Hellbent feat. Ryan Bloomquist

This is where it happened. Two guys were murdered on this spot. Their heads were cut off so cleanly. The tubes weren't crushed it all. They're wide open. Author of my favorite book, Riverdish, The Unauthorized Case Files of Riverdale, Ryan Bloomquist. Welcome to. Even though, you know, it's always pretty gay on this podcast. But uh speaking of gay, I'm super excited for this week's guest. Everyone, welcome, Ryan Bloomquist. What an intro. Happy Pride, everyone. Ryan, how are you doing? Are you having a good life right now? You know, it's going. Uh, it was nice to escape this week and um like experience gay life and culture via this movie. Because it's been sorely lacking in my life as of late.

Oh. Sorry, I cannot with this movie, but I'm glad that you had that experience. That was probably very exciting for you, I'm sure. Listen, I have not like seen another human in months. I think it's been like 100 days now that I've been in quarantine. So any escape. I read that somewhere too. Yeah, any escape I'm like willing to take right now. It sounds like you have extensive practice with the gay thing, but horror, on the other hand, do you have any um any words to share with us on your previous experience viewing horror films? You know, d uh like I'm a total horror novice. And I don't know, I think I've sort of made up my um my thoughts about horror movies.

Like, I watched this and I granted this one wasn't like super scary, but I'm like, I don't I just decided, I feel like when I was a when I was a kid that I didn't like horror movies and I've stuck with it. That's so bizarre to me, especially because, and I totally skipped over asking for a great bio, so here in a second, but I know that you've been in the past a fan of Riverdale, and I feel like Riverdale has like very like I mean, I'm not saying it's scary, but it has a lot of horror elements kind of woven into its storytelling. Yeah, I don't know. And like I I'm a big play guy, big musical guy.

I like scary things. I think I just I'm not I'm not into blood and gore and all that stuff. Oh, how tragic for you. I know. So, like I said, skipped over. Do you have like a bio you would like to share in case people want to know more about you? Oh god. Oh, what's there to know? Um, I mean, my life as of late is like There's so much. You're such an interesting person. Well, I'll use this opportunity. Uh, if there are any Riverdale fans listening right now, uh, I have a published book about Riverdale called River Dish, the Unauthorized Case Files of Riverdale. Available everywhere books are sold. Uh Amazon, support your local bookseller.

So yeah, you know, I love me some book sales. Other than that, just I'm on Twitter trying to figure trying to figure out life. Very popular on Twitter. You're always really uh I don't know about that, but um Well, you're always really like blazing with some hot tweets on there. I I just waste far too much of my life on there, so you can waste it with me. Before we get started, do you have any uh any sort of idea on what your favorite scary movie is? God, is it like basic to say get out? No, not at all. Great Out's a great movie. Yeah. And it's also like I'm I'm now venturing into horror. But again, I like kind of like psychological thrillers, maybe, unless blood and gore.

So like get out us. I don't know. I feel like my relationship with horror too was like I remember being young and over at a friend's place for a sleepover. And I think we watched like one of the ring movies, and I just I yeah, and I remember being like terrified, terrified, terrified. I'm an obnoxious movie watcher where I like I I like to think I like to have my pulse on like general pop culture. So honestly, like if something's Oscar, we're like if things are being buzzed about for Oscars, I'll like watch it. Alright. Well, finally, horror is seeing its day in the sun for stuff like slowly but surely, not really. Yeah, and maybe now with the new Oscar ruling to for 10 movies, maybe there's room for more horror in there.

Hey, have you spoken about on the podcast yet? I'm very excited that Kyle Richards is going to be in the new Halloween movie. Oh, no, and we have not discussed the new Halloween movie, saving it for when we see the new Halloween movie if the world doesn't end. I know. I'm a big housewives guy, so a lot of the plot on Beverly Hills this season has been Kyle filming. You've tried, but I'm just not a housewife. It's over my head. Um, not a housewife fan, I meant to say. I'm also not a housewife. Fair. Yeah. You know who it did make me think of? Lisa Vanderpump, who owns half of West Hollywood, which is where this movie took place.

You like that transition? I loved it. Yeah, we're watching Hellbent this week. That being said, you know, I don't know what's scarier Lisa Pump Lisa Vanderpump's decorations in a restaurant or this movie. So Hellbent was released in the early 2000s in 2004 when I was only nine years old. So I mean, over my head. It was written and directed by Paul Etheridge, who also has uh directed Angel of Death from 2009. Yeah, and I mean, like, what a cast of stars, too. It featured uh Dylan Fergus, who played Eddie, who afterwards he's most known for his long stints on the soap opera passions. I feel like the worlds meld very well there. Like, I see that, good for him.

