doing a good job in representing authentic diversity and representation?

Bobby Torrez

Yeah, so again, with Climax, I forgot the director's name on here, but he did another film which was very diverse.

But again, with Climax, happy with that one. Fear Street, the Fear Street series that's on Netflix was pretty good and great with diversity because you had different types of people in there, Black, white, Asian, queer characters.

The main character was actually queer, which was great. Dina, even though I couldn't stand her ass, but she was queer, so yeah, and, you know, and, you know, yeah, she was in a gay relationship.

And outside of the movies, like, what, even with TV shows, Interview with the Vampire, the TV show, like, I love. And Interview with the Vampire always been queer, but what I love, what they did with the TV show was they made Louis a Black character in love with this, you know, white vampire.

Um, what's his name? I'm drawing a blank. There's Louis and oh, my gosh. I'm about to say Klaus from Vampire Diaries. Y'all don't kill me. Lestat, Lestat.

There we go, Louis and Lestat, and it wasn't like that in the movie, and I'm not too sure the book. Even Claudia, like they made her a Black character, but they made Louis and Lestat's relationship so much more deeper, like they were in love with each other.

They were toxic for each other, but it was just so cool to see these two characters, main characters, week after week, go through just their relationship issues, but outside of that, becoming a new vampire.

One of them is very stubborn and been around for hundreds of years, so he's already like an asshole. Then we have the young vampire. She's freshly turned and she's trying to figure things out.

There's so much development, development happening with these characters, and I'm so happy that we have it on, you know, TV today, and they changed it because it wasn't like that in the book.

So, it's cool to say, hey, actually, let's just do this, show more representation and diversity, and put this out there, and the show's a success. If you guys haven't seen Interview with the Vampire, good ass show, they just put it on Netflix. It's an AMC show, but it's on Netflix right now.

So, you guys that have Netflix, check it out. Season two was just as great. It just finished this past summer. But yeah, that's one of the ones, and let's see, and nope. I'm going to name Nope. Jordan Peele film. Nope is one of my favorite movies ever. Lot of people hated it.

But we also have Kiki Palmer's character in there, who is also a lesbian. And it was even really, like, she even say, hey, like, I'm a lesbian. She was just living her life and how you knew she was a lesbian, because she would probably like, flirt here, here, and there with a woman, woman and stuff like that.

So, it was just she just so happened to be gay, that wasn't like the focal point. It wasn't that. It just so happens that she's a gay character, which is great. So, I love seeing that in horror.

I think we're doing better now. We're getting better, and I'm excited. I'm excited. I like seeing, you know, us on here in big movies, doing things and actually seeing ourselves.

Because, like back in the day, we always try to identify with somebody, but we didn't have anybody to identify with. So, we just identify, like I mentioned earlier, with maybe the final girl, because she's a she's just a kick-ass person.

That's who we rooting for. But now we're starting to see, you know, us queer people on the screen, playing a villain or playing the final person, or playing a supportive person.

So, I'm so happy that we're making those drives. And yes, we gotta keep going.

Horror Podcasts (50:29)

Rob Loveless

Definitely, definitely, well, shifting gears a little bit. Your career as a horror tuber has also segued into podcasting with People Under the Scares and Scream Kingz, and that's Kingz with a Z like Torrez.

So, can you tell us a little bit more about those?

Bobby Torrez

Yes, so my buddy Michael Anthony, shout out to Michael, he started his he started to podcast People Under the Scares. I had him on for the American Horror Story episodes because he showed interest in Twitter.

Was always on there talking, conversing with each other. We had them on, I had them on there. So, when he decided to do this podcast, he had me on just as a guest.

And then he asked me, like, hey, do you want to be like a permanent co-host? And I was like, I think about it. Because podcasting like, I wasn't used to that. It wasn't my world. I was just so used to YouTube, you know, I'll just be in front of the camera.

And then I started thinking, like, well, it's probably easier to just talk behind the mic and not be on my camera, but I was just so used to be on the camera. And then also just busy, you know, life and stuff.

So, I'm like, if I'm adding another thing to my plate, it's like, how much time do I actually have? So, I did a couple episodes as a guest, and I decided, you know what I'll do it? You know, like for sure.

Why the hell not? I'm sure we can go ahead and change some things around if need be. And we're now, what, three years in, about to be four on the podcast, and we'll be coming up with Season Four very soon. And yes, it's been a journey. It's been great.

