Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...
A stranger and a drifter picks up a teenage boy who is in town in hope to become an actor. Conversations soon turn sexual and soon Jack takes a turn, rapes and murders the kid. Detective Vates and his partner are assigned to investigate the case. Vates is a closet gay guy. When another body is found, the two are canvassing the neighborhood, and Vates goes into a gay bar and meets Jack showing him pics. Jack catches on his closet case, invites him for a drink the next night an; they end up in bed together. Jack then ties Vate to bed, steals his badge, and dares Raymond to find him. Jack, is meanwhile in some sort of weird relationship with another guy who works as a security guard (married and in closet), but all his victims are teenagers and young boys. As the bodies keep piling up, one of the bodies has Vates's stolen badge in it. He soon becomes the prime suspect and in the process is outed at work to save himself. Finally the duo detectives manage to find the location of Jack because he continues to taunt Vates to find him and in a brutal finale and just when they think they will catch him, they find a body who has shot himself, who is thought to be the killer Jack. The ending one minute of the film begs to differ and jack has now moved on to another place.
The premise seems very inspired by the fanboys film 'Cruising' but its different. The film was probably Mae a very very low budget which can be felt with its production quality. The serial killer's motive is severe internalized homophobia. On the outside, he doesn't seem to have a problem with being gay, but he can't stand that American society treats Queer youth as disposable. So instead of doing something to change this, he disposes of the kids himself to save them from the abuse they'll face throughout their lives. Yeah, it is pretty ridiculous, especially considering he tortures his victims, many of which aren't even Queer youth. Related to this, but explored much more satisfactorily, the film portrays how difficult it is to be a gay cop, and the extreme homophobia that goes on in police departments. Much of the tension and suspense in this film, interestingly enough, comes from whether or not the lead character is going to out himself or be outed. Once he finally is, he is subjected to hatred and violence from his coworkers. Acting by the lead characters is strictly ok. Jack is good but the intensity and gravitas required by a cop is missing in actor playing Vates. If I leave behind the political incorrectness, the film was decent one time watch. It won't be memorable in your mind, but its not boring either. A decent timepass. (4/10)
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