Gino of that show. No idea. But you're totally right. Uh we had Brian Kirkwood, who played Jake. Uh, he was in Devil's Prey in 2001, The Absence, 2011, uh, Hank Harris as Joey, Insidious Chapter 2 in 2013, and Little Evil, 2017. Boy, uh surreal who's who here. Uh so as uh Chaz, we had Andrew Levitis. Uh he's a man of many talents, uh acting, producing, directing, and an award-winning sculpture photographer. Good for him. Um, he founded Metalwork Pictures, which founded uh produced films like The White Crow and the Upcoming Minimata. Man, this all sounds like uh do you watch Shits Creek? Oh, I definitely do. Yeah, these all sound like Moira Rose projects. Yeah, exactly. Wrapping up the parade as Toby, we had Matt Phillips, who seemingly doesn't exist on the internet.

Yeah, uh, I would not disagree with that statement. Hope he's okay. Uh, if you're wondering what Hellbent is about, well, I'm DB coming in clutch says Halloween in West Hollywood. Two guys making out in a park are interrupted by a serial killer. I personally hate it when that happens. And later that night, a group of gay kids decide to visit the site of the murders. The Rotten Tomatoes critic score is 46%, and the audience score slightly under at 41%. And they say in their consensus, Hellbent is proof that gay slasher films can be just as tedious and mediocre as straight ones. We're all about equality this Pride Month. Exactly. I feel like, you know, Pride Month, it's not about the gays, it's about everyone.

You know, we're all e well, we want to all be equal. You know, gay rights is everyone's rights, and that's what Rotten Tomatoes said right there. Yes. Uh so I'm just wondering, I'm assuming this was your first viewing of the film Hellband, correct? It certainly was. Well, straight out of it, what were you thinking? Big picture thoughts, first reactions to uh how you felt watching it, how you feel right after, etc. You know, I didn't love it, but I didn't loathe it. You know, it felt like it was an interesting time machine, right? Because I feel like I actually, like queer culture-wise, haven't uh I haven't really consumed much from like the years like 2004. So it felt like a this very strange time machine to get in and see like what gay culture was then and how it is and both isn't that different, you know.

I feel like this movie probably was quite progressive actually for its time uh in the way it handled its gay characters. Um yeah, I could kind of like care less about the murder, honestly, and the killings. Uh, but I th I thought it was a fun ride. I actually had a question for you that's similar to what you were just saying. Um, I have said, have you seen um Queer as Folk? You know, shamefully I haven't seen it all. I've seen like episodes here and there, but have not dove. Oh that's totally fine. I feel like that show is very similar in this kind of like I I guess maybe before the uh advent of like social media and you know, easy access to texting and communication.

Uh it's just you see these kind of like specific like gay communities with these like intense parties and big like sex clubs, and uh that's kind of the vibe I was getting from this movie was similar to the queer as folk kind of party scene. And you know, me as a gay man, I feel like that's not something I experience anymore or that I've seen anymore. Like, do you feel that at all? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, do you feel like this is kind of like like you're saying a time capsule of what queer life was like that many years ago, but maybe a queer way of life that is gone, or maybe I'm just a square that doesn't go to parties.

I mean, it's certainly it certainly feels a little bit different, but we also have to think about like this was specifically like a gay carnival, you know, so it felt very and it's in West Hollywood, so like if there was a Hell's Kitchen Halloween street fair, I don't think it would be all that different than the movie nowadays. Uh you know, LA there's more space for some larger clubs, you know. I don't know, like going into the meet, it like felt like a night at the Eagle. And you know what? That was my one uh comparison, is the pretty much only like leather bar that I've been to is the Eagle. And I went for a uh jockstrap night, but uh don't tell my mom.

And that's kind of my only experience with anything slightly similar to what was depicted in this movie. Yeah, yeah. But I feel like it like Fire Islands, like your pea towns, like there I there's some similarities there. And I was going to tell you that the carnival depicted in this movie, the West Hollywood Halloween Carnival, is a real carnival that they have every year that's supposed to be one of the largest in the world, at least at the time of this film. It might have changed since then, probably definitely this year. Honestly, it's fun, you know, besides the killing. Yeah, I'd hate for that to happen. Yeah, but it's actually not a gay-specific carnival, but it seems to attract a lot of you know gay participants because of its location.

And just a fun fact for you about this movie is that before the movie was even, you know, scripted, before the script was created, they had their crew go in and film the 2001 Hollywood Carnival, Halloween carnival. And they got six hours of footage from that bad boy and used about two minutes in the movie. So what you're seeing is some sort of like real representation of what that carnival would be like. So, you know, maybe good for us to live vicariously through this movie currently. Yeah, maybe not this year, but like two years from now we can go. Yeah, we can all watch Hellbent this Halloween instead of going, and then next year we'll all have a big meetup.