And shout out to Mike for inviting me on and keeping me on and tolerating my bullshit. That podcast is great. That one, we don't take the horror genre too serious.

We could be talking about a serious movie, and we find jokes somewhere just to brighten somebody's day. You know, we are goofy people, so we like to have a lot of fun on the podcast. So that's pretty much what is about. And we choose different themes. Like Season Three was a theme of trilogies.

So, we will talk about like Halloween one, two and three, or Friday the 13th one, two, and three and whatever. One, two, and three. Season Four is gonna be a little different.

So yeah, we try to do something different. We try to do things fresh on that one. Scream Kingz is another ensemble group of us cast with me and Michael Anthony from the podcast, my buddy Mark O. Estes, and TaMon Kane.

I've been friends with them for a very long time on social media as well. I also had all of them on on a YouTube channel. And TaMon, he's the creator of Scream Kingz, with his friend Rickey, she produces the show.

And, you know, they decide to have us on to talk about horror, but not just horror like every like we take deep dives. And he considers, consider it like The View, but the horror version of the view, because bitchiness is happening on here.

We're attacking each other, but all in love and all in fun, and we still go live on Wednesdays, and yeah. And that's another thing, another thing that we did like themes on and kind of like different categories. We would dress up have fun.

We did a Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin review this past summer. Unfortunately, the show got canceled, so no more of that. But yeah, and that's Scream Kingz. So those two podcasts, great time. I suggest everybody check them out.

Horror and New Media (53:58)

Rob Loveless

So, being a podcaster and YouTuber, how do you think these media channels help promote the horror genre beyond traditional media forms like cinema?

Bobby Torrez

So, so cinema changed a lot, like I was having this conversation with my mom the other day. How like movies now being in theaters for what, like two weeks, then all of a sudden, they're, like, on demand.

You can stream them right away. Back then, movies would be theaters for what, like a couple months, and then you would have to wait a few more months just to get it on VHS or DVD. Sometimes you'd forget about the damn movie.

So, so different now. But as far as like, like promotions and stuff like that, I think one thing, I think with cinema and movies and theaters, they could benefit from a lot of people that's reviewing these movies on YouTube and like podcasts and stuff, because we're technically promoting a movie as well.

You know, like, if we're talking about it on a YouTube channel, somebody never seen a movie. For instance, if I do a spoiler-free review on, let's say Alien Romulus, the movie that just came out.

You haven't seen a movie yet, but if I do a spoiler-free review, and I don't give you no spoilers, I just tell you all the things that I liked about the movie, what I think you may like about the movie, why you should check it out. Why is it for you? Why it may not be for you?

If I just hit those key points, and if that, if it's interesting enough for you, if you go check it out, then bam, like, that's another, you know, that's more money for them in the office too, because that's somebody telling them to go check out this movie.

So, you know, social media in general, is just, it helps out movies, and not even just movies, but even music.

You know, like social media can be a pain in the ass for a lot of reasons, but when it's used for things like this, which I appreciate, I think it's very helpful, and I think that Hollywood should give creators more of opportunities to review their films and kind of, like, put them on and maybe do something special for them.

And I'm not saying that they don't, because you have, like certain people, like the Rotten Tomatoes thing, or if you are, if you have a lot of followers or subscribers, you might have opportunities.

But it pisses me off when you have a YouTuber doing a trailer reaction, and then there's a copyright issue, and now that YouTuber can't get paid because it's copyrighted, because the Warner Brothers or whoever, saying, like, no, you're not going to get paid off of something, but I'm helping your movie out. I'm doing a reaction so I can get people to go see your movie.

So, it's just like, how does that make sense when I'm trying to help this movie out, but you're taking money from my pocket if I'm monetized?

So, it's, I think they should stop doing that, because we're literally helping, you know, Hollywood out with that. We're not trying to, like, benefit off of them, you know at all.

So, um, yeah, yeah. YouTube, social media in general, it plays a huge part when it comes down to like cinema because we help, we help it out a lot. Trust me.

Anticipated Future Horror Movies (57:17)

Rob Loveless

And as we're talking about cinema, what horror movies are you looking forward to that are coming out in the near future?

Bobby Torrez

So, I've seen a bunch already. Like Alien Romulus was like, one of my most anticipated. But these new movies just be popping up out nowhere that knowing nothing about and they Oh, check out this movie. Like Strange Darling came out not too long ago, and I heard nothing about that movie in the past.

