Summary
- Romance and horror often intersect, creating intense and complex relationships between characters.
- LGBTQ+ viewers find comfort in the subtle queer elements and desire for romantic affection in horror films.
- Characters like Jennifer & Needy, Billy & Stu, and Count Dracula & Mina have captivated horror fans with their romantic dynamics.
Romance and horror are two seemingly opposing genres that tend to mesh more often than casual audiences would assume, leading to plenty of "ships" among fans. Blending love with co-dependency, life-or-death stakes, or the sheer intensity of fear can allow for, unsurprisingly, brilliant storytelling. While several horror franchises depict lovers desperate to survive both literal and figurative monsters, others rely heavily on subtext.
With so much left to the imagination, it isn't any wonder that horror fans began pairing their favorite characters together. This is especially true of LGBTQ+ viewers, who found comfort in the genre's depictions of otherness, its subtle nods to the queer experience, and the desire for romantic affection. While today's cinematic landscape is more likely to showcase overt queer representation, the movies of yesteryear were very different: some saw terror, others saw love. In any case, there have been plenty of characters over the years that horror fans have rooted for romantically.
10 Jennifer & Needy
Jennifer's Body (2009)
Unfairly maligned in its initial release, to the degree that even actor Adam Brody saw fit to comment, much like its ultra-powerful antagonist, Jennifer's Body has found new life, both as a cult classic and as a messy, co-dependent romance. The relationship between the wildly popular Jennifer Check and her mousy best friend Anita "Needy" Lesnicki is dripping with both venom and a palpable chemistry that some are quick to read as sexual tension. Many scenes between the two contain the trappings of straightforward romances: longing gazes, ionate kisses, and affectionate words. Even the film's cinematography suggests something deeper than friendship. While the late Roger Ebert infamously called the film "Twilight for boys," he may not have been very far off.
9 Billy & Stu
Scream (1996)
The first in an iconic long-running franchise, Scream presented horror fans with heart-pounding thrills, clever meta-commentary and, for some, a romance for the ages. While Billy Loomis and his partner-in-crime Stu Macher may not have been the last to don the Ghostface persona, they were certainly the most memorable. Billy's more subdued psychopathy was an excellent parallel to Stu's wild and chaotic nature; the way the pair touched while taunting Sydney was all the evidence fans needed.
8 Count Dracula & Mina
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
While the literary Mina Murray-Harker was never intended to be Dracula's destined love, the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola classic, ironically entitled Bram Stoker's Dracula, left hopeless romantics everywhere with an impression of longing, loss, and visceral chemistry. Here, Mina is depicted as Dracula's reincarnated bride; the symbol of a love affair that spanned centuries. Though Mina ends the film much like her book counterpart: the perfectly content wife of Keanu Reeves' Jonathan, fans can't help but long for a darker and more enduring love.
7 Clarice & Hannibal
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Silence of the Lambs presents audiences with an undaunted, and genuinely badass, female lead. The mind-bending thriller puts clever FBI agent Clarice Sterling face-to-face with the cunning cannibal Hannibal Lecter. Anthony Hopkins as Lecter is equal parts ingenious and grotesque, leaving audiences enthralled when Clarice seemed to be the only person able to crack his outlandish demeanor. Where some see a disturbing game of cat and mouse, others see an intriguing dark romance just waiting to blossom.
6 Veronica & JD
Heathers (1988)
The late '80s cult classic, Heathers needs no introduction. The story of good-girl-meets-bad-boy has been told countless times in the typical romantic comedy. Heathers subverts this formula by making its bad boy, Jason "JD" Dean, a literal serial killer, listed among several other bad movie boyfriends. Though their relationship is short-lived, the tangible chemistry between the characters had some fans still rooting for them. The adoration for this pairing even extends into Heathers: The Musical, as its version of JD is a much more sympathetic character.
5 Eddie & Richie
It: Chapter 1/It: Chapter 2 (2019)
While many fans feel that It: Chapter 2 did Eddie and Richie a disservice, the somber and sweet story of potentially unrequited love is certainly not without its fans. The two are childhood friends, with a significant amount of shared trauma -- and at least one confirmed crush -- between them. It isn't any wonder horror fans were pulling for Losers Club Eddie Kaspbrak and Richie Tozier to get together.
4 Chucky & Tiffany
Bride of Chucky (1998)
Be they murderous birds of a feather or bitter exes out for blood, the comically horrifying romance of Charles "Chucky" Lee Ray and Tiffany Valentine has always been a favorite among horror fans. Appearing in four of seven Child's Play films, Jennifer Tilly's brief cameo in the recent TV spinoff had fans buzzing with excitement, as did the potential for a romantic rivalry between Tilly's Tiffany, and Chucky's canonical obsession, Sarah Pierce.
3 Michelle & Radu
Subspecies (1991)
Long before the famed supernatural love triangles featured in The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and Twilight, the cult classic horror series, Subspecies gave fans something wildly unexpected. A former student of Romanian folklore, Michelle Morgan becomes the unwitting victim of the grotesque vampire, Radu Vladislas. Michelle falls for Radu's charming and romantic half-brother but, after his death, and much to her horror, Michelle quickly captures Radu's affection. The confused franchise repeatedly swings between Michelle's terror, and what appears to be burgeoning feelings for Radu in return but, regardless, some horror fans see the pairing as a twisted and bloodthirsty Beauty and the Beast.
2 Eleanor & Theo
The Haunting (1963)
While a brilliant classic, psychological horror film, The Haunting is very much a product of its time. Determined to find proof of the supernatural, Dr. John Markway is implied to have captured the romantic interest of one of his subjects: the film's heroine, Eleanor Lance. The film also suggests Theo's interest in Eleanor. Though this perceived sexual tension is meant to further frighten the audience, modern viewers have been known to see a story of loss, unrequited love, and psychological ruin.
1 Lestat & Louis
Interview with a Vampire (1994)
Although more modern adaptations have done away with any ambiguity, in the 1994 film adaptation of Interview with a Vampire, the relationship between Lestat and Louis is something of an enigma. Existing somewhere between a toxic partnership and a failing marriage, horror fans have explicitly paired the two together for years. Wrought with anguish and distrust, yet completely unable to let each other go, Lestat and Louis gave some fans a co-dependent vampire love story long before Twilight was written.
