The past decade of mainstream horror has been noticeably remiss of slashers. There have been a few intermittently released, but overall the genre’s been dominated by supernatural melodramas that are heavy on jumpscares and character development while being minimal on the gore.
From its establishing shots of a partially obscured man opening up Poundr, a parody of the actual dating app Grindr, to its first kill a mere three minutes in, directors Michael J. Ahern and Christopher Dalpe assure that Death Drop Gorgeous is neither a melodrama, nor light on the blood and guts. The directors themselves refer to it as “…inspired by the irreverence of John Waters and the psychedelia of Dario Argento,” which is a description well-earned. It’s a gore-filled romp through the directors’ hometown club scene serving as both a murder mystery and an offbeat, sickening comedy.
In a word, Death Drop Gorgeous is “camp”. Every element is over-the-top to a farcical degree. The whole main cast, most of whom are either drag queens from the actual Providence drag scene or first time actors, play their roles with off-the-walls levels of energy. Each queen has a distinct personality from the Marilyn Manson-esque Tragedi (Complete Destruction) to the foils of the bratty new star Janet Fitness and the aging has-been Gloria Hole (Michael McAdam). The interactions between the club owner Tony Two Fingers (Brandon Perras), his leather-clad Pup (Ryan Miller), and the queens provide the raunchy John Waters-style comedy in abundance.
The leading man Dwayne (Wayne Gonsalves) is a dejected bartender recently dumped by his boyfriend seeking solace in his old stomping grounds of Providence’s small club scene and his best friend Brian (Christopher Dalpe). The duo’s dynamic and banter is reminiscent of Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova of the UnnHHH web series. As soon as Dwayne returns, a wave of grisly deaths hits the small club he bartends and the queens perform at; and of course, in true nouveau-Giallo fashion, the deaths are messy. Like penis through a meat grinder levels of messy, which is reminiscent of another queer Giallo throwback Knife+Heart. The Argento influence runs deep in the neon-drenched dance scenes and the plentiful spurting blood of each of the killer’s victims.
However, behind the stage lights, blood, and guts is a real discussion about issues in gay hookup culture. A pervasive theme throughout the film is prejudices disguised as preferences, be it dating, jobs, or friendships. The most outright example happens in the first big drag show where Brian and Dwayne are both mocked by Brian’s potential Poundr hookup: the former for being too effeminate and the latter for being Black. This mirrors the real phenomenon on Grindr that sees people put their “preferences”, typically in beyond derogatory terms (no fats, no fems etc.); it wasn’t until this year that Grindr removed its race filter setting that allowed people to automatically remove potential matches of a certain race. In addition, Gloria Hole’s near blacklisting from the local drag scene because she’s no longer seen as a hot commodity emulates how older people in the LGBTQ community are looked over and ignored. It’s a commentary on how certain qualities are fetishized while others are seen as undesirable and those considered undesirable are scorned.
Death Drop Gorgeous knows exactly what it is: an ultra low-budget campy slasher. That’s what makes it so refreshing. It’s fun, it’s engaging, and it even squeezes relevant social commentary between its insanely well-choreographed deaths and drag performances. While the microbudget is glaringly obvious and the acting occasionally less than subpar, the final product is a fun throwback to early slashers, interwoven with pertinent and relevant issues in the LGBTQ community.
