CRUISING (1980)
Ten years after he made the ostracised The Boys In The Band, William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, made the equally maligned Cruising. But like Basic Instinct and The Silence of the Lambs, Cruising is a movie that was turned into a gay rights object by misguided, panic-button gay activists, not by its content.


DAHMER (2003)
Everyone’s pretty familiar with the basic story of Jeffrey Dahmer, the Milwaukee serial killer who lured 17 young men to his home, drugged them then poured muriatic acid into holes he’d drilled in their skulls, ate parts of their bodies, had sex with their corpses, then boiled their heads and stored them in his refrigerator. A Gay Public Relations Department nightmare, Dahmer served two years of a 936-year sentence before a fellow inmate bashed him to death with a broom handle on November 28, 1994 (at 9.11 am, incidentally).

HARD (1998)
Raymond Vates (Noel Palomaria) is a secretly gay, Latino cop who’s recently been promoted to Detective. Vates is happy to keep his work and private life separate until he gets involved with a man he doesn’t realise is the gay serial killer he and his partner are hunting.

HELLBENT (2005)
Slasher flicks with a gay ensemble, marketed towards gay audiences, are new and, in my opinion, quite overdue, but this example is so self-aware and tongue-in-cheek that any generation of horror or suspense is impossible and so apart from a chain of victims getting cut into pieces by a deranged killer, HellBent is more novelty piece - comedy, than slasher.

OCTOBER MOON (2006)
Though October Moon's website talks of the heroics of a rushed, no-budget production and includes review excerpts that praise the movie as enterprising and unexpected, October Moon isn't special enough to rise above its low-rent origins.

ROHTENBURG (GRIMM LOVE) (2006)
Russell's fan base, played to by Katie's 90210 gumshoe smarts, would have absolutely no interest in this grimy tale of gay psycho love. It really is impossible to work out what she's doing in the film.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
Hoping to advance her career and put her own demons to rest, Clarice embarks on a fascinating quasi-romantic relationship with Dr. Lecter, who in turn revels in exploring and exploiting Clarice’s brittle psyche. Clarice also battles her superior, Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn), and, eventually, “Buffalo Bill” himself, Jame Gumb (Ted Levine) in a thrilling pre-finale.

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