Yeah, Fairy Sending the Clowns. Maybe next year. Is that a lyric from that song? You know, I said it confidently. Now I'm doubting myself. Maybe next year. Yeah, I would say similar to similarly to you. Actually, the first time I watched this movie, well, it wasn't this time, but I watched this a few times in preparation for this podcast episode. And the first time I watched it like a uh month ago, I have to say I was pretty bored. Watching it this past weekend again for this movie. I thought it was fun. I thought it was perfectly fine. And uh it's a very passable slasher movie, and I think uh that that's kind of a strength of the movie in a way that after we've kind of run through some of the killings from the movie, I can elaborate on.

But it does its job, it has a lot of the elements that you expect from a slasher film, which I think contributes to the tedium, but at the same time makes it a little more of a comforting experience. Obviously, this movie isn't trying to be an incredible well, I mean, I'm sure they wanted it to be an incredible movie, but more than being an incredible movie, to me, it seems like they were more focused on making a gay movie, which is something that I think is really exciting. Uh, and all of their advertising, this was advertised as the first gay slasher. So there you have it, mission accomplished on their part. I'm curious what the release around this was, if it really just did like your gay film festivals and like straight to VHS, I suppose.

Yeah, I actually was reading a couple of interviews with the director, Paul Etheridge, and um he said that he actually regrets that he sent they did pretty much just run this film through the gay festival circuit, and he wished they would have reached out to more of a horror audience and less of a gay audience. Uh, after it did kind of the festival run, it had a very limited release in theaters, I believe only grossing about$180,000, which the budget for this movie was very slim as well. I couldn't find any specifics, but everywhere they referred it to it as a micro-budget movie. So I'm not sure how$180,000 stacked up against its budget. But I think that the big takeaway is that its legacy has kind of grown over the years in a way that, you know, there was a bit of fatigue with slasher films uh heading out of the 90s.

And I think that this film might have suffered from that a little bit. But now that we're kind of past that and in a different headspace, and especially I think looking for queer content from days past, I think that this film has kind of grown in its following pretty immensely. That makes sense. Well, the first spot that I want to hit is obviously the first spot the movie hits too, with this hookup murder that happens right at the very beginning. Now let me tell you, I mean, uh more scary than the murder to me was having sex with balloons. Yeah, I actually I want a whole movie about this first thing. It's like you're in a forest, you've got all these balloons.

Like, where are you going? What are you doing? And just like I I hate balloons. Oh, really? Oh my well, I just when they pop, you know, so did the so to introduce sex to that, I'm like, I act honestly, slice my head off. I'd rather at that point. Well, maybe that's why he needed his space to get out that window, which um I have to say, I think that this first scene is some of the best killing in this whole movie. I mean, I wouldn't say it's shocking, but it's exciting and kind of the a microcosm of the whole like goal of the movie that I think this is also like one of the gayest scenes in the whole movie, where even just the things they're saying to each other, and I like I think he opens the window and he like turns his butt to the other guy and is like, how's that?

And so just kind of these uh smaller interactions between the men, uh, just like that felt a lot more relatable to me than having some big like rave, you know, carnival party. And so I really loved this first scene. I thought it was funny, but also uh some of the better gore of the movie, in my opinion, as well. I agree. We should also mention that uh these first two murders, it takes place in a a park notorious for cruising. Which like it's part of why like LA confuses me, because it at first we it looks like you could be in any like suburban forest, really. But I was like, no, I guess they're like in West Hollywood, but in a big park that you can drive into and have sex in.

And I always go cruising with a big bundle of balloons. So nothing turns me on more. Uh, and this is also our first introduction to the slasher, who Chaz later refers to as Devil Daddy. And I can't disagree with that name because man, does he have some abs on it. Well, that is my grinder bio. Devil daddy? Yes. Actually, I read that this actor portraying the Devil Daddy, who is unnamed in the film's credits, was an Abercrombie and Fitch model. So that tracks. I can't count the number of times my mom took me to an Abercrombie and Fitch when I was a kid, and I would just, you know, sneak away and look at the pictures.

Oh, definitely. Well, I wasn't really even allowed, like, I didn't really even shop there, but every time I'd walk by the doors, you know, my like my neck would hurt from craning. That being said, too, and I don't know if we want to get into this now. Interesting, uh, especially to watch it from a 2020 lens, um, only person of color in the movie um was the brutal killer and the devil. Are you sure that he's a person of color? Or I I don't believe he is. I was questioning that myself. Because he's got some chest paint on. No, but but they like in his hands were I think he's I think it's a black actor.

I was not under the same impression. Interesting. Though also, for like being realistic, in 2004, how many models of color was Abercrombie hiring? Ryan and I scoured the web for the identity of the Devil Daddy and unfortunately did not come up with many results. So if you have any information, we would love to hear from you and share with the rest of our listeners. Regardless, I'll say this much whether or not the devil is of color, it is an extremely white movie in general. I do have a quote to share with you on that because this movie did have some issues in the process of being made, as you can imagine, the idea of a gay horror movie to not that horror has not seen its share of queer characters or theme, but you know, just kind of a hard Cell to push something of that nature.