Now it's in theaters, and everybody's talking how good it is and all of that. So, it's just like, you never know what's just gonna pop out and you surprise you. But the ones I do know, I would say Nosferatu is coming out at the end of the year.

Bill Skarsgård who we talked about earlier, is going to be in this so I'm really, really excited for that. The trailer is out. It looks very dark, and I'm curious to know how this movie is going to go.

I'm curious to know how it's going to go in the theaters, because I want to know how many, like, fans know, like actual Nosferatu, I doubt they probably watched the original black and white film.

But like, I want to know how much you know how much they know about it. Um, maybe they'll go back and watch after this, but that's one of my most anticipated films so far now.

If you was to ask me at the beginning of this year, I can name you like 10, but, um, now Nosferatu for sure.

Rob Loveless

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that too. And I'm bummed. I was hoping you would come out in October because I thought that would be like a prime time for it, but we have to wait a couple more months until, I think it's coming out Christmas day.

Bobby Torrez

Yeah, it's gonna fly by. We're about to be in October while we're recording this. So, like, yeah, two months.

Rob Loveless

Yeah, yeah. And it's funny, you mentioned, you know, wondering how many people know the original. Because I actually have a very vivid memory of parts of the original because as a kid, I saw an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?

And it was some movie theater episode, yeah, where, like, the movie comes to life and Nosferatu comes out of the screen, and he's like, sucking the blood of the people working there.

Bobby Torrez

So good. You just took me back with that one. Like, yeah.

Rob Loveless

As I'm saying it, it's like, actually kind of dark for a kids' show. Like, I think I was probably five watching that, which explains why I love horror now. But...

Bobby Torrez

Yes, Rob, that's one thing I didn't mention. But like, yes, Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Goosebumps, those two was, like, one of my, like, part of my, my childhood growing up, me getting into horror.

So, if I couldn't watch, like, the blood and stuff, my mom was like, no, turn this off. I'll put on Are You Afraid of Dark? Like I used to be on an orange couch on Nickelodeon, Snick watching Are You Afraid of the Dark? with the rest of the kids.

Goosebumps, same thing every Saturday morning. It's funny enough. Yesterday on YouTube, there's this like live YouTube channel for Goosebumps, and they're playing all of these episodes a constant loop.

So, if you're feeling nostalgic, if you're in the Goosebumps, there's a live channel that just play episodes all day, every day on here, which is pretty cool.

Rob Loveless

That's awesome. I'll have to check that out.

Bobby Torrez

But that Nosferatu episode.

Rob Loveless

Oh yeah, it was. I remember that one, and then I also remember the Tia Tamara one. It was like the chameleon queen or something. Yeah.

Bobby Torrez

That was actually an iguana. When you go back and watch it, like, it's not even a chameleon, man, that's an iguana.

Rob Loveless

My gosh, good old Nickelodeon. They don't make it like that anymore.

Bobby Torrez

They don't but, you know, I loved it. One thing I will say is, obviously, we're not children anymore, but I feel like we had a, we had it good when it come, came to, like, television for kids.

You know, I'm not too sure what the kids are watching today, but they didn't hear anything like this, you know, like, I can't name a horror TV show for kids that's out now. You know, like, where are y'all Goosebumps?

Where y'all Are You Afraid of the Dark? So, and they were really, really good, low budget. If you gave them like mad money. I'm sure they would have went because there's some dark episodes.

There was that one. There was the, do you remember the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode, it was called like Dead Man's Float, and it was like the monster. It was like a pool.

And every time he smelled like rotten eggs, it was this monster that was liquefied, but he would reappear as this like dead skeleton thing.

And what happens is, what happened was they built like the score to pull under over the cemetery. So, there's this dead man that comes out and drags people in a pool and drowns them and kill them.

That episode scared the shit out of me. There was also a clown one called, is it Zebo or something? That one terrified me to this day, like, yeah, you got, you got to do a binge. You got to go back and watch them, Rob.

Bobby Torrez

Gosh, and there's another. Not Are You Afraid of the Dark? and it wasn't a horror series. But did you ever watch the show As Told By Ginger?

Bobby Torrez

Yes.

Rob Loveless

Okay, there is, I am scarred to this day still of the Lunatic Lake episode. Did you ever see that one?

Bobby Torrez

I don't remember that one. Okay.

