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Love can come in many forms, and in horror movies, anything that has a beating heart can make for an affectionate partner. Think about it: hairy beasts, grotesque flies, glistening vampires, and other creatures have proven time and again to be better romantic partners than actual humans. Many of these entries are the perfect lover boys who gave definition to the horror romance subgenre, whether it be creatures who bite, claw, roar, growl, or what have you. You hear, fellas, you need to become as potent as Edward Cullen or Lisa Frankenstein’s monster!
In that vein, last weekend’s weekend’s Your Monster, starring Tommy Dewey and Melissa Barrera, entered the pantheon just in time for Halloween. So now is a better time than ever to take a look back at the many horror romances in cinema history that struck a chord.
Twilight
A moody midwestern setting is the perfect backdrop for a Gothic romance between a lonely girl and a glistening vampire. Primarily in the initial installment of Twilight, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward’s angsty romance, which only a Hot Topic teen could love, struck the hearts of girls across the nation. Who else wouldn’t fall for a vampire who looks like Robert Pattinson and saves you from getting slammed by a car, takes you on a flight through the woods, and plays a game of baseball with their fellow bloodsucking homies? It might be the most 2000s teen romance of them all, and yet these two’s budding and brooding romance is one for the ages. Besides diamonds—and their shiny boy vampire brethren—are a girl’s best friend.
Beauty and the Beast
The tale is as old as time, and a romance so strong, it had everyone insanely disappointed when the human version wasn’t as hot as the beast form. Animator Glen Keane didn’t know he was cooking so hard with that character design on this one. Anywho, the love between The Beast and Belle is so deep, it defied societal norms. And by that, I mean it became the first animated film to get a Best Picture Oscar nomination.
The story of a forward-thinking, selfless girl (voiced by Paige O’Hara) and a literal beast (Robby Benson) who alter each other’s nature and fall in love within a span of 90 minutes remains flawless, including some of the most iconic scenes in animation history. Just don’t watch any of the direct-to-video spin-offs that taint the overall main story.
The Shape of Water
She was a mute, he was a fish. Guillermo del Toro couldn’t make it more obvious! His award-winning aquatic erotica romance between a mute named Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), who lives a dull and lonely life while working at a government lab during the Cold War, and an Amphibian Man who enlivened her world, captivated our hearts with its intimate connection. Damn, does their action speak louder than words as Elisa does her darndest to break her fish-boi boo out of his prison and she does. Of course del Toro is the only person who can look at the decidedly non-consensual creature feature heavy petting in The Creature from the Black Lagoon and recontextualize it into a truly original and effective creature love story like this.
Warm Bodies
A woman so beautiful that she makes a zombie come back to life? That’s Teresa Palmer’s power! Jonathan Levine’s refreshing action rom-com that’s part-Twilight, part-28 Days Later, and full on mumblecore, turned out to also have a ton of braaaaaains! It’s a sweet tale about a zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) falling for a freedom fighter named Julie (Palmer) during a zombie apocalypse. Well, after he eats her boyfriend (Dave Franco). Exchanging a Dave Franco for a Nicholas Hoult isn’t bad, is it?
And as their connection grows, with R regaining memories about his past life, the more his flesh begins to get less pale, and more human-shaded. This proves in its own weird way that love can cure everything.
Lisa Frankenstein
Necrophilia, but make it ‘80s chic! Lisa was already a lonely teenager whose world was filled with unrequited crushes, a popular cheerleader step-sister (Liza Soberano), and a wicked mother-in-law (Carla Gugino). But Lisa gets to be herself when she visits the local cemetery and pines for a Victorian man’s (Cole Sprouse) bust. She gets way more than she expected after lightning strikes, and he comes to life. Though she immediately friendzones him, he proves to be the perfect beau as their bond deepens through music and murder.
If you can’t get a boyfriend, murder other weird neighborhood boys and use their body parts to make yours whole! Lisa’s budding love for her monster, shared between her idiosyncratic freaky nature and his ghoulish grunts, is a new kind of romance that will make any gal want a Frankenstein for a boyfriend. Assembly is required, though.
Jennifer’s Body
Another Diablo Cody-penned horror, this time about two friends whose friendship gets as sapphic as it is extremely toxic. Aye, this one is bound in a tragedy surrounding codependency during a late 2000s social climate. Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and Jennifer (Megan Fox) have that nerdy-and-hot-best friend dynamic duo down to a tee, this one apparently going back to their childhoods.
