There’s a lack of romantic comedies now but what we replaced with our losses is our newfound love for horror romance. I will be exploring the idea of horror and romance and how it is connected to true love.
When we think of horror films, romance might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But whether you are discussing the classics of horror or modern masterpieces, more often than not, there is an element of love injected into the terror of it all.
Rather than replay the same five rom-coms this lovesick season, you should spice up your Valentine’s Day by embracing the romance of horror. Take a closer look, and you could argue that some of your favorite horror films are just as much about love as they are about terrifying the viewer.
Horror Romance
Many of us have noticed an increase in romance veiled through a horror narrative. For example, we all flocked to the theatres to watch the creative and talented mind of Robert Eggers in Nosferatu. It is a film that isn’t palatable to general audiences. Is it because of the dark themes that each character represented or was it the suffering of a woman they didn’t understand?
Like Nosferatu, a string of other films studied the similar concept that Eggers was toying with in the film. Movies like Your Monster (2024), Warm Bodies (2013), and The Shape of Water (2017) all explore the similar themes that Eggers was trying to convey, though it just wasn’t as mainstream as Eggers’ film.
Nosferatu (2024)
This film is not what is considered a mainstream romance, but rather a true gothic horror romance that many fail to understand.
Ellen Hutter, played by Lily-Rose Depp, is a complicated character. She is misunderstood by her desires to the average viewer. Count Orlok isn’t her object of desire. Instead, Orlok is everything she is ashamed of; she is lonely and in need of company, the company her husband Thomas wasn’t giving her. Not because Thomas didn’t desire her, but rather, it was because he wanted to build her a life a princess dreams of. All that Ellen desired was to be wanted by her husband, intellectually and romantically.
Love for Ellen, Thomas, Fredrich, and Anna Harding is never-ending. It is what Orlok wishes he had. He is the undead and yet he cannot find a love like the love that he destroyed between these two pairs. Orlok was an old and bitter vampire who preyed on Ellen’s love for her family and husband. He saw love as something that can be coerced and forced if the person is lonely enough. Through the suffering, Ellen learned that love is forever and she will die knowing that in her heart. Hence why, when Orlok feeds, he goes for the heart.
Warm Bodies (2013)
Another Nicholas Hoult movie, Warm Bodies describes the love between the undead and a human. We explore dark and quirky themes throughout the film, making it one of the most endearing movies about zombies to release in the last decade.
R the zombie, played by Hoult, is a highly intelligent and introspective zombie compared to his counterparts who suffer from hunger. Instead of eating the human Julie, played by Teresa Palmer, he begins to feel overprotective of her, blossoming into somewhat of a twisted romance. The love between Julie and R becomes human. He admires her humanity throughout the film so much that he starts to feel human again. The film is truly a pinnacle of love found in a hopeless place.
Like Ellen from Nosferatu, Julie is in search of humanity in the backdrop of death. Unlike Ellen though, her object of desire is the monster. That is because Ellen was lonely and Julie was just alone.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Another controversial film that puzzled viewers upon their first watch. The Shape of Water explores themes of loneliness and the idea that love prevails even when the rest of the world doesn’t understand it.
Set in the backdrop of the 60s, the film follows a unique relationship between Elisa and the Amphibian man. Like Elisa, the loneliness she saw in the Amphibian man — being imprisoned by the scientists at the facility she works in — was all too familiar. Elisa is a woman who wakes up alone and has a routine; she seeks love and comfort with something unfamiliar.
Elisa doesn’t speak; she only knows how to communicate using sign language, but love knows no language. It doesn’t take much time for Elisa to feel a connection to the Amphibian man.
Honorable Mentions
Now I’ve only highlighted three films in this article, but I don’t want us to forget that these aren’t the only films that have created a romance between two individuals who feel alienated in the world. Here are a list of honorable mentions, blending the worlds of horror and romance:
- AMC’s Interview with The Vampire TV Series (2022)
- Bones and All (2022)
- Crimson Peak (2015)
- Your Monster (2024)
- Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
- Twilight (2008)
- Interview With The Vampire (1994)
- Heathers (1988)
- The Phantom Of The Opera (2004)
- Carmilla (2019)
The Connection
“Be my companion, Louis. Be all the beautiful things you are, and be them without apology. For all eternity.”
-Lestat De Lioncourt, Interview with The Vampire (2024)
Like all true art pieces, it is left to the audience to perceive what they think a film is. In all these films there is a commonality: a search for love. An affection unlike any other, finding your soulmate in the darkest and murkiest of corners. It is not up to us to question or judge where people lay their affections because the truth is that love is blind.
These films all feature women who have fallen in love with the unlikeliest of people. Well, the closest thing we can get to people is that, deep down, we are all in search of human connection.
It is telling that the main characters of these films are women. Women are set in a world built against them, creating a loneliness that is hard to describe. This loneliness can only be reciprocated by a person who feels the same loneliness. It is the nature of humans to seek comfort from people that they relate to. Sometimes the unlikeliest of creatures are the ones we have the deepest connection to.