Rob Loveless

It wasn't, I don't think it was meant to be a scary episode, but it was definitely did not age well.

But basically, there was this guy who had broken out of a mental asylum or something, and he was in the woods somewhere, and it happened to be the same woods that Ginger and her friends and their family were camping, and he has, like, he finds this, like dog named Jasmine, and then, like, Ginger's brother and his friend, like, go off and, like, find the quote-unquote lunatic.

And it was, like, it was really scary. Like, broke out of a straight jacket. I still have chills just talking about it. Between, like, how they drew him in it, and just the voice and everything it was.

And again, not meant to be a scary episode, but just like, weird.

Bobby Torrez

Yeah, we had a lot of those and shows and cartoons growing up. There's episodes of like, Hey, Arnold and stuff I could think about that's not really meant to be scary, but was scary to me.

So yeah, yeah, I understand. I was just talking about As Told By Ginger with my sister, because she was obsessed with that show more than me, so I'm sure she knows exactly what episode you're talking about.

Rob Loveless

Oh yeah. Well, maybe after this check it out.

Bobby Torrez

I will actually.

Rob Loveless

It's it's definitely a different one.

Bobby’s Hopes for the Future of Queer Horror (1:03:12)

Rob Loveless

But so obviously, you know, there's a lot of nostalgia in what we talked about and all these great movies out there. But what would you like to see in the future of queer horror?

Bobby Torrez

Queer horror, like, like I mentioned earlier, like just you know us and more of the spaces in the writers' room you know, more people like us.

And what I mean, like more people like us in these roles, like main characters centered around us like we shouldn't always be the supportive friend or the neighbor or, you know, the sacrificial person. Why can't we be, you know, the the main character?

So that's why I give like Fear Street some props, because the main character in that one, you know, is queer. But I can't really name too many that I know of that where the main character is queer, especially in mainstream horror. So, yeah, I want to see more of that, because why the hell not? Like we have stories too, for sure, and there's some movies out there.

There's a lot, so some low-budget ones. There's one that I think I mentioned to you and Travis when we were out, called Midnight Kiss. There's that one that's on Hulu.

That one's a lot of fun, predictable, but it's gay as fuck. There's another one called Spiral, not the saw spiral, but there's one called Spiral with Jeffrey Boyer Chapman.

He's a real queer person, and he hosts RuPaul Drag Race Canada version. And I think he was also on a gay film called The Skinny, not porn or anything. It's just, you know, a group of friends, gay film, whatever. Fun. Anyway, he stars in this. He has a he's in an interracial relationship.

His partner is white, and he has a daughter, and they moved to this new town. And you seen this before? Have you? Did you see Spiral?

Rob Loveless

Yeah, I forgot the name of it, but as you're talking through this, I did watch it in the past couple weeks with my friend.

Bobby Torrez

Okay. And they were like, gaslighting him and making him like crazy, doing all these things. It was like a cult involved. So, yeah, it was cool to see that representation.

I just hated how they did certain things in that movie. Um, but yeah, it's just like, I want to see more things like that, just because, again, that character was in the forefront, main character, but like, mainstream, like, I want more people to experience it, and even if it's not mainstream, like, can we talk about it more?

Like, if the movie's Good, let's just get it out there where everybody's talking about it, because that's how some movies become cult classics. Like, when they first when those movies came out, nobody didn't talk about them. Nobody probably didn't care about them.

But now today, everybody's obsessed. They love them. So why can we do the same thing today with, like, the newer ones? We're still stuck on the old ones.

So yeah, I want to see more of that. I want to see us more front and center there, stories set around us for a change. Because again, we are people. We have lives.

You know, we have interesting things going on with us. So, yeah, I want to see more of that.

Episode Closing (1:06:29)

Rob Loveless

And connecting it back to the tarot, Six of Wands in reverse. Again, this is telling us that we may be feeling delayed in achieving success or that things aren't going our way.

But the question is, are we actually not achieving success, or are we just not achieving what everyone else thinks we should be. As we talked about in today's episode, horror does not follow the status quo.

It challenges standards, and for so many of us, we saw ourselves reflected in queer-coded characters who also feel a sense of otherness. And there have definitely been some problematic portrayals of queer people in horror.

But as we're moving forward, we're seeing more authentic representation within the genre. And again, it goes back to creating our own definition of success.

