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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth watching, gay or straight, June 29, 2006
This review is from: HellBent (DVD)
When reviewing a film like HELLBENT, it's important to rate it within the realm of its genre. The Godfather this film isn't, but as a horror movie it's top-notch, except for some minor issues I had.
I disagree with earlier posters who see this as an AIDS allegory and question, "Haven't we gotten beyond that by now?" I couldn't disagree more. This film, to me, shows how "mainstream" gay culture has become. It follows the formula familiar to anyone who's seen Friday the 13th and any of the sequels or imitators that followed: have sex, get killed; remain chaste, survive (more or less). I view it as a weird compliment that gays can now be killed in a slasher film, as main characters in a "pointless" film designed to scare the bejeezus out of you (and succeeding admirably).
So it shouldn't really surprise anyone by who lives and who dies. What is surprising, however, is how the characters -- who should have been mere cardboard -- turn into semi-three-dimensional people. I was most impressed with the role of guy in drag. There was a real poignancy to some of his scenes; his need for validation through sex.
Speaking of sex, the sexuality is highly erotic but not barrier pushing. The sex in this movie was more like a daytime soap or an episode of the old MTV show "Undressed" than a more overt display that's so commonplace in straight movies (of any kind) and that was such a big deal in Brokeback Mountain. To put a positive spin on that, then, this is a gay movie straight people will watch easily. Attractive, Beverly Hills, 90210-type actors in an effective slasher flick. No gross-out deaths, as seems to be the trend nowadays, but more of an emphasis on the suspenseful, which I find much "scarier" and certainly smarter.
The one issue I have with the film is the lack of motivation for the killer. I was waiting for a motive. The bad guys ALWAYS have a motive. But I can see the genius in NOT giving him a motive: the filmmakers were damned if they did, whichever direction they'd chosen to go. Motive would mean determination of the killer's sexuality, and a straight killer would mean this movie was anti-gay and about gay bashing. A gay killer would indicate to many that gayness leads to dysfunction, self-hatred, etc. (see De Palma's Dressed to Kill). This whole controversy is avoided, smartly, but it gives the ending a lack of something for me: gravitas, maybe, I'm not sure. And the very final image (I won't spoil it here) is SO cliche it made me groan. But again, this speaks of the mainstreaming of gay culture: gotta leave room for a sequel!
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and Interesting in a weird SCI FI sort of way!, December 26, 2006
This review is from: HellBent (DVD)
This movie is about a group of superficial party type gay men going out for a bit of partying and cheap slutty anonomous sexual fun and frolics. They find most of what they want on their outting but the gay men do attract the attention of a stalker \ slasher \ killer who has a definite taste for young gay male flesh.
The HellBent is funny because, the gay men at times camp it up to draw laughs in ways only gay men can do. The slasher is sort of funny because, he has no meat on his bones as a chacater. Don't look for a movie that gets you into the mind of the killer because, there is none of that here. Whatever derailed this slasher dudes trolley is not explored in detail during the film in any remotely imaginable way. It is as if the gay slasher dropped from space with the single line program, "Kill Gay Men!".
The production values are ok but you definitely know this is a truly low budget movie. The rough crude production values actually help HellBent because it lends a sort of realism that gets drained out when there is enough money to do a pretty boy artsy movie. The guys in the HellBent are your typical Pretty Gay Party Boy Gym Cute wasp waisted muscle heads whose idea of an intellectual workout is guessing the current temp of the pool water at their current tricks home.
I brought HellBent because, I like slasher movies and a gay slasher movie is such a rare thing it was a must have in my DVD collection. HellBent is a funny, gay slasher movie with the required lots of blood. the guys are so one demensional it is obvious they are Class A air heads if not dope addicts. If you expect too much from HellBent you will be easily disapointed but since I was not expected all that, and took the movie as just a fun way to waste an hour or so I give it four stars. If I were grading this movie as a mainstream release by a huge production company I'd give it 2 stars if that!
Buy this HellBent because you have time to waste and you just want to see that rare animal "a camp gay themed slasher movie with of course the obligatory transvestite, tired old queens, bathroom trolls and gay party boys". HellBent is a way to go slumming in a gay community without having to leave home! Watch HellBent when you want to feel dirty without actually getting dirty and laugh the whole time. Anyways thats why I brought HellBent!
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Pointless & Boring, November 20, 2006
This review is from: HellBent (DVD)
Just because it has nearly all-gay characters or because the characters are cute doesn't make this film entertaining.
I would like to say what it lacks in polish it makes up for in story, but there isn't one. A bunch of gay guys get their heads cut off. By whom and why? This isn't covered in the movie. I'm not even sure why this movie was made, and am sorely disappointed if this is the best they can come up with.
It's probably worth a rental for the mindless idiocy of it all and to see the cute guys flirt with each other. But don't expect much at all.
Rites of Passage (a DVD that I just reviewed) affected and scared me a lot more (and entertained me a lot more) than this dud.
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