Halloween sangriento

As a longtime slasher fan, I'm always looking forward to a new entry in one of my favorite sub-genres. When I first heard about this one, I was wary. Not because it was a gay slasher film, but because I was worried that the characters weren't going to be portrayed as real people, but rather caricatures of gay stereotypes. In order for a slasher film to succeed, you need to believe the victims... and thankfully, with Hellbent, I did.

What I got in this film was a really solid slasher flick that was really fun from beginning to end, with beautiful cinematography, plentiful gore, and a very fun locale. While the killer has no direct motive, it works within the context of the story and the movie never gets bogged down with pacing problems.

The characters, while an eclectic bunch, are all believable and keep the story moving along. While the occasional stereotype shows up, one gets the feeling that these are real people in a real situation, which is refreshing. The fact that the central characters are gay quits being a gimmick after the opening scene.

Judging from other reviews here, it appears as though a lot of people didn't care for this film, but I really did have a good time with it. Its funny, gory, and entertaining - which is all I ever ask of my slasher movies. People wanting high cinema should look somewhere else... but if you want high cinema, you probably aren't a slasher fan anyways.

I was fortunate enough to see a screening at Frameline's Gay and Lesbian film festival, and the audience went nuts. From the moment the lights went down this film kept the sold out crowd on the edge of their seats.

The story follows a group of friends in West Hollywood at a Halloween gathering, and is well written with some predictable yet well executed plot twists. The expected gore is also well done - just enough to keep you clutching at the arm rests! You can really tell that the writer/director is an avid fan of the genre, and that is what makes it great for the rest of us as well.

More importantly, it gives the queer audiences something of our own to relate to, after years of watching "Jamie Lee Curtis" et-al running from the likes of Jason, Freddy and Mike Myers. All I can say is it's about time!

HELLBENT is a tough movie to classify. Yes, it is about a serial killer on one Halloween night in West Hollywood, but it also seems to be a light-hearted takeoff on all the silly teenage massacre horror films. Is it parody or was it meant to be a thriller? No matter, because what we get is an entertaining, well-paced, witty-scripted, full of tension foray through the clubs and alleyways of the very colorful West Hollywood Halloween atmosphere.

Don't search for story motivation: there doesn't seem to be one. A devil-garbed body builder beheads boys, leaving the corpses sans heads to the horror of the community just as Halloween festivities are beginning. Our main characters are four friends who are out for a good time, the leader of whom is costumed as a cop and in reality is a wannabe policeman who failed the course due the loss of an eye. His fellow friends are zippy, tight, and fun loving and along the way many of them fall victim to the 'devil's scythe' (and yes, that is shown in grisly detail!). There is a lot of chase action in dark rooms and darker woods and alleys and the fear quotient is pretty high. The problem is the ending, which doesn't answer any plot motivational questions and unfortunately leaves the door open for future follow-up adventures (or is this merely part of the parody of the multitudinous versions of Freddy, I Know What You Did Last Summer, etc teenie flicks?).

The cast is attractive and seems to be enjoying themselves as actors. The lighting and costuming and musical scoring are on a par with the best production values of films of this genre. In the end it is fun to see a thriller played solely in the gay community without preachy comparisons or strife with the straight folk. It is entertaining for everyone.

A gay "slasher"?? Well, what did you expect when West Hollywood's annual Halloween Carnival is the backdrop? HELLBENT is gay-themed "mainstream" horror (from the makers of HALLOWEEN and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) that doesn't pander to a homosexual demographic and "fun for the whole family" despite its R-rating, if you know what I mean. A serial killer who collects heads is interrupted by a group of friends on their way to a Halloween parade and he relentlessly tracks them down one by one over the course of the night...

I was surprised to find myself actually caring who'd make it out alive but what's even more amazing is the potent blend of sex & death in the form of the supernatural (?) killer. Even behind his horned, three- quarter mask, "The Devil" is brutally handsome, the homo fatale embodiment of a demon lover one would surrender to willingly ("seasons don't fear the reaper -nor do the wind and the sun and the rain"). He also takes good head but be that as it may, this was wholesome entertainment compared to something like Peter de Rome's THE DESTROYING ANGEL.

Some may feel that queer cinema was due for a slasher film. But what is the point really? It's no longer enough for me to see a film only because it features attractive men with hot bodies. What about story? Character development? Acting? Are these not important?

The premise of this film is as follows. A psycho killer stalks a group of gay friends on Halloween night. That's it. More frustrating is the fact that at the end, the audience is given no indication as to who the killer is or why he did what he did. Honestly, if these were straight characters, would such an unoriginal film get released or even made for that matter? There wasn't even much humor in the film to make the excessive gore easier to take. I especially disliked the scene in the bathroom where the most likable character was beheaded right after he expressed his happiness about getting a phone number from a guy he liked.

So now we have our gay slasher film. A step forward or a step backward?