Just because so many people adhere to a certain mindset or certain milestones or goals that they think they need to achieve, that doesn't mean that that's going to align with what we want for ourselves. Just like the queer-coded characters we've seen in horror movies, there is a sense of otherness.

So, we may be on a different journey than those who have imposed certain standards or beliefs upon us.

So really, it's up to us to define what is right for ourselves, what success looks like for ourselves, what events we want to pan out in our lives, what we want to achieve for ourselves, that all comes from within.

We need to define that for ourselves and then find ways to take action so that way, we're not letting our energy being blocked by trying to achieve things that don't feel right to us.

And I think we can see that in modern-day queer horror movies. We have these queer creators who are challenging past stereotypes and tropes that plagued the horror genre forever.

We're seeing authentic representation, and we also have new media avenues, through podcasting, YouTube, beyond just traditional film in cinema where there's a queer horror community supporting and amplifying queer creators and queer voices within the genre.

Connect with Bobby (1:08:07)

Rob Loveless

And between podcasts and YouTube videos. What projects do you have coming up that listeners should be on the lookout for?

Bobby Torrez

So yeah, season four of People Under the Scares is coming up very soon, so be excited for that. The YouTube channel is coming back. You know, I'm just working out some things, but I'm back.

I want me back on it. So, more videos coming very, very, very soon. More collabs on there as well. And I'm eyeing you, Rob, so...

Rob Loveless

Awesome. I'm raising my hand. I volunteer.

Bobby Torrez

Yes, I got you. I got you. So, yeah, just those things going on right now. I'm learning not to, like, try to do too much, because when you do too much, sometimes it can just be a lot for your brain.

And you, you know, you can get burnt out pretty easy. And that's one thing I'm trying not to do. Like, I don't want to get burnt out for from something that I love.

So, it's very important to take breaks, and I think that's what I did with my YouTube channel, and was at least focusing on one thing at a time.

But now I'm about to jump back in it where I'm focusing on two things because I think I can handle it now, but back then it was just ugh.

Um, so yeah, those, are the things I got going on right now that's coming up. And if, I mean, if anything else pop up, I guess, follow the socials.

Rob Loveless

And where can listeners learn more? Plug all the things.

Rob Loveless

Yes. So, Bobby Torrez with a Z, not an S, on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, I guess, everywhere Bobby Torrez. People Under the Scares on all podcasts. I can't talk today on all podcasting platforms.

Scream Kingz on YouTube. Bobby Likes it Spooky on YouTube. Yeah, I'm there, yeah, I'm on all those things. And again, if you, if you don't want to follow all those things, just follow Bobby Torrez, and literally everything will link you.

You can just follow everything there, or the descriptions on here, I'm assuming. So...

Rob Loveless

Yes, all that will be in the show notes as well.

Bobby Torrez

There you go. Making it easy for y'all.

Rob Loveless

That's what we like to do. We're all about efficiency.

Bobby Torrez

Yes.

Rob Loveless

Definitely go follow Bobby, check out his YouTube channel. Be sure to tune in to People Under the Scares and Scream Kingz podcast. Again, all that's listed in the show notes, so definitely go check that out afterwards.

Connect with A Jaded Gay (1:10:29)

Rob Loveless

And as always, thank you for listening. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe. If you have any questions or feedback about the episode, you can reach out to me rob@ajadedgay.com.

For more information about this episode and resources, blog posts, links to merchandise and socials, all that fun stuff, you can visit the website ajadedgay.com.

You can connect with the podcast on Instagram, TikTok, SoundCloud, and YouTube @ajadedgaypod. You can follow me personally, Rob Loveless, on Instagram @rob_loveless.

If you're feeling generous, you can support the podcast on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. That gets you instant access to episodes ad-free, a day early, and exclusive monthly bonus content.

If you sign up at the $3 or $5 tier, you get some additional goodies. Or if you're just interested in accessing the bonus episodes, you can purchase them each individually for $3.

Or if you're scared of commitment, don't worry, I get it. You can do a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee for any dollar amount, and both of those are @ajadedgaypod.

And remember: every day is all we have, so you got to make your own happiness.

Mmm-bye.

Outtake (1:11:57)

Bobby Torrez

So, somebody could be like, I hate this movie. It makes no fucking sense, or I don't like it. Oh, I'm sorry. Can I curse?

Rob Loveless

Oh, yeah, of course.

Bobby Torrez

Okay. They're like, it makes no sense.