This one falls into that darker corner of gay cinema. There was real potential buried in here, but the execution feels so flat that at points it plays out more like a filmed stage play than an actual movie. It's a dark psychological drama built around a street hustler confessing to a brutal, confusing murder of his own lover. Black and white flashback sequences do a solid job laying out the details of what happened, but the real focus stays on the dialogue and the writing itself. Right at the start, a young hustler has already killed his male lover Claude. Three days go by before he calls the police to turn himself in for the murder. But instead of just reporting it somewhere ordinary, he actually summons the police and the local press directly into a judge's private chambers. Yves has keys to the place, which tracks given what he does for a living, but having the press waiting right outside makes the whole scene look like some elaborate blackmail scheme against the judge. The ...
Roderick throws a masquerade ball inside a creepy mansion with a dark past. An infamous mass-murder happened there fifty years ago to the night, but that's part of the fun for the posh hotties who show up for some boozy partying. 2 of his friends show up early to prepare for the ball but they get murdered by a man wearing Raven mask. He finds out hat one of his arch nemesis David is also going to attend the ball. Very few guys show up and they start getting murdered one by one in badly executed scenarios and murders. We are later told that during the college days Roderick was a shy but rich kid who was befriended by a farmer's son David, whose aim to get rich. He dumps Roderick as soon as he finds another rich boy. But Roderick gets better and makes fun of David. They both think they have moved on. But apparently no one has forgotten the joke and this masquerade party is probably to take revenge. The killer's identity is as lame as the whole reasoning behind this murder mystery atrocity.
Absolutely nothing at all about this film is good. The characters are all so unlikeable, their dialogue so banal and boring, that when the killer starts picking them off, you wonder what took him so long. Then there is this girl who has nothing to add to the whole party mix. There are 3 different sex scenes which clearly have been added for extra attention but despite that there is not even proper skin show. The acting is bad, and the direction is horrible. Also, for an American-Canadian film, I am not sure why the actors were talking in a mish-mash of British/Australian accent. It was so bizzare.
Absolutely stay away from this film and don't even attempt to watch the film. You will only be wasting your precious 90 minutes. (1/10)
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