In the heart of even the most
well-adjusted gay person lurks the fear of a lynching by a possessed
God-fearing mob in some remote backwoods lot far removed from
civilization. It's not rational, but neither is fear.
Horror gay-themed filmmakers –
perhaps buoyed by the success of mainstream gay-themed movies –
have begun mining this irrational fear.
The latest evidence of this trend can
be found in SouthPaw Pictures' A Far Cry From Home!.
Cry stars Alan Rowe Kelly –
who also wrote and directed the film – as Elaine, a cross dressing
man whose boyfriend mistakenly stops to check out the Hung by a
Thread junk shop located off the beaten path from gay purgatory.
Soon the couple find themselves being
chased by a fire and brimstone mob of rabid homo haters and their
Bible-thumping preacher bent on taking the pair to their graves in a
most horrific way.
The film echoes director Jaymes
Thompson's The Gay Bed & Breakfast Of Terror, where
boy-monster Manfred, who was spawned from the semen of a 100
Republican convention delegates, instinctively gnaws and mauls at the
gay and lesbian guests who check in (but don't check out) at his
mother's inn, also off the beaten path.
Production values in Cry remain
high, a well-edited score tightens the pace of the film, and it does
not bore with a predictable ending.
Kelly offers a persuasive performance
as the drag queen in peril – her last bloody gasp certain to become
a cult favorite.
Regrettably, the film risks capsizing
on weak character development. A gay audience will naturally cheer
on the film's damsel in distress as she struggles to free herself
from her monstrous captors, but otherwise we have no real sense of
who she is or why we should root for her.
But if getting to know Elaine is not
your saucer of blood, then this gory tale will scare you fine.
A Far Cry From Home! screened at
the Tromadance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and will also
unspool at Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Chicago, which opens March
6.