Occasionally, a film pops up on my radar, and I’m stupefied that I haven’t seen it before. Part of me is bummed it took me this long to catch Hellbent, while the other part of me is glad I waited this long to watch it. Never before have I been so engrossed in a movie where, seemingly, there is no plot. In our current times of high-concept elevated horror, it’s refreshing to come across something so plain…yet so entertaining. Calling Hellbent plain is almost a disservice. It’s a brutally empty, genre-flipping, slice of life that could only be conceived by a select group of people in a specific time and place.
A Night of Terror in West Hollywood
Hellbent follows a group of friends, Eddie (Dylan Fergus), Jake (Bryan Kirkwood), Joey (Hank Harris), and Chaz (Andrew Levitas), as they head out for an exciting, and hopefully sexy, night at the West Hollywood Halloween Circus. The night before the four friends’ foray into fear, a gay couple is murdered in their car by a devil-masked individual, prompting some concern within the gay community. This doesn’t stop Eddie and his friends from partying the night away. Once the house music starts, the heads will roll. Will Eddie and his friends survive this real-life Hollywood horror night?
There are so many fascinating elements to Hellbent, but the killer is the most intriguing. The mask never comes off, and he never speaks; his only goal is to up his body count. Hell, we don’t even know what his motive is. All we know is that he’s ripped and on a mission. It’s unclear if this film is telling a larger story, but if AHS: NYC made anything abundantly clear, it’s that a quiet leather-clad hunky killer is usually a symbol for AIDS. To me, the hulking figure symbolizes a quiet killer, one that lurks in the background and dispatches people without regard for social or financial status.
Paul Etheredge-Ouzts’ Unique Vision
Writer/director Paul Etheredge-Ouzts utilizes these tragic characters to flip genre conventions on its head. Gone are the debutantes killed for premarital sex, or the rich jock who is gut-stabbed for smoking a marijuana cigarette. Etheredge-Ouzts creates characters who are lured into their deaths on their own accords, thrust into a nightmare that doesn’t demonize their lifestyles, but brings sympathy to their carelessness.
Paul Etheredge-Ouzts ditches the idea of an over-written plot for a simple story with a highly effective outcome. Two of the film’s most visually stunning moments should be discussed. The first incredible imagery we get is that of Eddie and his fake eye. At one point, the killer gently places the sharp edge of a sickle directly up to Eddie’s glass eye, and it’s horrific to watch. Well, if you have ommetaphobia like me, it is.
The other visually stunning element of Hellbent shows just how effective and important editing is in film. It makes the shower scene in Psycho look like film school fodder. At one point, Chaz finds himself separated from his friend group and is rolling his ass off on the dance floor. Flashing strobe lights, and incredible music, enhance Chaz’s euphoric vibe, which makes him lack any self-awareness. Chaz gets attacked by the masked killer while on the dance floor, but it’s told through incredibly specific edits and implication. As someone who has watched way too many slasher films, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kill as effective as this one.
Why Hellbent Stands Out in the Slasher Genre
Hellbent is an underappreciated powerhouse of a film that puts it all out there. If you need a complex and ambiguous film to get your rocks off, Hellbent won’t do it for you. But if you’re in the mood for senseless violence, where the killer and his motive are never revealed, with some stellar kills, then this film is perfect for you.
Sometimes, the best head is a decapitated one.
