Editorials
‘Hellbent’ is a Halloween Slasher Film That’s Fit to Slay
Everyone knows that there’s no shortage of horror movies, and more specifically Halloween horror flicks, to screen on All Hallows Eve. If, however, you’re looking for an unconventional choice, look no further than Paul Etheredge’s Hellbent, the self-proclaimed “first gay slasher film”. Shot on location over two consecutive years during West Hollywood’s infamous Halloween parade, writer/director Etheredge’s low budget queer slasher film Hellbent wound up with its unique moniker when it was released in 2004.
Set over a single tumultuous Halloween night in West Hollywood, the film follows a group of five men who dress up in quintessential gay costumes (cop, cowboy, leather, drag) and set out for a night of drinking and partying, only to find themselves stalked and murdered by a masked killer. The fact that the entire core cast is comprised of queer characters (4 gay men, 1 bisexual man) helps to make Hellbent distinct. Even its killer is (arguably) queer.
The protagonist is Eddie (Dylan Fergus), a reserved, verging-on-virginal young man who dreamed about being a police officer like his father until he failed the physical due to a childhood eye injury (naturally the impairment winds up playing an instrumental role in the film’s plot).
Eddie is joined by sexually frustrated twink Joey (Hank Harris), beefy model Tobey (Matt Philipps) and Chaz (Andrew Levitas), the group’s most sexually active member and its resident bisexual. Chaz’s clown car-like introduction, wherein both a man and a woman climb out of his backseat, reinforces Hellbent’s sexually progressive stance, as well as its cheeky sense of humour.
Early in the film Eddie spots the object of his affection, Jake (Bryan Kirkwood) who is we immediately identify as a “bad boy” courtesy of visual signifiers such as his motorcycle and tattoos. The meet/cute between the men verges on romantic-comedy territory, and refreshingly serves as Hellbent’s emotional foundation. Where other slashers (and several of Eddie’s companion) focus on sexual conquests, there’s something undeniably charming about Eddie and Jake’s flirtatious “will they/won’t they” courtship.
In true slasher form, Etheredge opens the film with an urban legend-inspired death set piece in which a pair of lovers lose their heads during a hot and heavy car make-out in the woods. The buff masked killer (Luke Weaver), who is never named and does not speak, is referred to as the Devil Daddy because he is older and for his trademark red Halloween face mask and scythe. Not unlike another famous silent Shape, Hellbent encourages multiple readings for the Devil Daddy’s killer motivation. Some have speculated that he is a homophobic villain out to kill queer men; others read him as a repressed gay man who lashes out at sexually active members of the community that he is unable to join.
Whatever the reason, Devil Daddy fixates on our quartet after they capture his attention with an ill-advised prank in the woods en route to the parade. From that moment on, he stalks and murders them in gruesome fashion, including an infamous bathroom attack, a strobe-lit slash fest on the dance floor, and an alleyway plea deal.
The sexually-charged, queer-designated murder locations and the integration of gay elements into slasher tropes make for a fascinating critical reading (which Trace Thurman and I tackled during our Horror Queers discussion back in June). And while Hellbent isn’t without its flaws (its visual aesthetic is a little cheap and the film’s narrow depiction of queer lifestyles is exclusively focused on young, white, buff men), but its importance in queer horror cinema history remains undeniable. The film may have earned its “first gay slasher” label in part to help sales on the LGBTQ film festival circuit, but to this day, Hellbent remains unparalleled in its inclusivity. No other slasher film is so unabashedly gay.
Regardless of its politics and its place in history, the film is easily enjoyed as a “straight” forward slasher thanks to its close adherence to familiar character types and the conventions of the subgenre. As a counterpoint to traditional seasonal horror picks, Hellbent is a Halloween slasher film that’s fit to slay.
I first heard about The Mandela Catalogue through a couple of nephews who were obsessed with the ARG’s sinister mythology. It was only after watching Wendigoon’s in-depth analysis of the series that I realized just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
In fact, I’d already been exposed to the nightmarish visuals of Alex Kister’s YouTube creation for years at that point without even realizing that it was the origin of several viral “cursed images” and spooky memes that had leaked into the wider internet – with this viral element actually being a part of the Catalogue’s overarching narrative.
Flash-forward to 2026 and the unprecedented success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has led to Hollywood betting on horrific internet properties with existing fanbases, which means that Kister’s unique hybrid of both religious and analog horror is finally headed to the big screen with a script written by Kister himself alongside Tyler Clifton.
While this news shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing success of The Mandela Catalogue (both myself and Wendigoon having previously predicted that the series would inevitably make the jump to theaters one day), plenty of horror fans are likely confused as to why so many folks are excited for what appears to be a Hollywood adaptation of a series of creepy .jpeg images under a VHS filter.
