Swallowed

It's a shame when a movie makers have a fantastic story, actors, and setting to create something wonderful, and they throw it all away.

I'm not even upset with the amount of suspended belief I allowed to get into this story, it's the constant change in the narrative that made me want to stop watching,

The build up was good, and then when you get to final half of the movie, it feels so disconnected from everything they set up. It felt as if they had a bunch of wild ideas and they just went with it without ever thinking about the time of the of the first half of the movie.

All the love for indie makers, but for the love, make something that make sense rather than just trying to be different.

I was thinking this would be a really gross or a horrific body horror film and it wasn't anything that was really great. The body horror was barely there, it wasn't really scary. I would not call this horror. I kept waiting for something to happen, for it to get truly gruesome because I really felt from what people were saying that I would end up profoundly disturbed, but it never happened. Acting was good, I would call this a thriller but not horror, no way. It's a good story but it needed more to be considered a really disturbing body horror movie. I was thinking it might have some elements of Shivers or Rabid, but it never really went for it.

... come out right? Well no pun intended here, but as the title suggests ... well if you only know the title, you may be in for quite the ride, like I was. Just the beginning was quite something - you get the feeling for our two main characters and what they are about.

Of course only as the movie progresses we get to see how deep their friendship goes ... almost literally and no pun intended. There are scenes here that are not easy to watch - even if they are not explicitly shown. On the other hand, this has quite a lot of male nudity in it. If you have issues with that - well you have been "warned" (I too am more fond of the female body, just saying).

On another note, the movie has Mark Patton in it. If you do not know him: he was in one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. And his character was quite prominent - also in how he changed perception in male leads. Not just for the time this was made.

He really goes all out with his character here. Even more fun when you have met him in real life and know what a sweetheart he is - the character he portrays is anything but. But that is acting - the slow burn on the other hand may not be everyones cup of tea ... suspend your disbelief and go with the flow ...

Benjamin is set to move to LA, for life as a male porn star, on his last night, he and his best friend Dom have a job to do, to get a package of drugs from A to B, but an encounter with a redneck thug at a public toilet changes the course of events.

From the title, you may think you're about to watch a porno, and judging by the amount of full frontline nudity, you may just be closer to that than you think.

Overall, it's better than I expected, and better than some of the scathing review would have you believe.

I think the actual plot, and the ideas in general are fantastic, it's so imaginative, I thought the earlier part of the film was terrific, unfortunately the latter stages didn't quite work as well, when Mark Patton is introduced it gets a little silly.

Not a conventional horror in the sense, but some nice ideas nonetheless, they could have upped the ante in terms of horror, they easily have gone in a few directions.

On the plus side, I'll refer back to an earlier point, female nudity has been synonymous with horror films since the 1970's, so I guess it's good to see them flip the tables somewhat.

Overall, it's a decent watch.

6/10.

A strange sort of thriller. There were some clumsy directing choices, but overall a unique twisted story of bad choices and the tension of trying to cope with those horrific choices. Jenna Malone is always great to see in a film. Jose Colon also deserves credit for taking on a physically bold role. Most actors would shy away from such a role.

I am aware that is a vague review, but I do not want to add spoilers.

Recommended for 18+ only, as it does have some graphic full nudity and adult themes.

A few stars removed for the actor chosen for the third act scenes, some sloppy directing, and the ending that didn't really fit the dark story. In addition, it felt like there were some holes in the plot.