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Beatty gives Grey an effectively haunted persona, but only hints at her ferocious instincts. There are outbursts of emotion, but her energy remains bottled up even as Vaughn brazenly pushes her buttons. Bryk adds a gruff intensity to Vaughn, which is most effective in the way he clashes with the fiercely loyal Charlie. Otherwise, So's role is a bit thankless, as Charlie remains on the sideline, only around to warn Grey that there's obviously something dangerous going on here.

Grey's songs (by musician Lowell, who also cowrote the script) cleverly turn sinister as the story progresses, mixing beauty with an undercurrent of violence to add passion to the vocals. There are several gruesome moments along the way that are entertainingly unnerving, plus some inventive, understated makeup and effects work. And even the more obvious, incoherent plot twists are provocative and genuinely nasty. But the film's nuttiest sequences are played with such a straight face that they begin to feel faintly ridiculous.

themes, language, violence, sexuality

29.Aug.21

None of the characters is developed very deeply, but Gonsalves provides an engaging presence at the centre as the lovelorn Dwayne. Dalpe has fun hamming it up as the dopey Brian, and both Ahern and Murphy stir plenty of rather obvious innuendo into their scenes. It's a bit of a problem that most drag queens are the similarly styled and essentially interchangeable. Standouts are Destruction's hilariously monosyllabic goth Tragedi and St James' has-been drama queen, cast off as a relic by 40.

The script reveals the killer's identity about an hour in, so the rest of the film is about revealing the nefarious master plan while the detectives work the case and the performers carry on obliviously. The filmmakers miss a trick as they continually shy away from anything remotely lusty. And the comment on ageism in the business is half-hearted at best. But the escalating body count offers plenty of amusingly blood-splattered mayhem.

themes, language, violence

2.Sep.21

Even when there are arguments between the family members, performances remain muted. Urrea has a strong presence as the young Mason, whose thoughts and feelings remain largely internalised. His interaction with Jameson has a subtle spark of intrigue, which is very nicely played by Stewart and Urrea (in both roles) as teens who are simply trying to make sense of their lives in a culture that feels adversarial. Other characters are more simplistically defined, but work together to create a bigger picture.

Although Mitchel's pill-popping habit feels like a plot device, it reflects the intense struggle of a closeted gay teen living in a harshly religious home that's in denial about everything. It's awful to see the family avoid the topic at hand, encouraged by platitudes from the pastor, refusing to be honest about who Mitchel was and why he died. The saddest thing is that they all know the facts but refuse to accept or talk about them, which of course leads to even more stress and pain. But healing only comes in embracing the truth.

themes, language, sexuality, violence

31.Aug.21