Black Flame is a brilliant and visceral queer horror novella, written by Gretchen Felker-Martin and published by Titan Books. A hauntingly devastating story that forces us to confront the real horrors of humanity using the trope of the cursed film, elevating it through its visceral writing, weaving all around the repressed desires and essence of the main character.

We will be following Ellen Kramer, a deeply closeted and repressed woman who works as an archivist, restoring and helping to bring life to old films. Her life starts to change as she is assigned the restoration of an infamous exploitation film called The Baroness, which was thought to be destroyed by the Nazis; as she works on the film, the scenes from it, the very essence of it, begin to poison her mind. Ellen is convinced that what is depicted in the film is real, and that it's happening to her: visions and voices that make her life spiral out of control.

The concept of this novella is intimately tied to how Ellen has been forced to repress her own self, her desires, all to fit into the image of what a traditional Jewish family expects of a daughter, even at the cost of her own pain; the essence that is emanating from the film acts as the catalyzer to break out from that closet. It's not an easy process, with Ellen many times struggling between what she has been told it's correct and what she feels inside her, reaching the point of physical and mental pain; but eventually, she will start accepting it through small acts of resistance and defiance.

The writing is quite atmospheric and claustrophobic; Felker-Martin's prose is excellent at portraying the visceral and gross imagery that accompanies the own film and Ellen's transformation. This novella takes the opportunity to examine concepts such as identity and gender while also delivering a great example of weird and unapologetic horror.

Black Flame is an excellent horror novella, an equally erotic and suspenseful piece that weaves social commentary together with the own horror elements to deliver a meaningful read. An authentic banger!