THE GAY BED AND BREAKFAST OF TERROR

THE GAY BED AND BREAKFAST OF TERROR

"They went there to mince ... but instead they got minced!"

Several couples head out separately along the same increasingly quiet highway one weekend, in search of fun.

Among them are Dom (Vinny Markus) and new partner Alex (Michael Soldier), who are driving to attend a highly anticipated gay convention. Dom is particularly excited about being invited there, as he was recently voted Mr Leather by the gay community - and wants to revel in the attention this position is sure to offer him.

Gay couple Mike (Derek Long) and Eric (Robert Borzych) head out in the same direction with their pal Lizette (Lisa Block-Weisler) in search of holiday fun of their own, seeking out the only B&B they could find with rooms available.

Meanwhile Brenda (Allie Rivenbark) and girlfriend, wannabe singer Starr (Hilary Schwartz), have a reservation at the same B&B, which they intend to use as their base to peddle Starr's dubious vocal talents around the local gay clubs.

Finally, glamorous girlfriends Deborah (Shannon Lee) and Gabby (Denise Heller) also make their way across the desert to the reportedly gay-friendly inn.

When our nine unrelated guests arrive at the remote, Psycho house-alike B&B - the Sahara Salvation Inn - they are greeted by landlady Helen (Mari Marks) and her mentally retarded daughter Luella (Georgia Jean). Helen is quick to tell her male guests that Luella is single and looking for a husband.

Disregarding the blatant oddness of their hosts, the guests briefly acquaint themselves with one another before retiring to their respective rooms. All are coupled off into double rooms aside from Lizette, a straight woman who's simply come along for the ride.

Puritanical Helen observes the bitchiness and flirtatious nature of her guests with increasing distaste, in-between spitting out her violent intentions to Luella: to purify each of them of their homosexual tendencies, and find a man to wed her daughter in the process.

For a while Helen's promises remain empty, as the film focuses on getting to know the guests a little better. Unfortunately this does little to endear them to us, as they're all pretty negative types - cowardly, dishonest and aggressive at different turns. Dom, for example, has designs on Mike. Starr and Deborah clearly have an eye for each other. And Lizette is just plain miserable.

Arguably the best character is Alex, who shines in the film's latter half when his drag queen alter-ego Carrie comes to the fore.

But, back to the plot. Eventually, after much bickering and a little illicit fucking, the murders begin. One by one the guests are stabbed and slashed in satisfyingly bloody manner, while the survivors take an inordinate amount of time to realise that their group is steadily decreasing in size.

What can you say about a film with a title like that? Are you expecting high art? Or perhaps a serious study into the motivations of homophobia?

Or maybe a camp, low-budget celebration of the ludicrous?

If the answer is the latter, then you would be almost right. TERROR is indeed a film that thrives on its simple, silly premise. Although in execution it's not as camp as it sounds or as it probably should be with a title like that, but there is enough acidic John Waters-type dialogue and splashy gore scenes here, as well as the brilliantly OTT characters of Helen and Luella, to ensure the film is enjoyable on a camp(ish) level.

As a comedy, the film is surprisingly reserved. I expected a succession of low-rent, bad taste gags. But what we get is a more low-key, carefully paced and unexpectedly dark affair. Wisecracks are frequent but not as broad as you may think, and in truth they frequently miss their mark.

The film is more successful as a horror, wallowing in cliché but doing so with a fair amount of visual flair. Writer-director Jaymes Thompson revels in Luella's religious mumbo-jumbo and complements it with some surprisingly disturbing images of cannibalism, Luella's repressed pleas and Marks' genuinely psychotic turn as Helen.

Well-shot and lit, utilising the single interior location to good effect with low angles and dim candle-lit rooms to maximise atmosphere, TERROR often recalls the look and feel of better low budget horror films from the 70s and early 80s. In this respect, it's well worth a look.

Going against it, however, are a cast of stereotypical characters and a running time of 110 minutes that seriously drags the basic plot out for far too long.

TERROR is presented uncut on this Peccadillo disc, in a vibrant and clean anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer. Colours are bold, while images are sharp and filled with rich depth. According to the back cover, the film was shot in "HomoVision", and it looks very nice as a result ...

The English 2.0 audio is a solid and trouble-free proposition throughout.

A garish crimson animated main menu page leads into a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 9 chapters.

Extras begin with a 14-minute Behind The Scenes featurette that does a good job of mixing on-set footage with occasional interviews to illustrate that, while this was a fun shoot, the filmmakers really strived to produce something of technical merit.

Two-and-a-half minutes of outtakes are mainly of the corpsing variety but are fun to watch, and add to the above featurette's impression of a cast bursting with energy.

A music video for "Watch Out For The Straights" follows, performed by Juliet Wright. The song also features prominently in the film (as a video during the opening titles), and so it comes as no surprise to find that this two-and-a-half-minute promo includes plenty of clips from the main feature. Presented in non-anamorphic 1.78:1.

Crewmember Timothy Kelley, Marks, Thompson, Borzych and Lee all turn up for a fun, laughter-filled and yet fairly consistent commentary track. Thompson keeps the info coming while never allowing the relaxed nature of the chat track to suffer.

Finally, there are a plethora of trailers for other titles available from Peccadillo Pictures: BORN IN '68, GREEK PETE, BOYS ON FILM 3, LOST AND DELIRIOUS, POLTERGAY, GODS OF FOOTBALL, YOU BELONG TO ME, VAMPIRE DIARY, BEFORE STONEWALL, BOYS ON FILM 2 and FOUR MINUTES.

Stylish, gory and atmospheric, TERROR is also overlong and suffers from being populated by characters that are difficult to like. Having said that, a gay slasher film is a welcome twist to the genre and - despite its flaws - TERROR succeeds on enough levels to come mildly recommended.

It also benefits from a great DVD presentation from Peccadillo Pictures.

Review by Stu Willis


 
Released by Peccadillo Pictures
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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