The Concept Of The Slasher
Friday the 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street, Child’s Play, etc. All these iconic films share a space in time where a subgenre of horror was having a mainstream boom; the slasher. Heavy-handed in blood and guts, not to mention mystery – people just wanted more and more. And more they got, through the decades hundreds of slasher’s have been made. All of very different quality – It got oversaturated to say the least. Many studios tried their hand at a quick buck through low budget horror movies. By the 2000’s the spark wasn’t gone, just changing.
No matter what arguments you can make about whether this type of film could ever be seen as “prestige” there’s still many lover’s of the genre. Especially those in the LGBT+ community. It’s like this strange phenomenon people in the community noticed. A love for a genre that isn’t often geared towards them. Rather that’s apart of a bigger conversation about representation in film.
In the recent years there’s of course a lot more acknowledgement’s of queer people in media. However, it’s interesting and also a challenge to see the decades before on how representation of this community looked like. As well as to see how they maneuvered themselves in to places that didn’t have open arms for them.
Often times representation had to be seen through the concept of queer-coding. Which is when media alludes to character’s being gay but never putting it in the canon. It was like being fed treats you could only see. However going into the 2000’s, slow changes could be seen. Filmmaker’s started getting bolder and bolder.
The First “Gay” Slasher?
June 26th, 2004 – The film Hellbent was released. On the surface, it’s another forgotten slasher film. Still there’s the argument of a cult following, as it’s been brought up through the year’s in context of queer horror. Then and now – it’s been seen as the “first” gay horror film. When it was released that was the marketing gimmick – to note though it’s technically untrue. There were a few released before Hellbent in 2003, such as Make a Wish. However Hellbent was the one to get more attention and thus is credited for future films labeled as queer horror.
The plot is overall simple. The main character is Eddie – he work’s for the police. He has the murder of a gay couple in the wood’s on his mind. However he becomes more focused finding love during Halloween with his friend’s in a club. That comes to a holt though, as the killer followed them in the club.
Hellbent – Overview thought’s
Well – it would be nice to give it upstanding reviews on the quality of the film – however it’s…very of it’s time. Camera shot’s haven’t aged well, and lighting can be off in a few of the scenes. A good story can make up for those thing’s though. In the sense of the writing – it can get pretty flat.
The opening scene sets an interesting tone. It’s essentially just a gay couple in the wood’s about to have sex – and then killed by a strange man in a devil mask. (Generally through the whole film he’s in the shadows) It show’s off the killer’s main gimmick of how he cut’s off his victim’s head’s. What makes it interesting in retrospect is more on how they let the couple be treated as a all the straight couple’s that get killed in slasher’s. The concept of their sexuality isn’t brought up and made to feel strange – it’s just happening. Then they die.
Character’s
The main character Eddie (No last name) has fragment’s of a backstory, but it’s thrown in essentially at the very end. He had a father that used to be a cop, alright that’s known in the start. It’s scattered threw out he himself used to be a cop, no matter how second-hand. Then at the end – from an accident in his own time as a cop, he has a glass eye now. As a main character, he’s not very compelling. It’s not even too believable that he was a cop since he feels very meek. The device of him being a former cop doesn’t really go anywhere. In the start of the film you think he’s going to try to solve the opening scene murder – however outside of some wonder in the start it goes nowhere.
Overall, a lot of the film doesn’t focus on him. The whole middle of the movie is just preoccupied with killing off the friend’s to get back to the romance of the main character. Speaking of the death’s they feel rather rushed going back to back in a short period of time – this is after about 40 minutes since the first death – which was the opening scene.
Now the friend’s can each be described in a specific archetype. Joey – the baby gay. Chaz – the sex addict. Tobey – the drag queen.
Joey – His character can be a good example how this movie isn’t necessarily about “being” gay. It’s people with everyday thought’s – that happen to be that. He see’s a guy and want’s to go out with him. You see the anxiety after he ask’s the guy – he think’s he’s embarrassed himself. It work’s out though, the guy likes Joey back. Which makes it sad when he get’s immediately killed in the bathroom once the date is set up. It’s a relatable moment – minus the killing part.
Chaz – Chaz’s only personality is that he likes sex. There’s no emotion in his death and it doesn’t help he’s in between character death’s with a bit more of a specific story (Joey’s storyline happening very suddenly though) Not to mention the lighting hides his death pretty well.
Tobey – The drag queen storyline had the most (To a certain extent) potential. But there’s this feeling of it having not aged well. It hint’s on the conversation of intersectionality in the gay community – that being the concept of more feminine men/drag queens. But it doesn’t really go there and plays off more like a bit. The character isn’t truly a drag queen, this isn’t him expressing himself. That was a funny costume that became an inconvenience. “I’m never being a drag queen again” He said that relieved when he thought he would get a man tonight. That was also his last line before he’s killed. (I lowkey giggled at his death,)
The One We’re All Thinking Of
Now the killer was underdeveloped. There’s the argument that there’s no need for a full backstory, especially not a sad one. Which is fine and true to an extent. The mystery can lead to how dark it is. But the whole killer’s angle is confusing. There’s not a specific reason for his devil mask, why he specifically behead people. Why does he only go after gay men? What’s the criteria for him to kill a gay man? He was at a party full of them and he honestly didn’t get a lot of people, rather just conveniently the character’s we’ve seen the most.
Nothing he does was ever that scary and it was pretty predictable. Though his sickle in the main character’s glass eye was pretty cool. And I felt a chill down my spin when he licked the eye out of Eddie’s eye socket.
There’s a Bright Side
While I’ve seemingly had a lot more negative critiques then positive reassurances. To it’s credit, there’s still charm to it. It’s still able to have fun scene’s, so the film doesn’t feel like a waste of time. Also what makes this a bit more distinguishable to other slasher’s, is it’s relationship to sex. Horror through all it’s gore – can be a bit of a purist. When choosing victim’s it’s often the one’s that could be argued to “have seen it coming”. Relating to people such as one’s who are more upfront about their sexuality. In Hellbent though, all the character’s all have their own experiences with sex without any of them being particularly demonized for it.
It’s still an important film. Besides the obvious of having multiple openly gay men as the main character’s – which is very big for an early 2000’s movie. Them being gay truly isn’t the discussion at hand – and further normalizes gay people, when queer people were always “othered”. However there’s also the cynical angle of gay people being able to have a “bad” film. Most of films are centered on heterosexuality – making that the norm and having it be more noticeable when a gay person is on the screen. So in a way it’s nice that gay people can be in films that are diverse in say: quality, just like the rest of films without the notion of being the “other”. You just get into the story without consciously thinking of it. Truly, full representation is more than being a minority character – rather, having the same garbage as everyone else.
Where to watch?
It is in fact free on YouTube.
Closing Thought’s
While it has it’s flaws – it was hard to finish the film mad. It has it’s place in queer horror – and slasher’s in general. It’s best to look at it for what is is an what it does, rather than what it doesn’t.