This was a fun little pairing of gay and straight indie thrillers, and what the gay film lacks in man meat, the straight film more than makes up for.
DEVIL’S PATH (2018)
Devil’s Path does something you don’t see every day in gay horror or thrillers; it focuses entirely on gay characters. In particular, two men who chat each other up in a cruisy wooded area of a forest.
The slow burning plot presents us with just a bare bones framework. Men have gone missing in the park.
One of the two main characters has a curious personality, while the other guy is aloof.
Yet both men seem mysterious and secretive, so there’s no telling who can be trusted when they’re forced to team up to escape a couple of tough looking guys that begin pursuing them through the woods.
That dangerous tension between them becomes the focal point of this film. It is not about jumps, chase scenes, or scares, and most of the suspense is dependent on the slowly unfolding reveals about each man.
There’s also some sexual tension, but it’s minor. This is not an erotic gay film in any way. It’s also not a blood and guts film. It’s purely a psychological thriller that builds intrigue almost exclusively through dialogue between the two men as it journeys towards its twists.
But despite it being dialogue heavy, the style, tone, and editing definitely keep your interest—you really do want to get to the end to find out what the hell is going on.
SKARE (2007)
With no flesh to be found in Devil’s Path, I thought I‘d balance out my night with something super sexy, and indie flick Skare totally delivered.
It’s simple, it’s low budget, and…it’s straight! This is the story of a weird woman who takes in a young man on the run from the law and makes him her servant…and sexualized slave.
She keeps him scantily dressed, makes him work out to keep his body perfect, and pulls a Norman Bates, peeping when he showers.
The dark secrets of each are revealed as their psychosexual relationship blossoms, and they both start to snap.
Of course there are other characters that unfortunately stand in their way, which is a bonus for us, because it brings macabre, murderous moments to what would otherwise be a simple erotic thriller.
And just to add more sleaze and cheese to the mix, the crazy woman regularly serves her boy toy a special green drink that gives him nightmares.
On top of that, he becomes intrigued by a book about historical witchcraft cases, which he is the star of in flashbacks/dreams.
Does any of it make sense? Not really, but it sure makes this low budget sexy psychotic skin flick one I couldn’t stop watching.