But in an interview with Campblood.com, the director Paul Etheridge says, one could call our main cast Lily White, which, yeah, one could. With the exception of the protagonist Eddie, whom I intended to be Latino, the characters were written with their ethnicity unspecified. To my great disappointment, we convinced only a handful of non-white actors to audition. One day during casting, we had auditions scheduled for more than 30 non-white actors. Not one of them showed up. I had read in various places and various interviews similar to this, that in general, they just had a hard time getting actors to audition for us because they didn't have the name Hellbent or anything. They were just advertising this as like a gay horror movie.

And they had a hard time getting actors to even audition for it just because of that stigma. The idea that if you're then in this movie, uh you don't want to be either barred from being in other movies for being in this in the past or cast as like a gay actor only. And in fact, all of the actors in this film are all straight. Yeah, that that was evident. You know, and maybe the actors had a point because uh look at everyone's careers, you know, besides so bauper passions. Uh not a hell of a lot went on. Moving on through the movie, I think kind of the first like bit of this movie is a little boring, in my opinion.

Just generally some some really clunky dialogue, some introductions, like when when we found out that the police officer was like his sister, Eddie's sister, Eddie wants to be a cop. Also, we can say, too, like, you know, it's a little problematic to be dressing up as a cop nowadays, but that's besides the point. But I do want to point out, I think there's one moment at the very beginning of this movie that to me, I was like, this is all I need from a gay horror film. Like, to me, this one image is exactly what I want. And that is when Eddie, first of all, I don't know anyone who again, maybe it's different in 2004 when you don't have grinder, but a lot of characters in this movie just need to figure out how to like read the room and know when someone's not interested.

So Eddie has like followed Jake to the tattoo parlor, and there's just this one image of the blood dripping down his back towards his butt crack. And for some reason I was watching this and I just like, oh hell yeah, like that's it. That's the moment. I wasn't sure if that was supposed to like be a red herring for us as an audience, you know what I mean? Like, oh, does this guy get off on blood? You know, he wasn't in pain getting that tattoo, so I'm like, maybe he's our killer. But then that was quickly dropped. I read it more as this idea that in horror, um, kind of the grotesque elements of horror are the ones that you crave.

Like a lot of times you watch a slasher because you want to see these crazy deaths. Not you in particular, because I know you said moments ago that that's not what you're looking for, but in general. And so the idea to me that a gay slasher would be relishing in a moment like that, not necessarily, I'm not saying that I found it like sexy or anything, but this kind of clash of like pleasure and not pain, because you know, that's not quite where my headspace is right now, but like pleasure and like I said, kind of the grotesque elements of horror. I think that moment kind of encapsulated for me. Well, totally. And I and I'd go as far to say pain, of like, and it's part of why I where I thought this movie was quite progressive, because you see Eddie's kind of kink, right?

That like he likes it to be dominated, it seems, you know, like when they were ho uh holding back the kissing and like being tossed around, handcuffed, like whatever floats your boat, Eddie has his junk, and uh I respect it. Yeah, and I think even I read there was this scene that was deleted um from that uh sex encounter at the end of the movie, where when Eddie is kind of exploring uh Jake's back tattoo and caressing and whatnot, that some blood was going to drip out of the tattoo and he would lick it up. Oh. And they decided to take that out because somebody said that was irresponsible or something. I don't know what the story was.

But that I think is right on target with what you were just saying. Yeah. Yeah, probably probably good that that was left on the cutting room floor. Jumping forward to I think where the movie starts more taking off would be when they get to the meat locker leather bar, which is just denoted by a huge arrow pointing down to a neon sign that says meat, which I found really funny and that tickled me. This was actually filmed inside of a church, and uh that just seems subversive and funny to me. You know, more introductions, more characters being scattered, but this is where the first murder of the movie is, which is when their young friend Joey has chased after a boy and ends up in the bathroom with the devil daddy.

After sharing a kiss with this jock, Joey is pushed into a stall, uh throat slashed, head in a bag, and decapitated. And this leads to, I think, one of the funnier moments of the movie, which is when two other gays then stumble into the bathroom, see his body, and think that it's a prop, and then it twitches, and there's kind of a fun gross out there. I did think that was fun. And it's hard on Halloween. You could be like, wow, that's a really expensive looking prop. Like, that's a fun gag, but no, it was real. Yeah, and I personally think that that type of movie is really fun. There are other like haunt or um, oh, there are two that I always get confused.

I believe it's Hellfest, where it's you know, people going to a haunted house and not understanding when it becomes real. Uh, and that to me, I think is always scary because there are so many moments in real life where it's like, is this a joke? I remember one time at my last apartment in Harlem, I was sitting there with my roommates, Caroline and Ian, and we heard the loudest scream, and we like ran up to our windows, and we saw a woman laying under a car in the street, and we were freaking out. And then she got up and they reset, and somebody was just filming something on their phone, and they drove a car back up to a woman laying on the ground, and she screamed again.

