Do the readers of the posted comments for this film notice that the raves are coming from those who saw it at a gay and lesbian film festival somewhere? I don't know why but so many people who see films at festivals overrate them, as if the slightest gay reference in a film automatically makes it good. I missed it at last year's Outfest in LA, and heard that it was really good. I also wondered why it took over a year for this film to get released. Having finally gotten a chance to see it at a regular theater, I now know why. It was TERRIBLE! I can't understand why another Outfest entry that I saw--"The 25th Day" with hotties James Marsden and Scott Speedman went direct to video, and they bothered to release this trashy film. I am a fan of horror films. Hellbent is really the first "gay" slasher picture. Too bad it had to be done this badly--poor script, mediocre direction, laughable dialogue, paper-thin characters, an ending that can only be described as a complete let-down, and no insight whatsoever as to the killer. If you saw the poster to this film and the first make-out scene in the film, you saw the best part of the movie. Only the drag queen character was able to make any kind of lingering impression. The actor resisted the temptation to make his character campy, and so we have sympathy for him. Otherwise, don't waste your money. I am out 10 bucks and 90 minutes of my life that I'll never get back! I hope more talented gay filmmakers will try there hand at this genre, which has proved itself so profitably to str8 audiences. Openly gay filmmakers and writers such as Victor Salva ("Jeepers Creepers 1 & 2") and Kevin Williamson (the "Scream" movies and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movies) have so far given us "eye candy" in the form of hunky guys, but their movies so far are engineered to mainstream str8 audiences. They have had their success commercially. It is time for them to "come out" and make a truly gay horror film like this one. What do they have to lose? Be yourselves, for Godsakes--don't pretend to be str8. Write what you know about and what you feel (that is, lust for guys, not for girls). If they ever do, maybe we will get the first GOOD gay slasher film! HellBent is certainly not that film.
Review of Hellbent
