A Timeline of Transgender Horror 2: Electric Boogaloo

Rounding out the history of transsexuals in horror (and why the future is with indie)

logan ashley kisner
57 min readOct 29, 2021
Emira Hajj as Elena, “Mesmeralda” (2019)

My piece on transgender representation in horror was something of a surprise success. I could never have expected that in just over a year, it would be viewed nearly 10,000 times.

It also wasn’t intended to become such a major project, but as a result of that essay, I think that I’ve accidentally become a de facto historian on the history of transgender representation within horror films. After this write-up, I’ve watched and written about more than 70 films, spanning across at least 9 different countries over 90 years. I’m proud to state that I believe I have created one of, if not the most, complete collections of transgender horror films on the web!

I made a point to state that there was no way, in that original piece, for me to be able to cover every trans horror film ever made. And I stand by that; on top of generally poor record keeping, there’s still that inability to differentiate transsexuality from crossdressing and general gender nonconformity, which makes curating a list difficult. But as time has passed, more films have been brought to my attention, and eventually I figured: what the hell? I may not be able to cover every one, but I may as well try.

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logan ashley kisner

23, he/him transsexual. On Twitter @transhorrors. Questions, comments or requests at kredino@gmail.com — Selected works at loganashley.contently.com