Cruising Cinema: The Boyfriend, G.B.F. and Hairspray (plus the New Year's Sale continues)
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Hi.
Now that I have your attention, I'd like to direct you to my imaginatively titled "New Year Sale" 🥳.
Sign up monthly here anytime throughout January 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 currently 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 bisexuals endlessly rewatching The Mummy 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
— Are you the last Great British gay to watch the great gay hockey show? Well, Christmas has come very early because Heated Rivalry will finally be available to watch from January 10th in the UK. Stock up on tissues for this one, lads...
— Confession time. I'm yet to watch Industry, which by all accounts is the sauciest, queerest finance drama you'll ever see. It looks like Kit Harington's character might be one of the show's many alphabet people too if this new trailer is anything to go by.
Get ready to watch Sir Henry Muck dabble in sin when season four arrives on January 11 in the US and later this month on BBC One in the UK.
— Queers love anime, even if anime doesn't always love the queers. Hell's Paradise bucks that trend, however, with the inclusion of a non-binary character, Shija (Gabimaru), plus the Tensen antagonists who switch gender at will to grow stronger.
Venture back into hell (where we'll all end up anyway) when Hell's Paradise season two returns from January 11th on Crunchyroll (and Netflix in many regions).
— Need a reason to keep living? Netflix has us covered with a second season of The Boyfriend where 10 new gays look for love in the wintery landscape of Hokkaido. Why they couldn't just fly to England and meet me, I'll never know.
The good news is that there will be 15 episodes this time around, bumped up from last season's ten. The bad news is that none of these potential boyfriends are my boyfriend. Honestly, that doesn't sit right with me.
— I've been back at work one day and I'm already in desperate need of a vacation, but I'm also a broke journalist, so instead, I'm going to live vicariously through all the hotties in Laid Bare, a gay murder mystery show set at a nudist resort (Clothing optional. Murder mandatory).
In exactly one week, my new series LAID BARE premieres on OUTtv (OUTFLIX in the UK.)
— Tim O'Leary (@TimOLearyOnline) December 31, 2025
So much blood, sweat, and tears (and sunburns) went into the making of this silly, horny, queer desert-set murder mystery. I hope you enjoy it! pic.twitter.com/Zc8AVsdaZQ
In the words of star Marval Rex, "Tonally, [Laid Bare] lives somewhere in the White Lotus universe, but inside an unapologetically queer, hyper-sexual, all-gay resort where everyone is naked… and someone winds up dead. (Actually, several someones.)"
Find out what Rex and the rest of the nudist gang get up to from January 7th on Apple TV and Out TV (episodes come out weekly).
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Celluloid Closet
Must-see queer classics no one should be without
Joy is hard to come by in this cold, January hellscape, but don't worry. Cruising Cinema is on hand to lift your spirits with a little help from the "Sultan of Sleaze" himself, John Waters.
Long before John Travolta donned a skirt and Zac Efron made me gay, the story of Hairspray began decades earlier with John's most family-friendly film to date. To be fair, that's a pretty low bar from the guy who brought us classic midnight movies such as Pink Flamingos.
You know, the one where its star ate poop. Actual poop.
Drag legend Divine reunited with Waters again in 1988's Hairspray alongside Ricki Lake in her film debut. Everyone's favourite millennial talk show host starred as the "pleasantly plump" teenager Tracy Turnblad who rallied against segregation in her quest for stardom.
Waters has long been a master of kitsch, but here in his breakout classic, the "Pope of Trash" combines that with unbridled joy and searing social commentary. With help from superstar performers like Debbie Harry and Jerry Stiller, Hairspray punctuate stereotypes through parody and humour, although no one else is quite as good as Lake or Divine.
Don't know who Divine was? Open the schools! Or just watch the brilliant documentary I Am Divine which pays homage to this extraordinary larger-than-life icon.
If you're only familiar with the 8x Tony Award winning musical or 2007 adaptation, then yes, you're still gay, but not as gay as you would be if you watched the original Hairspray they're both based on. Go on. Queue it up now. It's what the "Sultan of Sleaze" would want.
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.
