Notes: Some spoilers

I can't believe how much I loved this movie. I thought it was going to be your typical standard slasher flick fare with openly gay guys supplanted as the victims. I figured this was going to be another one of those films where gay guys have hot sex then have to be killed in some sort of retro- "Cruising" styled slasher films that just make me sick. "Hellbent" is nothing of the kind. This is an interesting story with interesting characters and a cast of cuties that can not only make your cock hard but can also act!

The best thing about the characters are that they are not stereotypes. The film revolves around four friends and roommates who go out together on Halloween night. Dylan Fergus (most recently on "Passions") is adorable as Eddie, the son of a cop whose sister is having more success on the force than he. Eddie dresses up in his dad's uniform when he gets the call from the captain at the squad to hand out some flyers after two young gay men are decapitated in the film's sexy opening sequence. Eddie is hunky (he looks like Tom Welling's cute fraternal twin) and sweet and when the film has him trying to hook up with rebel biker Jake (Bryan Kirkwood, Melissa Joan Hart's ex) we can't help but be on his side.

Eddie's friends include the sexy bisexual Chas, (Andrew Levitas of "Psycho Beach Party") who seems destine to sleep with every guy and girl who gets in his path, and Tobey (Matt Phillips), a model who has chosen this particular Halloween to go drag. But the truly adorable one in Eddie's clique is Joey (Hank Harris, the retard in "Pumpkin" and the hottie in TV's "Popular). Harris is scrumptious and when he gets all decked out in titillating S&M gear I defy any gay man with his eyesight still intact not to get rock hard. It was all I could do not to end up with a hole in my jeans at the crotch just watching him in this film. The only bad thing about this film is that he is the first to die. I could have looked at him for hours.

The guys who play the gay friends here may not be gay in real life but their performances here are enough to make them honorary members of any gay brotherhood in the world. These guys are not only hot, but they're also playing just regular guys who happen to be gay. No one is a stereotype. No one is butch or fem or a queen or a priss. No one is anything but just a regular guy who happens to be gay. I know that sounds like something someone who writes about films would say without knowing what he is talking about but I promise you that is not the case. There is not one thing in this film that should offend even the most sensitive gay guy. I'm telling you, I wanted to hate this film. I was expecting to get home to my trusty little word processing program and rip this film a new asshole like hillbilly reenacting the "squeal like a pig" scene from "Deliverance" with his little cousin, but that was not to be. This film surprised me in a positive way at every step.

Truly the best thing about the film, however, is the final romantic moment in the film. I hope you have seen this film before you read about it because I would hate to ruin the conclusion of this film for you. "Hellbent" ends with what may very well be the most wonderful gay kiss ever to be included in a gay film. As a gay man I was utterly frustrated and almost angered by the character Jake's refusal to kiss Eddie as they begin to have sex in the film's final ten minutes. But this refusal leads to a kiss at film's end, when Jake has fallen in love with Eddie, that will fill your heart with the same joy and awe that filled it with your own first gay kiss. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Who knew a gay horror film could be so wonderful. Writer/director Paul Etheredge-Ouzts should be proud of himself. It's rare, if not downright groundbreaking and never before accomplished, that a film filled with blood and gore and death and mutilation is also the most dreamy gay movie of the season. "Hellbent" may very well herald the dawn of a fresh new genre in gay films.

Notes:

Also with Jazzmun in a small role.

A song by Paul Lekakis is included and he has a cameo in the film.

At least the forth film to have this name.

The film debuted at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in June of 2004. It has played in many festivals. Picked up by here! Films (sic) who had already began an arthouse release of the film before I saw it at The Arbor in October 2005 during Agliff with my friend Johnny Oh!

Report Card Script: A+

Acting: A+

Cinematography\Lighting: B+

Special Effects\Make Up: A-

Music: A-

Final Grade: A+