"For many people in our shared English-language culture, homosexuality is a monstrous condition. Like an evil Mr Hyde, or the wolfman, a gay or lesbian self inside you might be striving to get out. Like Frankenstein's monster, homosexuals might run rampant across the countryside, claiming "innocent" victims. Or worst of all, like mad scientists or vampires, who dream of revolutionizing the world through some startling scientific discovery or preternatural power, homosexual activists strike at the very foundations of society, seeking to destroy not only those around them but the very concepts of Western Christian thought upon which civil society is built." - Harry M. Benshoff, Monsters In The Closet: Homosexuality And The Horror Film (1997, Manchester University Press), p.1.

The Vampire
Director James Whale made four of Universal Studios' most influential (and queer) horror films, Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride Of Frankenstein (1935). One of the few out gay men in early Hollywood, he encouraged several gay friends to appear in his films, and was the first director to invest sympathy in the plight of Frankenstein's monster. His career failing throughout the 40s, he retreated into a solitary lifestyle and eventually commited suicide.