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OF
“SKULL
&
Bones,”
T.S.
Slaughter’s
shocker
of
a
film,
bring
up
many
interesting
things.
One
reviewer
hails
it
as
the
most
brilliant
film
since
John
Waters’
“Pink
Flamingos”
(1974).
Another
says
he
had
to
“shower
the
filth”
off
of
himself
after
watching
it.
Both
reviewers
are
gay.What
is
it
about
the
film
that
could
elicit
such
strong
and
diametrically
opposed
opinions?
“I’m
ready
to
kick
some
ass,”
says
the
openly
gay
Slaughter.
“Why
does
gay
cinema
always
have
to
be
the
same
old
coming
out
or
HIV
stories
over
and
over?
Or
vapid
romantic
comedies?
We
need
a
gay
Rambo!”
In
“Skull
&
Bones,”
Slaughter
shows
that
he
means
business.
His
tale
of
Nathan
(Derrick
Wolf)
and
Justin
(Michael
Burke)
is
a
shocker.
They're
best
friends
and
sex
buddies,
living
in
squalor
in
New
Haven,
CT.
Recently,
their
sex
hasn’t
been
great.
“What
do
we
have
to
look
forward
to?”
wonders
Justin.
“Crap
degrees,
crap
jobs,
crap
relationships.”
“Yeah,”
says
Nathan.
"School
sucks.
Work
sucks.
Life
sucks.
Now,
sex
sucks
too.”
After
declaring
his
love
for
“really
twisted
horror
movies,”
Nathan
concocts
a
plan
that
will
no
doubt
shock
many
viewers.
One
by
one,
they
kidnap
the
handsome,
straight
jocks
who
have
been
taunting
them
at
school.
One
by
one,
each
of
the
hunky
dudes
is
drugged,
raped
and
murdered.
These
scenes
are
disturbingly
graphic,
and
admittedly
not
for
all
tastes.
Yet
Slaughter,
whose
own
love
for
the
horror
genre
runs
deep,
knows
how
to
hit
the
right
notes
and
make
it
all
strangely
palatable.
Wolfe,
a
stage-trained
actor,
and
Burke,
a
performance
artist
in
New
York
City,
play
their
roles
with
an
evenly
combined
mix
of
intense
psychosis
and
self-aware
camp.
As
their
victims
die,
they
laugh
maniacally.
You
can
almost
see
them
rolling
their
eyes
at
each
other.
They
seem
to
be
saying,
“Relax!
It's
only
a
movie!”
Were
you
the
“school
fag”?
Were
you
told
that
you
didn't
belong?
Are
you
tired
of
the
right-wing
attacks
that
are
still
inflicted
on
the
gay
community?
Have
you
ever
had
revenge
fantasies
about
the
right
wing?
If
yes,
then
“Skull
&
Bones”
might
be
a
cathartic
film
for
you.
“Look,
the
Christian
Right
is
going
to
hate
us
no
matter
what
we
do,”
muses
Slaughter.
“So
why
should
we
behave?”
Slaughter
makes
no
apologies
for
the
films
he
prefers
to
watch:
“Hostel,”
“Saw,”
the
George
Romero
zombie
films,
etc.
His
partner
shares
his
love
of
this
genre.
They
know
they're
not
alone,
that
not
all
gay
men
want
to
watch
old
MGM
musicals.
When
he
set
out
to
be
a
filmmaker,
Slaughter
decided
it
was
time
to
reach
out
to
that
untapped
market.
Not
surprisingly,
the
extreme,
mixed
reactions
to
the
ultra-violent
“Skull
&
Bones”
continue.
A
number
of
distributors
have
refused
to
touch
it.
It’s
been
shut
out
of
most
LGBT
film
festivals.
Yet
Slaughter
reports
that
mail
order
sales
have
been
brisk
at
the
film’s
website.
W
hile
many
people
would
argue
that
peace,
love
and
education
are
the
answers
to
anti-gay
violence,
not
violent
revenge
fantasies,
there
is
clearly
a
market
for
films
like
“Skull
&
Bones.”
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