So, yeah, I I really related to that. Is it real moment? Yeah, I mean, my whole life right now feels like a horror movie. Like, wake up, I'm like, is this real? No, it's real. Yeah, it'd be nice if it wasn't, but alas, here we are. I was happy Joey got his kiss though. I thought that was generous of the film, you know. Yes, and actually, uh Paul Etheridge did say that he was not interested in punishing these characters. He was more interested in seeing a representation of who people are and then just, you know, having fun. Yeah, and I also like I enjoyed how well I both enjoyed and have some problems with, and this is a bigger general thing.

I liked how none of them were being attacked because they were gay, right? Like the fact that they were gay was never addressed. We never had some like coming out narrative or arc or someone being ashamed to be gay. These were just out, proud, gay characters uh living their lives with their friends at this Halloween carnival, which I thought was great. My problem comes from like, I wish that there seemed to be a motive for the killer, but that's neither here nor there. Yeah, that's always kind of a larger question in horror in general, in that some people always think it's scarier to have something like that, and others think it's scarier to have a Michael Myers with no backstory, just that he's crazy.

And I think that it's so hard to just perfectly nail that kind of voiceless, creepy stalker killer. I actually I find the killer in the the actual slasher character in this movie to be the the least exciting part of the actual horror of this movie. Usually the slasher is the selling point. Like you want to go see Michael, you want to go see Jason or Freddy or one of those characters. But I think it's more in combination with what you were saying that there is no like backstory or motivation. I think it's more that the the slasher just doesn't particularly have any character to me. Besides, I've learned time and time again that abs do not equal personality, and I don't think that this movie had the same lesson learned already.

Very true. Um, and so then the next big death of the movie would be on the dance floor where Chaz died. And I personally found, you know, the deaths in this movie I don't think are particularly inventive, but I thought that this death was at least exciting, and there was this very like graphic, uh almost dare I say beautiful quality to it, where kind of this black like color being thrown on his skin, contrasting with the like red gore on him. There were some very I thought striking uses of imagery here. And for a movie with a small budget, uh very nice tools to kind of distract us from where maybe that budget might have failed them, you know, with the strobe lights and kind of low uh lighting and maybe even that black light kind of effect itself.

They know how to cover up what they can't do, and I thought to good effect here. Yeah, I thought this was very well shot. And as someone I love a strobe light. Um, I think we when I was like probably like eight or nine, all I wanted for Christmas was a strobe light, just to use in my room. Um and I liked like using it to theatrical effects, kind of creating my own dance parties. Like, I don't know how my parents ever thought I was straight. I was about to say. But yes, as a strobe light fan, I thought it was used well. Also the fact that uh this character, you know, we see him taking drugs throughout the movie.

He's like our party guy. So, like that kind of twist where he's like, Oh, is this like some crazy trip that my stomach's been punctured? And then he's like, No, I'm actually dying. Yeah, it's kind of tragic how even, you know, we we can't exactly see every slash and stab, but I mean, we know what's happening. And just that he doesn't even know that he's dying, like you just said, I think is really terrifying. Yeah, and I'm not a huge drug user myself, but I mean, that's not selling me on it. Yeah, don't do drugs, kids. You know, and actually, uh a thing that you mentioned earlier about not being a gay, uh kill the slasher not killing them because they're gay, is uh something that I wanted to hit on in a quote from Slant magazine, the writer director.

He said, in the traditional slasher movie, murder is portrayed as punishment, often for premarital sex. In Helbin, I didn't want the audience to equate gay sex with death. Premarital sex is all we gays have. This interview from before marriage was legalized. Instead, I opted to give each of the characters a specific fatal flaw that my killer exploits. Use of sense-deadening recreational drugs or addiction to attention, etc. I certainly don't judge their behavior, they're just kids. No one's getting punished for their human failings in my mind. The killer simply takes advantage of any opportunity that he sees. So, Ryan, I think you were just dead on the money, this whole thing. You were just reading this movie like a book.

You know, I'm a horror expert. You're the new host of this podcast. Uh I guess now's the time for the announcement. So there's a confrontation between the Devil Daddy and Eddie. Uh, I cannot even with this scene at the uh Meat Locker Club. And it turns out that the whole like boring first 30 minutes of the movie where it's like, oh, Eddie wants to be a police officer, but he can't. Oh no, why? And then like, oh, he has some sight problems, all lead up to this gag where he has a glass eye and the devil daddy tries to stab him through the head and it just clink, doesn't go through. I mean, talk about a plot twist.

I gasped. Yeah. And you know, we cannot, if you have any intention of accusing this movie of anything, you cannot accuse it of not setting up its twist because it did. Talk about a queer eye for the straight guy, am I right? Actually, this movie was not named when it was created, and they had a contest for people to name it for them. Hellbent won, but one of the options was Queer Eye for the Dead Guy. Oh. Well, would that have been? They probably chose right. If I had to name the movie, it would be Looking for Head. You're joking. Get out of town with that. That's so good. You know, that's if we were around in 2004 making decisions, uh things might be very different.

