Flaming Creatures
Filmmaker and artist Jack Smith described his own film as a “comedy set in a haunted movie studio.” Flaming Creatures begins humorously enough with several men and women, mostly of indeterminate gender, vamping it up in front of the camera and participating in a mock advertisement for an indelible, heart-shaped brand of lipstick. However, things take a dark, nightmarish turn when a transvestite chases, catches and begins molesting a woman. Soon, all of the titular “creatures” participate in a (mostly clothed) orgy that causes a massive earthquake. After the creatures are killed in the resulting chaos, a vampire dressed like an old Hollywood starlet rises from her coffin to resurrect the dead. All ends happily enough when the now undead creatures dance with each other, even though another orgy and earthquake loom over the end title card.
A surreal, transgressive dive into underground queer camp and avant-garde horror that defies conventional narrative and censors alike.
- A landmark of queer cinema and experimental film, skirting the edges of horror with its eerie atmosphere and taboo imagery.
- Jack Smith’s chaotic blend of burlesque, horror, and absurdist humor anticipates midnight movie cult worship and queer resistance on screen.
- Less about scares and more about unsettling mood, gender fluidity, and the grotesque as political statement.
- For fans of queer horror history, underground cinema, and films that challenge what horror can look like beyond genre confines.
