The Latent Image (2022) | Hot Dangerous Men with Knives

Cinephobia Releasing will begin the North American Premiere on September 7th.

This Viewing was part of a Press Screening. 

New to this blog is Cinephobia Releasing. A nascent distribution company focusing on LGBTQ and Genre films from here and abroad. From there Website. "The label is admittedly schizophrenic: offering both controversial, often sexually provocative dramas, edgy thrillers and uncompromising horror while also showcasing some of the best LGBTQ+ romances and dramas.". As your resident pervert and queer that is entirely up my alley. Today's Review is on The Latent Image, CR first Queer Horror film. The LATENT IMAGE is set to screen in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 7 at the Lumiere Music Hall. Through if you can't make it to the screening there will be a later online screening for the Fargo-Moorhead LGBT Film Festival which will be shown on the 16th. The Latent Image is directed by Alexander McGregor Birrell and stars Joshua Tonks (Ben) and Jay Clift (The Man). 

The Latent Image has been a film a long time coming. Birrell's first cinematic release was part of Sleepaway Slasher, a deeply odd film created by Dave Franco's Acting/Film School Studio 4, It had 12 Directors and 6 Screen writers and as you can imagine leaves a lot to be desired in terms of actually showing off its directors skills. Theres a lot lost in the shuffle. Birrell however got a fresh start from that clusterfuck with his short film which premiered on Dekoo, a streaming service focusing on queer films and TV shows, and also appears to at some point been currated by Mubi. I unfortunely have not been able to see the original short but from what little press I've been able to find about it, (I rather enjoyed this podcast episode), it seems to be well regarded. Which leaves us with Birrell first true feature length film. The Latent Image. 

Simply put this film is about a writer holed up in his cabin in the woods toiling along until a strange sexy drifter crashes on his couch. It's a bit like if Hush(2016) and B&B(2017) smoked a joint with David Decoteau. What I'm saying is that this movie isn't the most reliable of a narrator and is kinda horny. 

Well as the pervert I am lets focus on that aspect for a second. If you're like me and watch a lot of movies made by extremly gay men you may notice that certain filmmakers like Joe Gage or Decoteau have a type a filmic language of fetishtization and Birrell is no different. He likes his men in tight little briefs and honestly I'm not disagreeing. If you're a horror buff we don't really need to talk about the role of sex in horror. The slasher genre in particular is partial to eye-candy and we are used to women being shown through this male-gaze. As tittilation, as spectacle. Birrell uses this same kind of filmic language on our male characters utilizing this queer lens and it's rather refreshing. I unfortunely don't get to watch a lot of queer horror. The eye-candy is not the only aspect of the erotic within the work. The film plays around with the identity and sexuality of the killer throughout. Bringing an almost cruising type ethos to the dynamic. Simply put this is an erotic thriller as well as a horror movie.

The other aspect of tension besides our writers horny fantasies is this fear of violence from straight men. It plays into a turning point in the film and overall while it isn't the main focus on the movie I feel that any gay man especially when he interacts with a presumed "Straight" man. that is a man who is masculine, agressive, and butch, would recognize that anxiety. 

I will say that the central tension of the film is incredible strong up to the last third. Giving the fact that this is a horror story about a man writing a story that mirrors what is happening on screen you can imagine there is some meta fakeout type storyline to be had. Some crossings of reality. Some mixing up of timelines and events. Brechtian elements in a work aren't always an issue. I recently watched Radley Mertzger's fantastic Lickerish Quartet (1970) which incorporates similar elements to great effect. But as the current film stands my feelings torwards the last 20 minutes or so mirror my feelings torwards Blood Red Ox (2021). That the layers of unreality begin to unmoor themselves from the stakes of the work. Its not an issue that destroys the film for me by any means. I enjoyed the film regardless of were the narrative was at but going in do know that it is something to contend with. 

I've been making a point of watching films a second time while writing out my full length reviews and this can be rather helpful for noticing things like acting, cinematography, small little aspects that I've missed. TLI has a rather small cast, truthfully there are only two characters but Tonks and Clift manage to fill the space as needed. Clift, who plays The Stranger, manages to be a more stronger character within the work, acting as this wild and chaotic force. Also small note. A lot of the promotional material makes him appear to look like Tommy Wiseau which isn't my cup of tea but filmgoers and fellow perverts should know that he comes off more like a scruffy Matthew Gray Gubler. A little more conventional attractive to gay men in my humble homo opinion. Overall the main enjoyment of the film besides hot men not wearing shirts is the chemistry between the two leads the type of knife-point eroticism between danger and tittilation. Once again horny film. 

I feel that I should also spend some time discussing the production of the film. That's what people read movie reviews for right? My opinions on gaffing? Well I always like to bring it up in my reviews. A lot of times people forget how much subtle craft goes into things like camerawork, sound design, set design  so on and so forth. I want to focus on the lighting for a second. As background research I watched the other feature film that Birrell was credited in the aforementioned Sleepaway Slasher. Its an odd duck to say the least but one of my more glaring critiques was lack of proper lighting. It's not a criticism on Birrell but rather a recognition that poor production can mare otherwise competant aspects of filming. That movies are a culmination of various crafts. This is to say the lighting in this movie is rather lovely. There's this subtle use of neons and fairy lights in the interior scenes, the outdoor night scenes are lit visible, (that's a big ask in today's modern climate), and there's these subtle moments of lighting that I just rather enjoy. The sound and set design are well done and overall the various aspects of the film design are subtle and competant. The filmmaking is dynamic but not showy and Birrell does try to put a few flourishes on the standard filmmaking ethos, (notable the projector scene and the split-diopter shots, there not original by any means but I still love to see them), but overall this film is made primarily to focus on the dynamic between the two leads. It shows that Birrell is capable of making a high-polished film without gilding the lily.

At the End of the Day, The Latent Image is a queer erotic horror film in the vein of David Decoteau. While the last third takes a bit of a left turn if you love homoeroticism, suspense, and hot dangerous men with knives then its a good film to take a stab at. 

Rating: Popcorn Film.