Wow. Okay, well, this movie's now shit because I've heard the better version. Maybe we maybe it's time for a remake. Ooh, maybe. Uh, you know, iPhone cameras are great these days, so why don't we just, you know, get to it? Honestly, the whole stupid love video shot on an iPhone. Uh yes, after all these shenanigans, uh, Eddie and Jake are taken to the police station. And it's the bizarre thing because it feels like the movie is over, but also like they don't know any of their friends are dead, and they're just like, all right, I guess we'll go home and like, you know, fuck or whatever. And it's just like this weird, like anti-climax that's happening.

And then there's like this weird motorcycle ride where they're like rom-com, like so in love. I will say it is like nothing's better than getting home, like with someone and realizing your roommates aren't home yet. You know what I mean? You're like, oh, look at this, how to ourselves. Little did they know. Yeah, they were not home alone. The uh call was indeed coming from inside the house. So this this scene, you know, gets a little hot and heavy. Did you find this scene at all um erotic? Uh, you know, it's not my cup of tea. Um but I I see how it could be for others. I have to say this, I think it was actually quite well acted, contrary to the rest of the movie.

I thought the guy that played like the tat-ed up motorcycle guy. I thought I thought he did some strong work here. I just really was watching this and I would just thought, I'm not turned on even slightly. I just felt, I don't know, maybe this is just me being a douche, but I just was like, these guys do not look like they are into each other even slightly. No, I was confused about the attraction too. But some of the great acting you were talking about from Jake, was it perhaps when he looked at himself in the mirror and whispered, condoms suck, but they keep you safe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like PSA. I know. I was really tickled by that.

This scene I think turns into the most exciting piece of the movie. I think this chase through the house is really suspenseful and thrilling. A bit unbelievable that Jake could be completely like gutted through his whole torso and still be fighting. But the way that it's nothing new, but they utilize kind of uh, you know, all these misdirect. He's about to kill Eddie, but then Jake's here with the bat. Oh, Eddie's hanging from the fire escape from his handcuff. Uh the when I say these things out loud, it's like, this is ridiculous. But you know, like, is he going to shoot him? Is he not? Like, I think that there are some moments of real tension that the movie utilizes quite well.

Yeah. It was very um little orphan Annie when she's like hanging off the crane near the end of the movie and Miss Hannigan and Rooster are chasing her. You are a mile a minute with those references. What isn't this movie? It's every it's everything. Truly. Including uh a lot of glass eye fetish happening here. You know, why not? What was your opinion of this final moment where Eddie discovers that the Devil Daddy is still alive by his eyes bursting open and then his mouth opening to reveal he has been hiding Eddie's glass eye inside his mouth? I mean, it left me excited for a sequel. That definitely cinema. That's what this is. Cinema. That's what I was just like, yeah.

I blown away. I have no words. Speechless. It was disappointing that knowing that a sequel never came, you know, watching it from the future. It's like, oh yes, that was really it. Paul Etheridge said that he had created, uh, written the script for what he thought was a kick-ass sequel, but unfortunately, the main producer behind this movie, who also produced some of the Halloween and nightmare movies, died after this movie came out. So he attributed that to um sequel not being green-lit. But it's nice to have a death as an out. This movie really was building that glass eye gag the whole time, and I thought that at the club we'd gotten all of it, but no, this final moment before just like the screaming music over the title card hellbent.

Uh, that's that's how you leave somebody mouth open in an audience. Yeah, it's Sandy Duncan is shaking. Have you ever seen uh You're killing me? I haven't. What's that? I reckon it's uh Jeffrey's self. It's so ultimately it's a uh a gay horror movie or like gay thriller, but I feel like it's like hellbent, but like with a better point of view. I think it came out like last year, but the whole point is this, you know, it's an L this guy in LA, he falls in love with a serial killer, but he's so vain, it's like you know, like, oh my god, you're killing me. Like he gets lured into the whole Instagram culture, and I don't know.

It's great. Is it a horror movie? Uh yeah, but not like it's not gory. So I watched it. Like a horror comedy. And what do you did you like it? Do you recommend yeah? I re you know, listeners, check it out. If you're looking for uh extra credit pride horror content, you still have time. Yeah. And actually, I was going to say, if you're looking for, in my opinion, a better version of Hellbent, there was actually a Hulu uh into the dark movie from last year called Midnight Kiss. It was their New Year's Eve themed horror movie about some gay guys who go on a trip for New Year's Eve. And I uh loved that, but I thought that we should start with the classic and save New Year's for New Year's.

