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Jesse Klein’s “Demons” to Play at FilmOut San Diego LGBT Film Festival

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A young man sits in group therapy relating how he’s just murdered a man by slitting his throat.  The rest of his group can totally relate.  One likes to kill using a short sword; another has a real thing for poison.  They discuss it with a fervent glee until the therapist in charge of the group calls them to order and reminds them that the group isn’t here to discuss their murderous instincts.  No, there purpose is much more serious.  These men are gay and that’s just not okay.  The therapist snorts a short line of cocaine and they get down to business.

This is the opening for Jesse Klein’s highly engaging and entertaining short, “Demons”, which will be making its West Coast debut at the San Diego FilmOut LGBT film festival in June.  The film drives home the point that there are worse things in the world than being gay, and came from Klein’s own personal dreams and experiences.

“I was looking at all of these anti-gay protesters,” Klein says, “and all I could think was that they could be using that energy for something so much more important.  I mean, if you’re going to base your protests on the Bible, why not pick one of the Ten Commandments?  Let’s protest murder!”

And so we find Matt, our protagonist, walking through a world that is hyper-violent.  People are beating each other in the streets, stealing from each other, etc.  He arrives at the home of his new boyfriend, a local butcher.  He’s greeted at the door and they kiss, only to hear the woman next door scoff at them as she’s handing her young beer swilling daughter an automatic rifle.

It isn’t only scoffing neighbors Matt will have to worry about on date night, however.  His serial killing parents are getting older and just not able to finish a job like they used to be.  So, when they call him in the middle of dinner, he has to leave Adam to help them clean up a mess they’ve made in a local ultra-conservative bar full of war-glorifying, gay hating douchebags.  What follows is a throat slashing extravaganza under multi-hued club lights that would make Sweeney Todd proud.

I asked Klein if he’d had any negative responses from audiences with a scene that could easily be seen as mirroring the tragic shooting at Pulse in Florida last year, and he said that remarkably there had been none of that.

“I think because I flipped it, because it’s these uber-Republicans with signs in the club that read “WAR!!” and “Kill the Gays!!” that they see what I’m doing with it and they respect it.  Honestly, I’ve had more people ask me why I didn’t have more blood in that scene!”

When his parents come in to help him clean up the bodies, he makes his excuses to get back to his date, switching pronouns from “he” to “she”, still hiding the fact that he’s gay.  As he leaves the club, his obviously proud parents watch him go with beaming smiles and turning to each other the father remarks that he loves his gay son.

“I think that’s what happens with a lot of people nowadays,” the writer/director laughs.  “I made a documentary about how I’d rather jump out of a plane and skydive than tell my parents I’m gay, and the thing this most of the time, they already know and they’re just waiting for you to tell them.”

Matt heads back to Adam and as they finish up their date night with a little pillow talk, he apologizes for having to leave earlier.  It’s at this point that my favorite revelation of the film comes through and it’s so good I refuse to tell you about it.  This is one little twist you have to see for yourself!

Klein presents a world that is both absurd and real in “Demons”.  The satire is worthy of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” and equally as satisfying in its measured lesson on the absurdities of anti-gay sentiments.

Javan Nelson turns in s a charming performance as Matt.  He fully inhabits the transition from a young man who just might be falling in love to feral serial killer, and manages to do it with a Puckish grin that will melt your heart.

FilmOut San Diego will present “Demons” alongside four other horror shorts June 10, 2017  beginning at 10 pm.  For ticket information, visit the festival website!

DEMONS Trailer from Jesse Klein on Vimeo.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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