Chaz Bono has been known as an actor, musician, and writer throughout his career, but now he can add a new title to his resume: scream king. Recently, Bono has starred in and produced the horror film, Bury the Bride, which won Best Feature at horror festival Panic Fest last week.
As a genre, horror has been a familiar space for queer people. Queer-coded classic horror figures like Nosferatu, Frankenstein, and Dracula emerged in the 19th century. The modern-day has produced camp antagonists from Scream’s Ghostface to killer robot doll M3GAN, who have been welcomed with open arms by the queer community. For Chaz Bono, there is a clear reason why.
“Horror has always been slightly marginalized as a genre. I think it’s that outsider status of the horror movie, the horror fan – it’s very similar. LGBTQ+ people just gravitate to horror,” he says.
The horror genre has been tricky for trans representation, with films like Hitchcock’s Psycho and Jodie Foster’s Silence of the Lambs facing questions about how trans people are presented as perpetrators of violence. However, in recent years, there has been a positive shift with trans actors being cast in leading roles in the horror genre.
Bono is part of this new wave of trans actors in horror, and in Bury the Bride, he plays the role of Puppy. Bono notes that the role has nothing to do with gender whatsoever. “I’m not somebody that generally loves to play trans characters, because I’m just a character actor,” he says.
But as anti-LGBTQ+ bills continue to be introduced in states across the US, Bono recognizes that horror can be a powerful tool for telling trans stories. “The attacks that are happening on trans people in America right now – you know, I think that there’s a way in horror to tell that story without [explicitly] telling that story,” he says.
Despite the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community, Bono wants to spread hope. He notes the progress that has been made in celebrating LGBTQ+ people in film, TV, and music, and encourages young LGBTQ+ people to know that things will get better.
“I would just encourage especially young [LGBTQ+] people to know that this is not going to last forever. Just ride this out however you can.”
Bury the Bride is now streaming for free on Tubi.