If it's the first gay slasher, you gotta watch it. Oh, absolutely. That title has actually come under some contention because people have said, well, I've said many times on the podcast, if you think you're the first person to think something, you're probably wrong. This movie has actually gotten some pushback on saying, you think you're the first gay slasher. Well, you're not. And I think it's more of an issue of semantics. People compare it to if you've seen high tension or cruising. When I think gay slasher, I think this is a slasher that's really displaying gay characters and gay life through its cast and not just kind of this queer killer or queer monster that was so prevalent in horror prior to our recent efforts at equality.

You know, I'm thinking of things like you've probably seen Silence of the Lambs. No, no, no. See, I told you I'm a novice. Oh, but you said you have your finger on the pulse of culture, and now I'm seeing not sure. Well, that was ages ago. Oh, Ryan, I that's your homework, is you need to go watch Silence of the Lambs. I'll I'll put it on the list. All that to say, I think that Helbent is kind of this great collection of queer life. Like we were saying, it's not necessarily the stereotypes of who straight people think gay people are, but it's very much a slasher aimed at a queer audience that we know that's a representation of what being a gay person can be.

It doesn't have to feed into the straight gays of what queer life is, if that makes sense. And I I think that's something really exciting about this movie. And like you said, ahead of its time earlier. Yeah, it said, I mean, it and it it seems like it was truly made for gays, which is refreshing. Yeah, and earlier I even mentioned that I do think this movie is a little bit boring, but I think there is some sort of weird in a weird way, I think that makes it better. That it set out to be a gay slasher movie, and it thought I don't need to reinvent the will, but wheel, but I'm going to make a slasher movie with gay characters.

So, yes, maybe I am exhausted with some of the slasher tropes or cliches, but at the same time, isn't it exciting to see those things that are so familiar and comfortable on a gay cast of characters? Definitely. And then my last thought uh on the content of the movie. I think as a gay man myself, I personally love slashers, and I particularly love the final girls in a slasher. I think that it's a really relatable um representation of the queer experience. In non-gay slashers, even down to Friday the 13th, to have a character whose arc through the film is to go from being scared or different because she's the only one who believes something is wrong, and then who has to grow and find her own strength to confront to confront the slasher in the end.

My issue with Helbent, though, is that Eddie, who is kind of our stand-in for the final girl in this movie, uh, he's just kind of chilling the whole movie and he doesn't know what's going on. We don't really see his journey to finding that inner strength to confront uh the devil daddy. It seems like everything in the movie's a little more coincidental, and in the end it's more of just like a struggle for survival. Whereas I really just wish that it could have reflected more of that experience that I find very queer in other horror movies. So it's kind of a like back and forth on how I feel about Hellbent. Yeah, can we talk about how wasn't the whole point of him like getting dressed up as an officer was to like work on protecting people from this killer?

It seems like he was tasked with handing out I don't even know. Have you has there ever been a crime and they hand out flyers warning people about it? It seems like his d his job was to post some sort of like information-wanted flyer around the carnival to let people know. Yeah, and ultimately he did a shitty job. Yeah, I know. He just really went to party. He didn't even run to Kinkas. It's like a narry, a flyer in sight. Yeah, you would think that if his whole I guess it's also this weird conundrum of like what is his role at the police station? Because he wanted to be a cop and he failed. So, like, is he just some sort of like administrative assistant or something?

Yeah, I feel like he was like the IT guy or something. IT? Oh thank you. I see what you mean there. As somebody who is not necessarily uh as we've established, who is not kind of up with horror movies, up with horror culture, as an outsider, I should say. How do you feel this movie does or does not celebrate queer, queer people, queer culture, etc.? Like, do you feel like it's aggressive towards queer people? Do you feel like it's accepting? Like, what's your read on that? Uh I I really thought it was pretty accepting. Now, of course, we're like looking in a time capsule, right? So this was 16 years ago. So, like, yeah, there's some things that are problematic when watching it today.

But even today, I thought it was relatively progressive and queer representation, actually. Yeah, we even talked about how it doesn't necessarily fall into like the typical gay stereotypes. I have uh another quote treed from Etheridge that kind of rebbed me the wrong way. And again, as I guess this isn't as an outsider, as my guest on this podcast, I wanted to get your read on this quote from uh Paul Etheridge. So in an interview with KillerReviews.com, he said, During the casting process, I stressed that I didn't want actors who played gay. I wanted the sexuality of the characters to feel incidental, incidental, uh, to feel incidental rather than be their defining trait. I envisioned the leads to be regular guys, regular, beautiful guys.

Uh, what how do you feel about that quote? And in case I didn't establish earlier, Paul Etheridge is a is a gay man himself. I I I would have assumed. I think it could have been worded better. I understand what he's saying, right? And that's the thing with I think just gay, uh queer culture in general in culture, is like you look at a show like looking, right? And because we're a marginalized uh community already, representation in media is already so rare that whenever it happens, there's that rush to want to see yourself in the characters, which I think can sometimes be both uh sometimes be damaging a little bit to the process, right? Like because gay people are inherently people, there's gonna be a large spectrum of types of personalities and traits, etc., right?

