Editorials
‘Hellbent’ – Slicing Into the Classic Queer Horror Movie
While the horror genre touched on queerness well before Hellbent was ever released, Paul Etheredge-Ouzts’ 2004 film is considered to be the first of its kind: an openly queer slasher. Without question, there is no ambiguity about the characters’ sexualities as they partake in the annual Halloween festivities in West Hollywood. The only real mystery about these men is the masked killer following them, hoping to add their names to his growing list of headless victims.
Art director Etheredge-Ouzts was first approached by producers Michael Roth, Joseph Wolf and Karen Lee Wolf in 2000 about making a gay horror film. By then, the trend of slashers hard on the heels of Scream had already reached its expiration date, but even so, what eventually became Hellbent remains a unique entry in the first major revival of slashers. And what was once coded in both past and contemporary films was now glaring and unapologetic in this one.
Hellbent reverently draws from “slashics” like Halloween and Black Christmas. From coital death to a killing spree set on a holiday, Etheredge-Ouzts’ story plays out like a love letter to his own favorite horrors. Of course, the difference here is the film’s hook — a cast of queer characters. And that fact is clear right from the beginning; two men, as opposed to the standard heterosexual couple in these kinds of films, are caught fooling around in the woods before dying a vicious death. This attention-seizing opener brings morbid meaning to the phrase “giving head.”
Hellbent plays with horror conventions without making them unrecognizable. The killer’s playground is no longer a summer camp but a campy city carnival in WeHo — a setting inspired by the 1959 film Black Orpheus — and the Final Girl is now a Final Boy. The enduring character types of horror remain intact, although they’ve been modified. The jock is decked out in drag, the buffoon is a sex magnet, and the dork wins the hunky man of his dreams. As for the aforesaid Final Boy, he doesn’t stray too far from the habits of his female counterparts; hopelessly romantic Eddie (Dylan Fergus) wants love but also a little danger. Bad boy Jake (Bryan Kirkwood) definitely checks off multiple boxes as a love interest. His increasing fascination with Eddie almost rivals that of the sickle-wielding killer (a.k.a. the Devil Daddy).
The strength of Hellbent is ultimately its characters. Etheredge-Ouzts conceived queer characters whose sexualities aren’t their most defining trait. The cast, with the exception of Tobey (Matt Phillips), is indeed dressed up as hypermasculine stereotypes on Halloween — Eddie as a vintage street cop, Joey (Hank Harris) as a leather daddy, and Chaz (Andrew Levitas) as a sexy cowboy — but their costume choices carry psychological weight and, for some, are a fantastical extension of their usual personalities. Dressed in his father’s ‘70s police uniform, the desk-riding Eddie can step out without getting too wild. Joey is originally the unassertive twink of the group, yet now he finds confidence after strapping himself into leather gear. Chaz, being the token bisexual among his friends, can’t be tamed as the lawless cowboy.
Perhaps the most complicated character of the group is athlete and underwear model Tobey. The decision to go in drag stems from his double-edged feelings about objectification. While he becomes undesirable and invisible (to other queer men) after donning a gown and wig, his plan backfires once he starts craving attention again. This eventually lands him in trouble when he does everything in his power, including handing over his and Eddie’s home address, to engage the killer, who otherwise showed no interest in Tobey. If not for this severe miscalculation on his part, Tobey might have survived his obsession with others’ perception of himself.
It’s uncommon to have a slasher where the antagonist’s identity remains undisclosed, however, Hellbent isn’t necessarily set up to be a whodunit. With the story happening all in one night, it’s impossible for Eddie and the others to fully investigate their attacker. Until their enemy is upon them, they don’t even realize they are in danger to begin with. The absence of the killer’s unmasking is frustrating, but the total anonymity allows for both the characters and the audience to create their own mythology about the Devil Daddy. Are these the hate crimes of a homophobe, or is the assailant out to hurt members of his own community? Not knowing a definitive answer is more effective, not to mention unsettling in this scenario. The director put it best in an interview with Slant: “I chose to keep the killer something of a blank slate, allowing the audience members to interpret the killer for themselves.”