With that in mind, today I’d like to invite fellow readers to accompany me as I explore the origins of Alex Kister’s viral hit and attempt to explain exactly why we should all be excited about the Mandela Catalogue adaptation!
From High School Writing Project to Internet Horror Phenomenon
The first seeds of The Mandela Catalogue were sown when Kister was still in high school and developed a writing project subverting religious tropes in a world where biblical history had been altered by demonic forces. A little while later, Kister came across an analog horror contest on Reddit and decided to adapt his ideas into a standalone video where he would edit a religious kids’ cartoon –The Beginner’s Bible: The Nativity, to be specific- into something far creepier. This is how the iconic Overthrone video was born, with this viral short film taking on a life of its own as fans demanded more eerie content from Kister.
Though the video was originally meant to be a one-and-done sort of affair, with Kister actually regretting some of its primitive visuals and considering the editing amateurish and “YouTube-Poop-like” when compared to his current standards, fan reaction and free time during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the (then) seventeen-year-old filmmaker to continue producing content set in this same world. The Mandela Catalogue name was inspired by the Mandela Effect conspiracy theory, as the series would slowly begin to explore the subtle horror of alternate histories.
Inspired by existential dread brought on by extended periods of quarantine as well as a personal crisis of faith, Kister continued to expand his alternate timeline where the rise of Christianity had been prevented by what was presumably the Devil disguised as the Archangel Gabriel. This alternate course of fictional events led to the existence of certain paranormal anomalies that had come to be accepted as “normal” by the 1990s, which is why most of the series’ supernatural horror is presented in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Most of this background information and religious lore is delivered by increasingly cryptic broadcasts and in-universe PSAs, as well as the occasional found footage video, that often have to be decoded by clever viewers. Of course, it’s the consistently disturbing imagery that made the series so popular – much of which was originally created by Kister on a smartphone!
The Alternates: Horror’s Most Unsettling Modern Monsters
The show’s early episodes mostly take place within the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin and depict life in a world where demonic entities are capable of using media to enter our reality. This process usually involves scaring victims into killing themselves and then repurposing their bodies as horrific doppelgangers referred to as “Alternates”. This terrifying phenomenon has become so common that local police already have specialized procedures in place to deal with the issue, though this usually consists of simply ignoring calls for help so as to avoid spreading so-called “Metaphysical Awareness Disorder” any further.
Over time, Kister would expand this mythology and incorporate different kinds of Alternates into the mix, though the story never stopped deconstructing religious concepts. The series’ second volume exponentially increased both video quality and the overall narrative scope as we began to follow the lives of characters who had already grown up in this dystopian hellscape where the government is forced to prohibit religion, television, and even mirrors in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the ongoing invasion of otherworldly entities.
The really interesting part comes into play when you realize exactly how the Alternates make use of scary media in order to spread their demonic influence, with the analog horror of it all being a diegetic part of the story and something of a memetic trap orchestrated by the false Gabriel.
I particularly appreciate how some characters begin to suspect that there’s something wrong with their version of reality and that things weren’t meant to play out this way, especially when Mark utters the haunting line “who have I been praying to all this time?” That’s why I think The Mandela Catalogue is an effective piece of religious horror even if you don’t subscribe to the Christian worldview, as the mere idea of a world where evil has already won is a universally terrifying concept in and of itself. Not only that, but the series’ uncanny analog imagery alone is already worth the price of admission, as you’ve likely already noticed by looking at the pictures accompanying this article.
Why The Feature Adaptation Could Be Horror’s Next Big Success
It’s actually been a whole year since Kister first announced that he had been working on a feature-length screenplay for a Mandela Catalogue movie since 2022, with his proposed story following an ensemble of high-school graduates who uncover a supernatural conspiracy after the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student. This premise sounds similar to narrative elements present in the series’ second volume, but I’m pretty sure that Kister is going to go the Kane Parsons route and make the movie more of a spin-off than a re-imagining of its source material.
While notable Hollywood producers like Aaron B. Koontz, Scott Stuber, and Steven Spielberg himself are backing the upcoming project, I feel like there’s no one better to adapt this deeply personal exploration of faith and the dark side of communication than the person who first came up with it. That’s why I can’t wait to see Kister’s work on the big screen, as I have a feeling that this young filmmaker is the next one on the list about to make cinematic history – especially since this is clearly a passion project that has been in the works for years at this point!
That being said, there’s always a chance that the film could end up unleashing a fresh wave of Alternate incursions, but I guess that’s just a risk we’ll have to take.
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