Where his wording rubs me the wrong way, of course, is like what is quote unquote normal, what is a normal guy, what is a normal gay guy. I think back in 2004, you know, when this was made, media wasn't like it was either had Jack and you know Will and Grace or no one. Yeah. I guess my takeaway from that, and again, this is a very different time, but it does kind of make me seal feel a little less seen by this movie because the gay community can be a little self-deprecating, and this idea of not wanting people to play gay seems like like, why are you trying to please you know, straight audiences? Why are you trying to prove in some way that gays don't have to be kind of like sissy gays?

Because like I feel like I reading this, like I would have been cast in that movie. Like, I don't know, it just to me that takes away from it a bit, knowing that the creator had this idea that like this is what gay people are, but that's not what I want to present them as. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, and uh at the end of the day, your four main characters were like white guys with abs who are pretty to look at and masculine. Yeah. Happy pride. What a fun note to end on. I guess we could say it's important to love each other and see past any of those outward affectations that were all the same and equal on the inside.

Definitely, you know, like go go out as a busted drag queen and go proudly. You know, you can be an underwear model and a really bad-looking queen and live your life. Wear that leather costume. He uh Joey felt the need to be like, this isn't mine, but like, girl, own it. Wear it. Although maybe not this week. It is hot. Oh my god, yeah, I have to turn my AC off to record this. I'm dripping sweat. Yeah, no leather here. So, Ryan, what would you say from Hellbent is your most memorable murder? The one that really sticks out in your brain. Honestly, probably the first. The balloon, the balloons in the car. I agree completely. I think that, like I said, that's like you can watch that first five minutes, and that's the movie for you.

Enjoy credits, roll. On a scary scale of one to five, how would you rate Hell uh said Hellraiser, different movie? How would you rate Hellbin? A 1.5 I don't think it was very scary. Um, uh other side note, uh, I know you're a a Riverdale watcher yourself. Um, I actually wondered if there was a kind of side plot in Riverdale where Kevin Keller would go cruising in the local park. And in one episode, two teens are killed in the park where the cruising happens. Oh. One of one of whom is gay. So I wonder uh Roberto Aguero Sicasa, who's the uh showrunner creator there, he's like so up on all these horror movies. Uh, it would not surprise me if that was a little um nod to this movie.

Anyway, making connections. Yeah, and I don't want to out you as not having seen Riverdale Season Four. Oh, you can out me. Okay, well, she's out. Uh, you have not seen Riverdale Season Four, but there is a Halloween episode where they're kind of like living the plots of different famous horror movies, or at least they make a lot of very obvious nods to different horror movies. So, I mean, Riverdale definitely, like I says, uh said earlier, um, does its due paying homage to the horror classics. For sure. So on this podcast, we play a game of Smasher Pass, but we just, you know, tweak it a little bit. So would you give Hellbend a smash or a slash?

Um, slash. Tragic. Do you have any uh words to express why I I I mean I think we've covered it. If you're in quarantine and you have some time to kill, it's not gonna be your worst hour. I'm not telling my friends to check this movie out from 2004. Yeah, unfortunately, I think I'm also going to give it a slash. And I'll just say that I love that it has kind of been the trailblazer for gay horror afterwards. Not that there was a big boom or anything, in my personal opinion. Maybe you feel differently, but I don't think it necessarily created any wave of gay horror films, but you can definitely see in the ones that have come in more recent years how their way was made possible by Hellbent.

And as kind of a a gem held closely by the queer horror community, I think that it's a really fun movie. Actually, watching it, not as fun. Fair. So that's really it for us. Unfortunately, Ryan will not be joining us next week. And actually, a change of pace from usual. I will not be joining us either. Caroline and Ian are going to be back, just the two of them, to do a little hype review for Shudder's new movie, The Beach House. So I'm personally very excited to hear what they have to say about that. Until then, you can go over to Apple Podcasts and give us a rating interview. That would be so helpful. And uh finally, Ryan, I know that everybody listening is already your biggest fan.

They're so excited to check out more stuff from you. So how can they find you on the internet? Thanks so much for having me on. Uh, you can follow me at Ryan Bloomquist, B-L-O-O-M-Q-U-I-S-T on Twitter, uh at R Bloomquist on Instagram because no one taught you about continuity when you were in middle school, and now someone has my handle and doesn't use it. So yeah, follow me there and uh yeah. All right, awesome. And I know that it is a treat to follow him from personal experience, so you should all do the same. You can find me, Parker Heron, on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterbox at Parker Delray. And you can find uh what's your favorite scary movie on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at ScarymoviePod.

You can join us on Patreon for bonus content every month at patreon.com slash scary moviepod. You can find our calendar and reviews at scarymoviepod.com, and you can send us any feedback or requests at scary moviepod at gmail dot com. Ryan, it was such a pleasure. Thanks again. We are condoms, everyone.