Forget vampires who spit out bitchy quips faster than they suck blood. Or slashers that are more about flashers than killings. You Belong to Me and Into the Lion’s Den are two gay horror thrillers that take themselves seriously, to great effect.
YOU BELONG TO ME (2007)
This one became an instant classic in my collection of scary gay horror films. I made my hubby watch it with me and he got fidgety in the first 10 minutes because it was unsettling him and making him uncomfortable. I love making him squirm.
There’s this young architect named Jeffrey who lives with his female friend. When she walks in on him with a guy, the guy makes a hasty departure and tells Jeffrey he’s not interested in a relationship. Jeffrey thinks otherwise and blames his roommate for ruining his chances.
Jeffrey takes his awesome dog for a walk…and sees the guy with another man. He follows them to the guy’s apartment building. There’s an “apartment for rent” sign in the window, so Jeffrey decides to rent it. It so happens that the apartment’s previous renter was a guy named Geoffrey, who moved out suddenly. And Jeffrey’s efforts to stalk his infatuation are hindered by his bizarre neighbors…and the weird moans he hears coming through his floorboards….
You Belong to Me plays out like a cross between Misery and Psycho and it’s fricking AWESOME.
Great performances, wicked edge-of-your-seat suspense, and Jeffrey’s sexual orientation is totally incidental. This is not about his being gay, it’s about obsession and insanity!
INTO THE LION’S DEN (2011)
On the other hand, Into the Lion’s Den is high concentration gay! This trio of guys makes the gang from Queer as Folk look straight. However, as this slow burner progresses, their uber-gay acts get swallowed whole by their fear.
These three gay friends are on a road trip to New York. The driver is a big old slut, so when they stop in a small town for the night, he connects with a dude on Bender who wants to meet at a straight bar called The Lion’s Den. Uh-oh. The slut defiantly declares his gayness in his every comment and gesture…and a shirt that says “Blow jobs happen.”
You know the type. Eventually his two buddies argue with him about it then leave him at the bar alone.
Homo Hostel, baby!
While I’m not a fan of torture porn, it’s refreshing to see one with a gay twist. Of course, a few more of these and I’d most assuredly be like, “Enough with the gay torture porns! That’s what I have Treasure Island Media for!”
The interesting thing is, the scenes of brutality are left to a minimum, but they pack a punch. Aside from a hardcore anal rape scene, there’s a scene involving a needle and a penis. I can’t even watch someone get a shot in the arm so I had to turn away!
The movie is as unapologetic about nudity and sex as it is about violence. A major blowjob seriously looks like the actor was sucking on that big ol’ dong, which we get to see in all its bouncing glory. And then there’s the whole needle/dick scene…and it’s anything but a needle dick.
I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but somehow, the movie ends up feeling like it could have pushed the limits a bit more! I won’t give anything away, but let’s just say it’s more of a happy ending than I would have anticipated.
My only other qualm about Into the Lion’s Den is that the “final guy” seems to be having dreams throughout the film that are premonitions of what’s to come…so at the end, I was like, “Dude! You DREAMED this was going to happen so you shouldn’t actually fall right into their trap!” I guess those “flash forward” sequences were intended to build suspense, but they really didn’t make much sense in the grand scheme. Hell. Just knowing gay guys were heading into a small town was all I needed to start worrying….
