It’s not every day that I find two gay horror films available for streaming. Turns out both of these take a seemingly default approach to gay horror – the main characters are fragile, tortured souls suffering from hate and rejection in an unaccepting world. So how do things turn out for the victims…I mean…gay guys this time?
THE BLUE HOUR (2015)
This supernatural film from Thailand is a slow burn that’s much more about the relationship between two gay teens than it is about the ghostly occurrences. In fact, I was not even sure if there really were any ghosts when all was said and done.
The Blue Hour is an emotionally charged art piece about two young teens that meet at an old, abandoned swimming pool facility and immediately become romantically bonded. One boy is bullied and abused by his family, the other is homeless. As their relationship grows, the homeless boy reveals stories of murder and supernatural hauntings at the pool, and eventually takes the abused boy to a dumping ground where there also appears to be a history of murder.
Meanwhile, there are some heartbreaking scenes between the abused boy and his concerned mother that provide some important depth to her feelings about him as well as delving into how the boy copes with the hatred aimed at him by his father and brother.
Eventually, the film takes a dark turn to explore the supernatural themes.
Creepy outlines of humans begin appearing on the walls of the pool, the abused boy discovers a corpse in the dumping ground, and before long, someone is killed and the boys have to hide the body…and then another body…and another….
That’s when The Blue Hour lost me. There are some chilling moments as the scares and suspense begin to escalate, but then we are bombarded by a streak of fractured, surreal scenes that never come together.
The “supernatural” aspects never pan out, and the conclusion of the film demands that viewers come up with their own interpretation of what exactly was going on. Was one or both of the boys a ghost all along? Was one or both of the boys a killer? Were there any ghosts at all? Was either boy a killer? Don’t ask me.
DEVIANCE (2016)
I must say, Deviance is a highly entertaining gay indie horror flick that’s a good combination of sexy, gory, cheesy fun, well-crafted, cliché, and deliciously original by the end. And it’s perfectly paced as it builds to its violent, unique finale.
Writer/director James Hennigan plays a nervous but determined young man living in a trailer home with his white trash dad and supportive sister.
Actor Tim Torre plays the high school weirdo, living with his fanatical religious parents while lusting after the hot straight jock.
A series of events leads to each young man being outed to his parents, with explosive results in both cases. The boys are thrust out into the world on their own, doing what they need to survive, at which point the film explores just how differently each is pushed to the edge by hate.
They end up becoming very different kinds of murderers—an accidental killer and a psycho killer that revels in the act—but the common ground eventually brings them together, leading to even more violence and brutality.
Deviance is one dark, vicious little flick, and doesn’t rely on a softcore gay porn approach to horror to draw its audience, which is a refreshing change of pace.
It also strikes a great balance in telling two separate stories before they finally converge.
To top it all off, Hennigan doesn’t wimp out when it comes to kill scenes.
And Hennigan amplified the horror of those scenes by casting Tim Torre as the weirdo turned killer.
Torre absolutely nails it. Or should I say, drills it. And not in the good way…
