Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Death Drop Gorgeous
Directed by Michael J. Ahern, Christopher Dalpe and
Brandon Perras-Sanchez
104 minutes, 2020
Wow, there is getting to
be a whole, new subgenre in the horror field (of course it is in the independent
realm) centered around the LGBTQ+(etc.) market. I’m enjoying watching the number
of films expand. There was a time when if there was a gay character, they were
either there for “comedy relief,” or if it were a drama, they had to die by the
end (The Children’s Hour, arguably A Separate Peace, etc.).
Christopher Dalpe, Wayne Gonsalves |
On the other hand,
shows like “Queer Eye” (2003) and various Ru Paul projects (including “AJ and
the Queen”) have helped open up the mass culture to the positive side of drag
queens. Personally, I believe this acceptance is also a larger backlash against
anti-gay nonsense from televangelists and bullies like the Westboro Church.
Drag queens have always been cool, but the mass populace is only recently
getting wind of that perfume.
But now, and
rightfully so, the Pride pride of lions have pulled out their claws,
shaved their manes, added some powder, and have started to reclaim their own
cinema paths, in this case in the slasher vein.
Michael McAdam |
For this tale, after
the prologue kill (straight or gay, the slasher tropes gods must be satisfied
and there will be sacrifices), Dwayne (Wayne Gonsalves) has just moved back to
Providence, RI (which has a very thriving gay community in real life as well as
reel life), and to celebrate a new position as a bartender, he and effeminate
pal Brian (Christopher Dalpe) go out to that same cleverly named drag bar, the Aut
Haus (pronounced “Out House”), run by mafioso type Tony Two Fingers (Brandon Perras-Sanchez), who seems to
be in constant screaming profanity mode.
Following a murder,
two sketchy bear detectives, who use multiple homophobic slurs, are on the
case: Detective O’Hara (Michael J. Ahern) and Detective Barry (Sean Murphy). Their
closeness hints that even though they may be straight, there is something
subtly going on with these two which is never explicitly explored. They are just
two of the many interesting characters we get to meet along the way to the multiple
slaughters, such as wonderfully deadpan Tragedi (Matthew Cicero aka Complete
Destruction), washed up and aging alcoholic Gloria Hole (Michael McAdam), and bitch-in-a-bucket
Janet Fitness (Matthew Pidge), who has the great line on the poster: “If you’re
going to have two faces, at least make one of them pretty.” There is a large
cast in this small production, but I’ll discuss more of that later.
Sean Murphy and Michael J. Ahern |
One of the things I
like about this production is that drag queens are playing the drag queens, rather
than non-professionals filling a role. In the credits, we see the non-drag and
drag names of the actors, such as the wonderful Johnny Sederquist, who is
professionally known as Ninny Nothin.
While this is a very
small film with an even tinier budget, it is also big, loud, and proud. This is
especially notable in that this was created by essentially a crew of five
people (three of them co-directors and writers), and a cast from the Providence
area (I recognized more than one from another local filmmaker’s releases) that
is filled with affection and quite a bit of on-screen bitchiness (which I found
a tad stereotypical, though I fully admit I have only touched the drag world
rather than immersed in it). There is also a noticeably short and extremely
bright-eyed cameo by Linnea Quigley near the end that made me smile, as scream
queens more than drag queens are something about which I have a bit of knowledge,
especially from her generation (but I digress…).
Complete Destruction |
The gore is plentiful and
explicit, being extremely graphic without being pornographic…though one scene
does come quite close. It’s beautiful to watch and revel in the flow of the
red, in a kind of retelling of an old Hungarian legend. Again, considering the budgetary
constraints, this film actually has quite a large body count, in various forms
of dress, undressed, and dressed to kill. That includes a couple of characters that
come as a surprise, and I found kind of emotional.
While this is mostly
played for drama, there is a real spark of humor throughout, more so in
dialogue, which is often done in throwaway lines that, if you catch it, can
definitely make you laugh. One example is Brian saying to Dwayne, “You can stay
here as long as you like. Especially since now you have a job.” If you’re
looking for witty and catty Bette Davis-level insults, you’ve come to the right
place.
Matthew Pidge |
I am really hoping
that this troupe finds financing to keep going, because if this is the level in
which they start, maybe they can take the viewer to somewhere over the rainbow.
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