7/14/2023 0 Comments Spiral horror![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Director Kurtis David Harder manages to perfectly portray the foreboding feelings of loneliness and alienation that many members of the queer community still experience to this day and the film is at its best when it explores those aspects of its characters. From that moment on, the film never lets up, with the tense, cringe-inducing awkwardness experienced by its characters – who are not only moving into a new town as strangers but also as gay men during the height of the AIDS pandemic – slowly souring into something more sinister as the film progresses. Spiral starts off with a literal bang as Malik, Aaron and Kayla, driving their way into town, are caught off-guard by a blunt object that strikes their car, leaving a spiral-shaped crack on the windshield. But appearances can be deceiving, and Malik, who is haunted by visions of an ex-boyfriend’s tragic death, suddenly finds himself a victim of a series of seemingly homophobic hate crimes that he suspects is part of a larger plot to drive him and his family out of town. At first, things seem to be going smoothly – Aaron has managed to find a proper job, and Malik has plenty of time and space to work on his new book. Spiral centers on Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) and Aaron (Ari Cohen), a couple who, along with their 16-year-old daughter Kayla (Jennifer Laporte), move to a suburban small town in the mid-90s in search for a better quality of life and a peaceful environment in which they can raise Kayla with the best social values. Spiral, the latest from director Kurtis David Harder and writers Colin Minihan (who also co-wrote the aforementioned What Keeps You Alive) and John Poliquin, attempts to right this wrong and in the process, becomes one of the most unapologetically queer horror films in recent memory. Some films such as 2014’s Lyle and 2018’s What Keeps You Alive portrayed the LGBTQ+ community in a more concise (and positive) manger but they largely flew under the radar in a market dominated with more conventional horror films. Movies such as 1955’s Les Diaboliques, 1987’s The Lost Boys and most famously, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge are filled to the brim with so much queer subtext that it’s a wonder that these films managed to camouflage them for as long as they did. Many filmmakers have chosen to depict queerness in their films in a strictly subtextual and codified manner. One specific community, though, ripe with its own plethora of real-life horrors and social anxieties, has surprisingly not been explored within the genre, at least not as frequently or transparently as many others. From films such as Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, where a mother’s bout with grief manifested itself as a monster slithering out of the pages of her son’s favorite book, to Jordan Peele’s Get Out, which successfully managed to portray the hidden, insidious nature of liberal racism, contemporary horror movies have managed to tap into our very real concerns and insecurities, transforming them into effective and largely successful horror films. From reflecting our ills and anxieties to portraying them as monstrous and vicious manifestations, horror filmmakers have long held up a mirror to society in an effort to explore our deepest and darkest fears. The horror genre has always been rooted in reality. Phoebe Fisher will reportedly write the screenplay, based on a previous draft by Collins and Melissa Broder. Meanwhile, Gomez will star in Spiral as “a former influencer whose addiction to social media is causing her body to literally fall apart.” Which, to be fair to our Black Mirror existence, isn’t that different from what happens to your knees anytime you try to learn a new TikTok dance.“An enjoyable, if reductive queer horror film with a strong lead performance at its center.” Per Deadline, the film, to be directed by Petra Collins, is reportedly seeking a home on streaming. ![]() The news comes after Gomez finished shooting her Hulu series Only Murders in the Building earlier this month, which stars the singer as true crime aficionado Mabel who, alongside Steve Martin’s Charles and Martin Short’s Oliver, finds herself caught up in solving, presumably, a murder in their building. According to Deadline, the Rare singer has joined the upcoming body-horror movie Spiral, which will be executive-produced by Drake and his Euphoria co-EP Adel Nur. You might already live in fear that Instagram has destroyed our relationship with our unfiltered faces, and TikTok our relationship with dancing below the waist, but Selena Gomez’s latest project is about to take your social media terror viral. Photo: Kurt Krieger - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images ![]()
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