BOYS, BEARS & SCARES

It’s a gay slasher, a horror anthology, and a ghost story in my latest marathon. Let’s see if they were worth the watch.

TRILLBERRY MURDERS (2024)

Another one to add to the complete homo horror movies page, this stab at a gay slasher is a reminder to all indie filmmakers that they should not try to steer the whole ship—director, writer—without a collaborator who will at least be there to tell them that something (or everything) isn’t working. For starters…115 minutes long? No. Just no. You’ll see why in a moment.

Overall, this feels like a college film school production in which the creators didn’t really study horror movies enough to identify what makes them successful. I appreciate the attempt at a sexy, silly slasher, but none of it hits the mark. On top of that, any complexities in the plot are completely lost in endless montages and dialogue sequences.

Montages? For starters, the victim in the opening scene feels himself up on a couch, dances shirtless, showers, and jerks off (at least we get a gander of floppy dick through the glass). This onslaught of montages goes on for 12 minutes, ending with a brief suspense setup but nothing in the way of scares or even a jump scare.

There are numerous other montages, including sexual fantasy montages. There’s a houseboy dancing montage. A pot smoking montage. Another shower montage (with a quick shot of hairy butt. Yay!). A montage of students reading monologues in film class.

This is all strung together by scenes of dialogue, much of which consist of conversations between characters about social issues, which feels like an awkward attempt by the filmmaker to make a statement.

The main character narrates to the camera, which is meant to be funny and quirky, but the writing doesn’t meet the moment. The first thing he says is that exposition sucks but is necessary. His numerous stories about growing up with his friends add nothing to the plot and don’t do much for characterization. This is not a novel, it’s a film. It’s crucial to embed exposition in the script, not have a Greek chorus step forward and tell you everything.

Finally, there are the kills. After the opening scene, it’s not until 43 minutes in that we get a glimpse of the killer on the street. 65 minutes in we see the killer lurking in a basement. 73 minutes in we get the first kill. 85 minutes in we get a kill that is the highlight, because the victim’s reaction is hilarious. This gem of a moment is the kind of vibe the filmmaker should have been going for all along, and a second pair of eyes on the set and on the script could have identified this strength and told the filmmaker to do more of it. 100 minutes in there’s a shower kill, and the killer appears, unmasked, and gives a gay-hating monologue. According to the IMDb description, the killer is targeting twinks, but that never quite comes through in the script.

It was a struggle to get through this, but one thing for other filmmakers to note is that this filmmaker is one of few that does text conversations right—the text is very clear and easy to read on the screen.

YOU SHALL NOT SLEEP TONIGHT (2024)

This little indie is well-produced and seems inspired by anthologies like Creepshow, plus it has some thrilling horror visuals, but overall, the tales are underwhelming. In fact, the wraparound is my favorite part.

It’s a tale as old as bedtime—a young boy can’t sleep, believing there’s a monster in his closet. It doesn’t help that he reads a Tales from the Crypt type of magazine, which provides some of the stories. Other stories are supplied by his father, who comes to comfort him and help him overcome his fears…by telling him scary stories!

1st story – a little girl is terrorized by something in a cornfield.

2nd story – two fraud medium sisters get the old Oda Mae Brown treatment when a seance results in contact with a real ghost.

3rd story – a woman is trying to protect her father from the local authorities, who have an agenda of their own.
4th story – this tale of a mother sending her son on death row a pie for his final meal is not a horror story at all, but it does play into the fear a child has of not having their parent around to protect them, which is also the focus of the wraparound. In fact, if you pay attention, each story essentially explores themes of parents and their children facing the fear of loss.

5th story – this is a possession/exorcism quickie, but with a strange twist.

And finally, the wraparound has a twist of its own. But seriously, the creepiest aspects of the film are the terrors the boy experiences in his room.

GHOST PROJECT (2023)

This is a simple little ghost movie about three young paranormal investigators who score a pair of goggles that lets them see ghosts. One of the guys is gay, which lands this one on the does the gay guy die? page. What’s interesting is that he’s simply a main character that just happens to be gay—it’s only referenced once when he talks about his ex-boyfriend, and his orientation has no bearing on the story.

In the meantime, the straight main guy is dealing with the death of his girlfriend, so he has a vested interest in seeing ghosts. Just like every other aspect of this film, it doesn’t add much to the story. The trio also has a one-off session with a young woman to help her reconnect with her deceased mother.

The film is short and basic with little in the way of chills or thrills…or ghosts for that matter.

Once they get to the facility and begin poking around, this becomes a lot like Return to House on Haunted Hill. The main characters have some supernatural encounters, but the only way to see ghosts is through the goggles, and the ghosts are presented like holograms, sometimes doing that frantic head shake effect that was overused in early 2000s horror movies. If you’re feeling nostalgic for supernatural flicks of that era you might find this one enjoyable.