The low-grade presentation of Hellbent isn’t for everyone. The film tends to look too dark, too murky, and too raw, yet the director’s creative flair still manages to come through. As Eddie and his ill-fated pals travel their way to and through the street carnival, the film starts to develop a visual identity to better match its sinister story. Suspiria-esque colors, uncanny lighting, and silhouette play are just a few of the elements that raise the film’s aesthetic value.
Horror fans might be inclined to overlook Hellbent because they think of it as more of a joke — a “gay movie” posing as a slasher — than a genuine horror film. On the contrary, Paul Etheredge-Ouzts’ directorial debut is a sincere stab at the genre. Yes, the film’s appearance can be off-putting, and the cast lacks diversity. The complex characters and smart writing, though, help make up for these shortcomings. Eddie and the others all come across as real friends who are worth caring about. This slasher may be seen as just another shallow offering of beautiful young bodies being slaughtered at Halloween, but neither the story nor those bodies are brainless. Hellbent is a clever slice of queer horror that’s deserving of its hidden gem status.
Hellbent has been remastered and can now be viewed at Here TV.
Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.
The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.
With there being an overlap between wrestling fans and horror fans, it only made sense for WWE Studios to produce See No Evil. And much like The Rock’s Walking Tall and John Cena’s The Marine, this 2006 slasher was designed to jumpstart a popular wrestler’s crossover career; superstar Glenn “Kane” Jacobs stepped out of the ring and into a run-down hotel packed with easy prey. Director Gregory Dark and writer Dan Madigan delivered what the WWE had hoped to be the beginning of “a villain franchise in the vein of Jason, Freddy and Pinhead.” In hindsight, See No Evil and its unpunctual sequel failed to live up to expectations. Regardless of Jacob Goodnight’s inability to reach the heights of horror’s greatest icons, his films are not without their simple slasher pleasures.
See No Evil (previously titled Goodnight and Eye Scream Man) was a last gasp for a dying trend. After all, the Hollywood resurgence of big-screen slashers was on the decline by the mid-2000s. Even so, that first Jacob Goodnight offering is well aware of its genre surroundings: the squalid setting channels the many torturous playgrounds found in the Saw series and other adjacent splatter pics. Also, Gregory Dark’s first major feature — after mainly delivering erotic thrillers and music videos — borrows the mustardy, filthy and sweaty appearance of Platinum Dunes’ then-current horror output. So, visually speaking, See No Evil fits in quite well with its contemporaries.
Despite its mere setup — young offenders are picked off one by one as they clean up an old hotel — See No Evil is more ambitious than anticipated. Jacob Goodnight is, more or less, another unstoppable killing machine whose traumatic childhood drives him to torment and murder, but there is a process to his mayhem. In a sense, a purpose. Every new number in Goodnight’s body count is part of a survival ritual with no end in sight. A prior and poorly mended cranial injury, courtesy of Steven Vidler’s character, also influences the antagonist’s brutal streak. As with a lot of other films where a killer’s crimes are religious in nature, Goodnight is viscerally concerned with the act of sin and its meaning. And that signature of plucking out victims’ eyes is his way of protecting his soul.
Image: The cast of See No Evil enters the Blackwell Hotel.
Survival is on the mind of just about every character in See No Evil, even before they are thrown into a life-or-death situation. Goodnight is processing his inhumane upbringing in the only way he can, whereas many of his latest victims have committed various crimes in order to get by in life. The details of these offenses, ranging from petty to severe, can be found in the film’s novelization. This more thorough media tie-in, also penned by Madigan, clarified the rap sheets of Christine (Christina Vidal), Kira (Samantha Noble), Michael (Luke Pegler) and their fellow delinquents. Readers are presented a grim history for most everyone, including Vidler’s character, Officer Frank Williams, who lost both an arm and a partner during his first encounter with the God’s Hand Killer all those years ago. The younger cast is most concerned with their immediate wellbeing, but Williams struggles to make peace with past regrets and mistakes.
