Body horror is in some ways marred by its typical conventions, but more often than not, by supernatural circumstances. The preeminent examples of the genre are special effects driven spectacles about gory or absurd things happening to unfortunate characters and their even more unfortunate physical forms. Such as Hellraiser, Society, or The Thing, something detached from reality where flesh is horribly deformed or sculpted into something beyond recognition. And you cannot find me complaining about that, I will forever praise those movies for their technical achievements and effectiveness. But some of the best body horror is the uncomfortably realistic horror, not monsters from beyond space and between realms, but agonizingly real physical experiences, with agonizing emotions behind them sold by the actors portraying it. Swallowed is one of those experiences.
A Dangerous Send Off
For Ben, it’s the final night in his dreary hometown; he’s moving to Hollywood, not to be your typical actor, but to become an adult film star. For Dom, feelings torn by his love for Ben, it’s the last big outing in a small place with his best friend. In a ploy to give Ben a going away present and set him up with cash for the big move, Dom attempts to smuggle a package of drugs across the Canadian border.
At the pickup however, Ben ends up roped into carrying the drugs as well after being held at gunpoint. What they end up swallowing isn’t your typical fix, and the contents of the packages they carry put both of their lives in danger.
Carter Smith’s Directorial Evolution
Looking back on Swallowed doesn’t show Smith’s rapid growth as a director, but just a completely different vibe altogether; the aesthetic qualities here are reminiscent of Jeremy Saulnier’s directing above all else, rather than a less developed iteration of the directing skills he would show off in The Passenger. It’s intimate and romantic in some respects, but also grimy and tense at the same time; it can dial between calm and panicked with the smoothest of transitions.
Naturalistic lighting abounds with a muted color palette and cool tones that cast a shade of visually communicated misfortune for our characters. And by the time it’s over, there is a lingering emotional exhaustion from it crawling through your optic nerves that takes a bit to settle down.
Cinematography and Visual Style
Jena Malone’s acidic acting as the slimy drug dealer underling Alice is nothing to scoff at either, as she delivers a pretty biting aura to the screen in her skittish movements and scattered angry insults. Her conflict with Ben and Dom is very believable on a regrettably familiar level, portraying in earnest the films’ themes of an uncaring society that often turns its nose up in disgust at not just gay men, but gay sex workers in particular.
Mark Patton’s Memorable Role
He’s sinister and truly lecherous in every letter of the word, deranged in how normally he treats his own cruelty as a passing quirk of the job. His complete dissociation with the harm he’s doing as he carves away at bits of Ben’s dignity and security is infuriating and effective.
Pacing and Structural Flaws
The ending stutters and deflates some of the emotional charge it built up, with the last two scenes feeling like they should have been completely reversed in order, as the penultimate one is by far more effective as a final shot than the big and clumsily depicted moment of revenge we get before the title card.
Ultimately, it’s the addition of issues like these that make this movie hard for me to outright love, but it’s impossible for me to say I dislike it either. With Smith delivering a disquieting experience in what was very clearly a passion project in trying to disturb the viewer, Swallowed ends up being every bit as tactile as its name would suggest.