Screenwriter Diablo Cody dissects the minutiae of their relationship throughout her horror tale. But also in a campy, silly, very late 2000s manner that’s both so ahead of its time and decidedly of its time. After Jennifer’s body (get it?) is possessed by a demon thanks to a Satanic rock band, she develops an insatiable appetite for killing boys. Similarly, Needy and Jennifer’s loving friendship becomes tested. Needy is compelled to push past the personal affection she has for Jennifer and instead wrestle with her idealized view of her for the good of all the boys getting devoured at school.
Even Jennifer reveals a mutual love for Needy, visible from their passionate kiss in her bedroom to Jennifer trying to show restraint when craving her first kill. Even when death do they part, Needy takes it upon herself to avenge Jennifer and the robbed life she might’ve had by killing the band that sold Jennifer’s soul to a demonic spirit in the first place. It’s a very complicated relationship they share where the monster within Jennifer screwed up their tight camaraderie, but, alas, they shared a love till the very, bloody end.
Edward Scissorhands
Tim Burton’s Beauty and the Beast-like tale snips away at our heartstrings. When we meet Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp), he’s a gentle, soft-spoken boy with literal scissor for hands. He’s also taken in by a suburban saleswoman Peg (Dianne Wiest), who gives him the runway to take the world by storm, becoming a trendsetting barber. But the film truly comes alive when Edward subsequently falls for Kim (Winona Ryder), Peg’s daughter, and the two embark on an earnest, stunning, romance that despite the wintry setting, warms the spirits.
Despite audiences coming for the Gothic imagery of Burton’s riff on Frankenstein’s Monster—with Edward being made in a lab—it’s the wholesome image of Ryder’s suburban princess dancing in “snow” created by Ed’s artistry that haunts.
The Fly
Don’t date a scientist. Sometimes their kooky experiments will affect you. Even when he’s as hot as Jeff Goldblum. In David Cronenberg‘s captivating sci-fi body horror, Dr. Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) slowly becomes a monstrous fly after an experiment goes wrong. Alas, this transformation poorly affects the budding romance he was forming with science journalist Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Quaife (Geena Davis).
As Seth morphs into a fly-man…person, the connection between them slowly disintegrates. And the tragedy only stings like a bee during the grotesque yet emotionally riveting finale as Brundle takes his final form, yet expresses to Ronnie how human he truly feels. Such a pulsating sense of sadness that buzzes around the feels.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
He wants to suck your blood and get his deceased wife back. In Francis Ford Coppola’s take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the vampire (this one covered less in sparkles than copious amounts of corn syrup) is so distraught in grief that he thinks his real estate clerk the fiancée of his real estate clerk Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) is actually the reincarnation of his long-dead bride.
As awkward as it might seem, Coppola’s spooky, creepy, and sexy iteration shows off the fangs of the dreaded creature in all its Gothic glory. Drac ain’t going down without going down on the blood arteries of his beloved Elisabeta. Although nowadays she is named Mina Murray (Winona Ryder). Of course his attempts are doomed, but boy does he go on a passionate display on getting his true love back.
Your Monster
What if your next lover is right in your bedroom closet? This newly released, cute lil gory rom-com is set in the musical theater industry and follows Laura Franco (Melissa Berrara), a pushover who’s having a hard time getting over her breakup with her playwright boyfriend. That is until she meets Monster (Tommy Dewey), an abrasive, filterless beast with a snarky spirit but a big heart.
Throughout their relationship, Monster helps Franco face her insecurities and dormant anxieties and gets her to stand up for heroes, and find a little bit of love too. Though Tommy Dewey’s Monster doesn’t seem that beastly, because with that hair and hipster style, he can pass off as just another unshaved dude from Williamsburg. He and Laura are one of five couples you’d see on a day-to-day basis in that neighborhood.
The Mummy
After being buried for 3700 years in an attempt to resurrect his deceased wife, Anck-es-en-Amon, Imhotep (portrayed by Boris Karloff), the living mummy, emerges from his tomb and questions, “Wherefore art my bride?” Like Drac in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Imhotep uses his immortal being to find his boo thing. And his efforts take a span of a decade during which he assimilates into contemporary society, naming himself Ardath Bey.
But also like Bram Stoker’s Drac, he assumes a modern woman, Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann) is his Anck-es-en-Amon and tries to seduce her into his thrall again. You already know how this goes. But one may wonder if Oldman’s Drac and Karloff’s The Mummy ever shared a drink over their similar failed pursuits.
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