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Reviews
The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008)
unrelentingly homophobic
If you are gay / queer or gay-friendly, be warned that this movie trots out just about every nasty anti-gay stereotype, and then has the gall to dedicate the film to their gay casting director who produced "Trevor", the Oscar-winning short film about a gay kid dealing with homophobia. They should honor his memory by removing his name from this film: it represents just about everything he fought against.
Evil in this movie is directly and unambiguously related to same-sex attraction, and good to opposite-sex attraction... over and over again. Plus we get the tired and insulting conflation of pedophilia and homosexuality constantly repeated.
The writers and directors should be seriously ashamed of themselves for making this film in 2008.
It is especially disappointing that the first and only depictions of gay folks by these writers and directors be this unrelentingly negative. If over the last 20 years they had shown something, anything positive (or even neutral), a case for balance might be made.
If depictions of gay people as evil don't bother you, and you are a real X-Files fan, then enjoy. But if they do, then be warned, you are in for a very unpleasant evening.
In the Blood (2006)
The Unfortunate Usual "Surprise Ending"
Why, Oh Why? Why do writers / directors feel obliged to kill off gay characters for no reason in the last 10 minutes of a film? In this case, it did not advance the story, it did not create any kind of interesting plot twist, it did not do anything except make sure that the audience knew that the main character was punished for being gay. Nothing foreshadowed this ending in the film, it was just bad, bad writing.
Note to directors: Killing off the gay character in the last ten minutes of the film is no longer a surprise ending; it is now officially a tired, overused and offensive cliché which any competent director or writer will avoid.
In this case, it is even more unfortunate: he is the protagonist. I was left shaking my head in sadness and disgust. It is really too bad. Otherwise this was great stylish indie movie, with a solid little cast, and great use of locations, good pacing and music, and fun use of lots of horror themes and tropes. It was also competently shot and recorded. If you want to watch a decent indie horror movie, watch it until our hero runs into the gym to save his sister. Then turn it off, and make up your own ending. Otherwise you are going to watch a train wreck.
Don't watch the last 10 minutes unless you are the kind of sick puppy who gets their rocks off seeing gay people killed for no reason.
Hamam (1997)
'Surprise tragic ending'
The first 90% of this movie is an interesting and even thoughtful examination of an Italian yuppie who finds himself in a typical neighbourhood in Istanbul, and has to re-examine his life and the choices he's made.
Unfortunately, this movie is the most egregious example of the now-trite 'surprise tragic ending' that some straight filmmakers seem to feel obliged to do whenever they have a gay character. It comes out of nowhere. All of the sudden, the last few minutes of the film are about the guy's wife, who nonetheless learns a valuable After-school Special style lesson about life. Yoiks.