Vampires have been seducing humanity for centuries, but apparently Hollywood still gets a little nervous when the seduction involves two women. As we gear up for Vampire Carnival, it feels like the perfect time to ask why we are still waiting for the lesbian vampire movie that seems to be permanently stuck somewhere between “great idea” and “Hollywood is too scared.”
Vampire Carnival Has the Blood, But Where Are the Lesbians?
Vampire Carnival follows a grieving young woman who is drawn to a mysterious traveling carnival that appears without warning in her small town. Seduced by its eerie spectacle and promises of escape, she soon discovers that the carnival is a gateway to a hidden world where vampires feed not on blood, but on human despair.
As she becomes ensnared in its seductive illusions, she must confront the trauma she’s been running from or risk becoming the carnival’s next permanent attraction. So, yes, we have vampires. We have a mysterious carnival. We have trauma. We have seductive illusions. We even have Kieron Moore.
What we apparently do not have is a lesbian romance.
Moore recently spoke to Attitude about straight privilege, body dysmorphia and playing a gay sex worker in Blue Film, which he described as “The best acting experience I’ve ever had.”
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And now he is entering the world of Vampire Carnival, because apparently the man has decided one queer-adjacent project at a time is not enough.
But while Vampire Carnival gets ready to unleash its supernatural chaos, another vampire project is facing a much more frustrating monster: Hollywood itself.
Lili Reinhart Wants Hollywood to Give Us Lesbian Vampires
Lili Reinhart has been trying to get a screen adaptation of a novella “about lesbian vampires” made, and she says finding a studio willing to take it on has been a struggle.
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In a Hits Radio interview clip, Reinhart said: “People are too afraid to make that.”
Honestly, vampires have been eating people for years, but two women kissing is where the industry draws the line?
Reinhart went even more directly after the studio system, telling industry decision-makers watching the interview: “So, if you work at a studio and are watching this video, I don’t know why you wouldn’t make that in this day and age. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
And she has a point worth sitting with. Lesbian vampires are hardly some brand-new cultural invention. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, first published in 1872, is one of the foundational works of vampire literature and has long been associated with the genre’s sapphic undertones.
Reinhart has not publicly confirmed which novella she wants to adapt, although Carmilla has reportedly been speculated as a possibility. So, for now, we should keep that firmly in the “maybe” coffin rather than treating it as confirmed.
Hollywood, We Have Questions
The funny thing about vampires is that they have always been incredibly flexible. They can be terrifying. Romantic. Campy. Sexy. Gothic. Tragic. Philosophical. Weird. Occasionally all of those things before the opening credits finish.
And audiences have already shown plenty of enthusiasm for stories that mix supernatural horror with complicated sexuality and desire. So why does a lesbian vampire project apparently make executives clutch their pearls?
Reinhart is bisexual, and if Hollywood is somehow more comfortable with a bisexual vampire than a lesbian one, well…
We have a compromise. Give us the bisexual vampire. Nobody is complaining.
Maybe We Just Need to Let Women Bite Each Other
Part of the appeal of vampire stories has always been the ability to play with desire that feels dangerous, forbidden or outside ordinary rules. That makes the genre almost suspiciously well suited to queer storytelling.
Which is why it can feel a little strange that we still spend so much time waiting for Hollywood to decide whether lesbian vampires are “safe” enough to put on screen.
Meanwhile, Vampire Carnival is arriving with a grieving protagonist, a mysterious traveling carnival and supernatural creatures feeding on human despair. That is apparently fine.
Two women falling for each other? Someone in a studio meeting suddenly needs to lie down. Maybe the solution is not complicated. Maybe we just need more filmmakers to stop treating queer desire like the scariest monster in the room.
And if Lili Reinhart really does have a lesbian vampire project waiting for the right studio, perhaps somebody should finally open the coffin. Because if we can get vampires in a carnival, surely we can get vampires with girlfriends.
Now the important question: which lesbian vampire story do you actually want to see on screen?