I’m seeing the gay vampire film Drink Me getting trashed as just more terrible softcore gay porn posing as a horror movie. I’d have to disagree considering this is an erotic vampire film. No, it’s not the usual erotic vampire film loaded with straight male vampires surrounded by lipstick lesbian vampires—which I never hear gay male horror fans complain about—but it is a vampire film that explores the classic theme of vampirism as sensual and lustful.
I’ve seen loads of heterosexual erotic horror films in my time, and the response from straight male horror audiences is usually quite positive. Hell, I’ve noticed non-erotic horror movies get bumped up an extra few stars by straight male horror lovers simply by showing T&A. I’ve also seen horror films criticized by straight male horror fans because they contain no female nudity. But when it comes to gay horror, many gay horror fans seem to have a phobia about gay men (and monsters) being portrayed as sexual beings.
I personally could not bash Drink Me for its depiction of sex. I think it’s incredible. It doesn’t feel like “porn” to me because it’s not presented in the staged, explicit, perfectly primped fashion of XXX porn. The sex here is intensely erotic. The men don’t look like they were being paid to have sex with a stranger to get viewers off—or like they’re trying to make sure they keep their legs in the right place so the cameraman can get the right angle. They look like they are in the moment, truly lusting after each other. It’s like we are spying on their most intimate connections without them realizing it.
The plot is about an attractive (not perfect, pumped, or shaved) young couple that runs into trouble when one partner loses his job. Money is tight, so they decide to rent a room to another man—an alluring, mysterious man who works nights.
The jobless partner is having some serious issues. He is hooking up with strangers even though his is not an open relationship. He is attracted to the new roommate. Lust is beginning to rule his world and ruin his relationship.
He is also having a variety of erotic/horrific dreams involving consensual sex, physical and vampiric attacks, and stalkers in masks—one in a skull mask, one in a bunny mask.
These sequences are nightmarish: eerie, erotic, icky, and atmospheric. The film absolutely delivers the horror…
The major issue here is how convoluted everything becomes. There’s no clear sense of what’s real, what’s a dream, and what might just be the work of the vampire using some form of glamoring. The entire film becomes a surreal experience.
Visually captivating in its artistic approach to sex and horror, Drink Me simply begins to lose its audience because it doesn’t develop the plot to its full potential. It barely even has much dialogue, so we can often only guess what the characters are thinking or feeling (although, I get a sense of what they’re feeling in the scene below).
I reached the end of the film with just a fuzzy idea of what actually took place, and I could be totally wrong in my interpretation. Inevitably, that left me feeling disconnected from characters that were initially intriguing in a movie that doesn’t quite deliver on its promise of a strong balance of gothic romance and erotic horror thriller.
