Scant serious criticism of German queer - lesbian and gay male — film has been pursued. This article traces the narrative and political evolution of queer German 'coming-out' films through the four-stage cycle typical of genre films. This analysis is sketched in the context of New German Cinema - as auteur film, as response to the mistrust inculcated by Hitler-era propaganda film making, and as affected by the terrorist paranoia of 1970s West German society. The four stages of genre films — primitive, classical, revisionist and parodic — are examined through examples taken from both gay male and lesbian film makers.