Cruising Cinema: Rafiki, Cat People and RuPaul's Drag Race
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At the time of writing, it's been exactly 81 hours, 24 minutes and 6 seconds since the first season of Heated Rivalry came to an end. But who's counting?
If leaving the cottage has left you with nothing else to live for, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription of Cruising Cinema where I can recommend new gay shit to fill that void. But that's not all.
To celebrate the New Year, I'm offering an imaginatively titled "New Year Sale" 🥳 for new paid subscribers. Sign up monthly here and you'll get 50% off for the first 3 months. That's £2 a month for all of the horny gay GIF's you could ever dream of.
On top of that, Cruising Cinema is also offering 25% off for an annual subscription! Take advantage of this sale here and sign up for good gay karma 💃
The paid tier includes extras like 'Hidden Gems' and 'Mother of the Week', plus a ranking of the best queer movies and TV shows of 2026 — with recommendations and links on where to watch them.
Perfect for gays endlessly rewatching George of the Jungle who might be in need of something new.
And if you're paying already? Thank you. You're a diva. You're an icon. You are the moment.
Queer and Now
Everything new in the world of queer TV and film
— Stranger Things has ended with its gayest season yet. You'd think that would be cause for celebration, but the only good thing about this is that the show is finally ending.
Watching Will clumsily come out to the entire population of Hawkins, I realised that this might be the first time I've ever wanted someone to actually go back into the closet. May the legacy of this horrifically bad coming out scene last as long as Noah Schnapp's career, post-Stranger Things.
— If you're as distracted as I am by the Ginger Minj pile-on happening online as we speak, you might not have realised that RuPaul's Drag Race is back with its 18th season on January 2. Given the show's age this year, you'd think Leonardo DiCaprio would show up as a guest judge, but Cardi B is on hand to welcome the new cast instead.
New queens include Britney back-up dancer Mia Starr and Drag Race's first ever mother/daughter duo, Athena Dion and Juicy Love Dion. In week one, these queens have been challenged to repurpose leftover treasures from the Drag Race vaults including Lexi's tarp and Nicki Minaj's career. I can't wait to see how this turns out.
— You might think spy shows are just for dads, but The Night Manager appealed to daddy's, twinks, and everyone in between when Tom Hiddleston bared his peachy cheeks in season one.
Season two is even fruitier thanks to the bisexual throuple that forms when Hiddleston meets Camila Morrone and my husband Diego Calva. You know it's a good one when The Daily Mail gets mad about it. Watch all of season two from New Year's Day on Prime Video.
— Gay boys love anime (It's me, I'm "gay boys") and Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the best airing today. Ok, it's not the gayest anime, not by any stretch, but Saturo Gojo is a dreamboat (I could stare into those freaky blue eyes forever) and his connection to arch-rival Suguro Geto is fruity at the best of times.
Look out for season 3 on Crunchyroll (and in various regions on Netflix) from January 8th.
Celluloid Closet
Must-see queer classics no one should be without
Let's kick off the new year with an oldie but a goodie.
Penned by gay screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen, Jacques Tourneur's Cat People (1942) was one of the first supernatural horror movies to focus on regular people in an urban American setting. And some of those regular people just so happened to be extremely gay, or as gay as you could get onscreen in 1942.
Lead actress Simone Simon (honestly, no notes) plays Irena Dubrovna, a Serbian immigrant who comes to believe that she's descended from an ancient tribe of Cat People. The kicker is that these cat people apparently transform into black panthers when aroused.
It's kind of like when I watch Heated Rivalry and transform into a barking dog, except Irena's cat-form is strong enough to kill people.
Some men like Mr Blah Blah and Sir Blahrington also appear, but Cat People is a sapphic masterpiece through and through.
Just look at the way Irena obsesses over Jane Randolph as Alice Moore. Or the way she's constantly othered as an immigrant. Or how she tries to suppress the "evil" inside of her. Or how she — this one's a biggie — seems unable to enjoy bedroom shenanigans of the heterosexual variety.
It's giving cat lover in more ways than one, if you catch my drift. And therein lies the film's rawest appeal. Beyond the intricate use of shadow and light, and beyond even Simon's masterful performance in the lead, Cat People is an eerie, sexy film about desire that thrums and pulsates with a sapphic energy that's decades ahead of its time.
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Queer Awakenings
Long before I knew I was gay, stories about outsiders and people who don't belong really spoke to me as a kid. And I know I'm not alone in that. So I'm asking you, the beautiful, talented subscribers reading this right now; which queer stories inspired you growing up?
Please send in your own stories, those early examples of shows and films that shaped who you are today, and I'll share them right here in the free edition of this newsletter. Don't worry, your accounts can be anonymous if you wish.
(Previous examples here and here)
Mother of the Week
Where Mothers Come To Mother
