Hellbent

Hellbent was a real surprise for me. It is a well made, high production value, well acted, well scripted, well shot, low budget film. Think Halloween rather than Friday the 13th.

A group of west Hollywood friends who are gay head out to WeHo's famous Halloween parade and then on to bars to drink and see who they can see. (This setup is not too far afield of many other slasher film set ups). Along the way they manage to draw the attention of a serial killer of homosexuals dressed as a devil. The rest of the film is standard slasher film stuff: they run and some die and they run some more, and more die and then a heroic man survives the day to destroy the evil only to realize that evil just ain't gonna lie down and die.

So what's the attraction; why bother? Well, the easy reason is that this film is made by but not necessarily for the homosexual community. The actors are all portraying gay men (though the actors are not necessarily gay - it is, after all, currently avante garde to play gay). Then, the set up works well within the gay genre - gay men being attacked for being gay - wow, that's not only believable but very very real.

What makes this film unique (from most of the gaysploitation films being made) is that the production values are so amazingly high. These men can act. This script is tight. The filming is of a high quality. The editing is top notch. The direction is good. This film is highly watcheable.

My gripe? Why the heck is the killer doing what he's doing? What's up with that?

Is my gripe with Hellbent in particular for this? Nah. It's pretty much part and parcel with the film genre.

Is that good? Yup. I think Hellbent's producers intended to make a good gay horror film to show that a good horror film can exist with gay characters and not necessarily appeal to only homosexuals. I don't know that its theatrical release would have acheived that, but I do believe that word of mouth with spread and that the film may eventually find favor with teenaged boys who want a good scare, regardless of the lack of boob shots.

For the record, there is little man-to-man contact in this film beyond kissing (and that is to a bare minimum). There is ZERO nudity and the four letter word count is quite possibly less than a single episode of NIP/TUCK....in fact, NIP/TUCK is probably far racier than this film. The gore...well that's another story. This is, after all, a slasher film.

Rent this and you won't be disappointed. It's a good slasher film - and not just for the gay community.

After years of seeing slasher films with scantily clad young girls running around, it seems long overdue that we get a film focusing on half-dressed young gay men. Well, "Hellbent" is here to remedy that situation. A killer wearing a horned mask and weilding a lethal sword that he uses to cleanly chop the heads off his victims, is on the loose. His focus is four young men (one in drag) who are attending a Halloween party. Not nearly bad as I expected (the acting and production values are actually quite good) but nothing exceptional. The only unique perspective this films brings is the gay angle. If you enjoy a good slasher film that avoids a motive or a viable explanation and is filled with a few good scares and lots of blood (and half nude actors!), it is worth a look.

I was positively surprised to see this movie, it is well made, exciting and with charming characters, and can be easily compared to "Scream" or "I know what you did last summer" in quality and drive.
This is however pure slash, and no psychology. They should have added 10 minutes to the movie, to give the viewer a killer profile. The movie ended with me wondering who the killer is under his mask and what his motives are to kill the gay guys (and only the masculine ones).
However, apart from the entertaining factor, this movie gives the gay community reason to rejoice. It shows that the gay now feel so confident in themselves as gay, that they can watch a movie about gay men getting slashed without letting it hit their self esteem or make them feel discriminated. Wonderful!