Recently, I reviewed a film by a cult director who has switched gears and taken on the world of homo-erotic horror-comedies. His films are…absolutely dreadful. This got me thinking – there isn’t a good presentation of gay horror cinema in the mainstream press, so that chunk of the horror society (see what I just did there?) aren’t having their needs met. With that in mind, I purchased a movie from 2011 titled Bite Marks in hopes of providing good material to the LGBT demographic who visit this website.
Bite Marks is written and directed by Mark Bessenger. Cast members appearing in this film include Benjamin Lutz, Windham Beacham, David Alanson Bradberry, Krystal Main, Racheal Rivera, John Werskey, Jon Gale, and Stephen Geoffreys (Fright Night, 976-Evil) as Walsh.
“When Brewster’s older brother goes missing, he must take over a cross-country delivery of coffins to a funeral home. Attempting to stay awake, Brewster picks up Cary and Vogel, a hitchhiking gay couple trying to mend their relationship. Their GPS misleads them into an abandoned junkyard where the truck breaks down, and when night falls, the coffins reveal vampires! Hungry ones! Can they survive the bloodsucking undead until dawn?”
The first thing I want to get across is that although Bite Marks is a gay horror-comedy, it never goes out of its way to define itself as such and doesn’t try to shove the debate of sexuality…down your throat. Only two characters in the entire feature are gay – three if you count the bisexual truck driver – and, aside from the introduction to the couple, nothing is ever about being gay. Let’s say, for instance, that you make the three leads straight men, you’d still end up with exact same movie except you’d be left without two minor sex scenes. I think this is important for two reasons. A) it doesn’t lend itself to typical gay stereotypes and B) it widens the movie to a slightly larger audience. This makes way for a story focused on comedy and the struggle against vampires and less about the characters’ sexualities.
Speaking of vampires, it was nice to see Mark Bessenger’s version of the blood suckers. The vampires within Bite Marks have fangs and hate sunlight and crosses, but they’re a little different in other ways. For one, they have a special glamorizing power that can cause their future victims to see them in a completely changed way, almost like an illusion. Secondly, they don’t have super speed or super human strength, but their hypnotic power to weaken their foes mentally more than makes up for that. Also, coming up with the idea that vampires can’t touch anything with holy objects on it is innovative, as is coming up with the idea that drinking holy water will turn your pee into holy water which you can then spray onto the undead. Yeah, that happened! And it was cool to see Stephen Geoffrey’s do another vampire movie – his previous being Fright Night – after so many years.
While the movie isn’t the least bit scary, it does make up for it in a variety of other ways. I’ll start with the acting. Everyone, especially for being relatively unknown, pull in amazingly professional performances. From the truck stop waitress to the doomed trucker, all of the cast members went out of their way to bring their silly little characters to life. The comedic undertones in this movie are sly and subtle, but they’re definitely here… and qu-never mind. As with the mannerisms and personalities of the lead couple, Bite Marks could have taken this movie in the complete opposite direction and it would have been a train wreck. The funny moments are strategically placed, timed well, and aren’t overbearing or trying too hard to be funny. Finally, although there are some minor glitches, this movie has a high production quality that will set it above other titles in its category. You can tell a lot of work went into making this title the best it could be.
Good acting. Great special effects. A funny story. Coffins and vampires. And journeys of self discover. Bite Marks is a must see for any man (or woman) looking for a good gay-based horror-comedy. Final Score: 7/10.
