SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

acidburn-10 I caught this title a while ago as I became quickly intrigued for obvious reasons namely an all male cast and the fact that it's the first gay slasher movie, I caught the trailers online and became quickly interested, even though "Hell-bent" offers nothing new or original to the genre, a pretty much by numbers a routine slasher movie, but with a fresh approach. Although there have been gay characters in other horror movies, this is the first time that a movie centres round a group of gay men. For the movie itself, it's very well made nothing groundbreaking though and plus it's full of classic clichés and an interesting group of characters and a decent cast.The beginning we have the cliché couple making out in the car and then quickly killed off, quite violently but fun none the less and as the movie goes on its a pretty simple straight forward movie that never gets over complicated . But the fact that the killer's motive is never revealed seems rather lazy and uninspired, and the dialogue at times seems inane, and plus it lacks tension in certain places and the killer wasn't scary looked more like a gay porn star, I was more like falling in love than fearing his presence, but he did do some pretty decent kills, quite slick. But I just thought that this movie could have pushed the boundaries a bit more, as it doesn't feature any sex scenes which did kind of disappoint me in a way, but I still found this movie really fun and entertaining and the set pieces were shot brilliantly, like the carnival, the nightclubs and the final chase were all made decent good use off.Another factor that I liked about this movie was the decent cast that could have easily been one dimensional typical gay characters that feature in TV shows but gladly they weren't they were well rounded and well written firstly there was Dylan Fergus who plays the obvious final boy Eddie was just heart-warming and lovable, well at ease in his role and someone to root for in the end. Bryan Kirkwood who plays the love interest to Eddie was rugged and cool in his leather jacket and made the romance sub plot interesting and wanting more. Hank Harris who plays the shy boy Joey whose in love with the football player was very likable and gave a quite touching performance, definitely one of those characters that you'll miss. Andrew Levitas who plays the slutty character Chaz was a definite stand out for me, he oozed charm and worked well with the material he was given. And finally Matt Phillips as the drag queen Tobey, who to be honest annoyed me at first, I dunno maybe it's the fact that we never see him out of the drag costume, but I warmed to him as the movie went on, okay his acting wasn't perfect but he still had great chemistry with the other cast members.All in all "Hell-Bent" is a fun enjoyable movie that although doesn't offer new (apart from the gay angle) to the slasher genre or change your life in any way, it's still entertaining.

kwraikarn I just loved this film. Yes, it's silly and the plot and dialogue could be better, but it has the makings of a cult. I'm not a fan of slasher films, but I was intrigued by this because it's the first gay slasher film. Some of the photography was simply beautiful (the blood from the tattoo, the motorcycle ride, the bedroom scene). I've read criticism of Kirkwood's performance (Jake), that he seems uncomfortable, but he's playing a damaged, possibly broken hearted character, so his discomfort/awkwardness could be part of his performance. I think the scenes at the end, where he's vulnerable and clingy, are very well underplayed, poignant. The only criticism I have is that it's too short. At 85 minutes, there would have been plenty of time (at least 10 minutes) to give us a bit more story - I was dying to see Tobey (Matt Phillips) properly out of drag! I'd like to see a sequel, but I think if they were going to make one, they'd have made it by now... Or, six years later, the psycho killer could have escaped and is hellbent (hehe) on tracking down Jake and Eddie (who are still together and in love of course... or maybe they've split up (over some trivial misunderstanding) and the new danger brings them back together for a bitter reunion... but in the end they realise they still love each other... I could go on...) I want to see more films like this.

body_puzzle **WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!**I had a very strange reaction while watching 'Hellbent' last night: I was kind of excited to see a horror movie that was made by an openly gay director, and had played to some fanfare on the festival circuit. But that excitement deflated faster than the Hindenburg when I realized 'Hellbent' was no better than the average flick that arrives direct to the shelves of Blockbuster with alarming frequency. 'Hellbent' is not good horror and it is not good Queer Cinema (although I'm the first to argue that there is very little quality Queer Cinema). To make matters worse, the movie does absolutely nothing to dispel the myth that gay men are bed-hopping, pill-popping alcoholics who suffer from a deadly combination of low self-esteem, shame and guilt.Plot: Four gay friends attend the Carnival in West Hollywood on Halloween night. One of them, a would-be cop who lost an eye in an accident (how that tidbit plays in at the end is both perfunctory and a distraction), plays the "straight" role, while the others comprise the obligatory group of slaughter fodder: the stud, who needs to lay everything with two legs and a heartbeat; the shy kid who just wants to get the phone number from that one guy; and the model who's so tired of being judged by his looks that he decides to go out for the night in drag just to prove to everyone that he's not as shallow as he seems. They're pursued through the streets by a mad-dog killer dressed as a--well, I don't know exactly what he's dressed like, some kind of devil, which could carry its own social message about the ills of illicit drug use and sex. They die, and that's pretty much it. There's also an unnecessary subplot that involves a budding connection between the one-eyed nice guy and a "biker with a heart of gold," and writer-director Paul Etheredge-Ouzts does all he can to mine sympathy for the shy guy and the model before he kills them off.In reality, Ouzts has done nothing socially conscious, or even new by replacing a bevy of horny heterosexual teens with a bevy of horny twenty-something 'mos and putting them in the same old predictable situation where they can be picked off, one by one, by a masked killer. Haven't we seen this all before--and done far better? Ouzts' digital camera work is stilted and lazy, his cinematography dark and dank in all the wrong places. He uses unnecessary and extreme close-ups ad nauseum; most of the time they're so improperly framed that the top of the actors' heads are cut off. And Ouzts commits the cardinal sin of casting a leading man so bland that he's upstaged by his supporting cast. There's some nice work Bryan Kirkwood as the edgy biker, and Hank Harris as the self-conscious Joey, who meets a too-early end. But even they aren't enough to conceal the fact that this really isn't a very good film. (And please, spare me the gaggle of wrong-sighted support for the film simply because it was made by a gay man and involves gay characters. Social exposure, on its own and by its mere existence, doesn't automatically make for good cinema.) So what does this all add up to? Not much. There's very little suspense, and the decision Ouzts makes regarding the killer's identity borders on criminal, considering he's given us nothing to care about up to that point. Dodging a pay-off is all well and good so long as there's justification in the build-up.

cedde6 Four gay men are out for a night of fun at the infamous West Hollywood Halloween Carnival but make the big mistake to moon at a muscular fella wearing a horny mask. Little do they know they just provoked a serial killer who can truly hold a grudge... Make no mistake, this is classic slasher territory. The film opens with the murder of a couple making out in a car parked in the woods and from there, well I'm sure you can fill the gap. The originality here of course lies in the characters and for once, thank God, they are not the clichés one could have expected and feared. They are fun loving young men celebrating who they are (as opposed to so many miserable gay characters of the past struggling with their sexuality) and witty as hell, which makes for some funny lines here and there. Don't get me wrong though. "Hellbent" doesn't play the self referential game that most modern slashers do. At times, the movie is tense and, I must admit, the last part got me on the edge of my seat. The characters are sympathetic and humane, albeit not quite fleshed out. The movie is well shot, the acting is convincing and some death scenes are quite impressive. Sure, the plot is a bit thin but then again: it's only a slasher (hardly rocket science). Far from redefining the genre or breaking new grounds, the movie is at least honest in its intentions. "Hellbent" is actually less of a gay movie for a strictly gay audience than it is a pure pop-corn movie for any open-minded movie goer looking for a genuine good time.