While the first See No Evil film makes a beeline for its ending, the literary counterpart takes time to flesh out the main characters and expound on scenes (crucial or otherwise). The task requires nearly a third of the book before the inmates and their supervisors even reach the Blackwell Hotel. Yet once they are inside the death trap, the author continues to profile the fodder. Foremost is Christine and Kira’s lock-up romance born out of loyalty and a mutual desire for security against their enemies behind bars. And unlike in the film, their sapphic relationship is confirmed. Meanwhile, Michael’s misogyny and bigotry are unmistakable in the novelization; his racial tension with the story’s one Black character, Tye (Michael J. Pagan), was omitted from the film along with the repeated sexual exploitation of Kira. These written depictions make their on-screen parallels appear relatively upright. That being said, by making certain characters so prickly and repulsive in the novelization, their rare heroic moments have more of an impact.
Madigan’s book offers greater insight into Goodnight’s disturbed mind and harrowing early years. As a boy, his mother regularly doled out barbaric punishments, including pouring boiling water onto his “dangling bits” if he ever “sinned.” The routine maltreatment in which Goodnight endured makes him somewhat sympathetic in the novelization. Also missing from the film is an entire character: a back-alley doctor named Miles Bennell. It was he who patched up Goodnight after Williams’ desperate but well-aimed bullet made contact in the story’s introduction. Over time, this drunkard’s sloppy surgery led to the purulent, maggot-infested head wound that, undoubtedly, impaired the hulking villain’s cognitive functions and fueled his violent delusions.
Image: Dan Madigan’s novelization for See No Evil.
An additional and underlying evil in the novelization, the Blackwell’s original owner, is revealed through random flashbacks. The author described the hotel’s namesake, Langley Blackwell, as a deviant who took sick pleasure in defiling others (personally or vicariously). His vile deeds left a dark stain on the Blackwell, which makes it a perfect home for someone like Jacob Goodnight. This notion is not so apparent in the film, and the tie-in adaptation says it in a roundabout way, but the building is haunted by its past. While literal ghosts do not roam these corridors, Blackwell’s lingering depravity courses through every square inch of this ill-reputed establishment and influences those who stay too long.
The selling point of See No Evil back then was undeniably Kane. However, fans might have been disappointed to see the wrestler in a lurking and taciturn role. The focus on unpleasant, paper-thin “teenagers” probably did not help opinions, either. Nevertheless, the first film is a watchable and, at times, well-made straggler found in the first slasher revival’s death throes. A modest budget made the decent production values possible, and the director’s history with music videos allowed the film a shred of style. For meatier characterization and a harder demonstration of the story’s dog-eat-dog theme, though, the novelization is worth seeking out.
Jen and Sylvia Soska, collectively The Soska Sisters, were put in charge of 2014’s See No Evil 2. This direct continuation arrived just in time for Halloween, which is fitting considering its obvious inspiration. In place of the nearly deserted hospital in Halloween II is an unlucky morgue receiving all the bodies from the Blackwell massacre. Familiar face Danielle Harris played the ostensible final girl, a coroner whose surprise birthday party is crashed by the resurrected God’s Hand Killer. In an effort to deliver uncomplicated thrills, the Soskas toned down the previous film’s heavy mythos and religious trauma, as well as threw in characters worth rooting for. This sequel, while more straightforward than innovative, pulls no punches and even goes out on a dark note.
The chances of seeing another See No Evil with Kane attached are low, especially now with Glenn Jacobs focusing on a political career. Yet there is no telling if Jacob Goodnight is actually gone, or if he is just playing dead.
Image: Katharine Isabelle and Lee Majdouba’s characters don’t notice Kane’s Jacob Goodnight character is behind them in See No Evil 2.
The Lovecraftian Behemoth in ‘Underwater’ Remains One of the Coolest Modern Monster Reveals
‘Jason Universe’ – Horror Inc. Begins a New Era of the ‘Friday the 13th’ Franchise; Here’s the Plan
Five Horror Anthologies to Stream This Week
Stephen King’s ‘You Like It Darker’ Finds Beauty and Hope in Nihilistic Horror [Review]
‘The Hermit’ – First Look at Lou Ferrigno as a Cannibal Pig Farmer in New Horror Movie
You must be logged in to post a comment.