5 Horror Movies to Watch This Trans Day of Visibility
An introductory list featuring films by Jane Schoenbrun and Alice Maio Mackay
by Lana Thorn 31 March 2026
A24
To celebrate this Trans Day of Visibility, we’ve curated a starter list of five films, from a haunting Jane Schoenbrun psychological horror film to an atmospheric slice of Euro horror starring Hunter Schafer. The most well-known representations of the trans experience in the horror may well come in the form of the tired trans villain trope (The Silence of the Lambs, Sleepaway Camp, Dressed to Kill), but especially with a wave of new trans horror cinema in the last several years, there are more and more exciting stories that reframe the relationship between trasness and the genre.
T-Blockers (2023)
Dark Star Pictures
21-year-old Australian writer-director Alice Maio Mackay has been steadily redefining trans horror cinema with a wave of brightly-coloured punk-infused indie films. One such offering is T-Blockers, which follows a young trans woman (Lauren Last) and her friends who must face off against bigoted men-turned-zombies.
Seed of Chucky (2004)
Focus Features
At the heart of Don Mancini’s campy horror comedy is Chucky (Brad Dourif) and Tiffany’s (Jennifer Tilly) genderfluid child, Glen/Glenda (Billy Boyd), named after Ed Wood’s infamous 1953 exploitation film. The nuanced character offers a refreshing alternative to the trans or transcoded killers that have figured in the genre from Psycho to The Silence of the Lambs.
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
A24
Before writer-director Jane Schoenbrun takes us to Camp Miasma this summer with Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder, they made a haunting trans allegory in the form of this psychological horror film about a social outcast (Justice Smith) with a mysterious connection to a Buffy-inspired 90s TV show.
Cuckoo (2024)
NEON
With Euphoria star Hunter Schafer in full Scream Queen mode, Cuckoo is an atmospheric horror mystery set in the German Alps. Schafer plays a grief-stricken teenager who uncovers a sinister plot in her new mountain town, while Dan Stevens plays a European villain you won’t forget.
Bit (2019)
Vertical Entertainment
Young trans woman (Nicole Maines) is just looking for a fresh start in LA. She ends up finding it in a rather unique manner: by falling in with four queer feminist vampires who feed on predatory men.