For reasons too complex to delve into here, horror as a genre has proved an adaptable vehicle for marginalised groups to explore the tensions between mainstream society and its discontents. So there has been a wave of female-centric horror films made by women, a renaissance in horror focusing on race thanks to Jordan Peele and others, and all kinds of scary films addressing ethnic identity by directors far and wide.
Swallowed, a very low-budget sci-fi/body horror with an out-and-proud gay angle, may prompt viewers to wonder why there aren’t more queer-themed horror flicks. The Hunger (1983) and Ginger Snaps (2000) spring to mind, but it seems as if the pickings are distinctly slimmer than in other areas.
Given that novelty, it would be great if Swallowed could be recommended with more enthusiasm. Alas, while there are a few fine elements, such as Cooper Koch’s lead performance, the script by director Carter Smith is too undernourished, so that after a strong opening act, the film loses momentum. The setup establishes that Koch’s Ben, a comely young chap at ease with his gay identity, is planning to leave the small Maine town where he has lived for years and seek his fortune in Los Angeles by pursuing a career in gay porn. On his last night, he parties with his dearest friend, Dom (Jose Colon), a straight guy who loves Ben in a profoundly platonic way (much to the chagrin of Ben, who has clearly always been in love with him).
But Dom is a also bit of a screw-up and, through a mix of poor judgment and timing, he and Ben end up being coerced by Alice (Jena Malone), a gun-toting hard girl, into swallowing some dodgy-looking parcels that they assume are portions of heroin or cocaine inside condoms, for smuggling purposes. Turns out that the little slug-like thingies the boys swallow are not conventional drugs but living bugs that have aphrodisiac properties if harvested correctly, but which cause grave harm if they hatch while inside the couriers’ bodies. It all leads to some icky sequences where Dom and Ben either try to poop out the bugs or fish them out of each other’s orifices with greased-up fingers.
Smith is definitely on to something with his exploration of sadistic power dynamics and unrequited desire. But where a viewer might expect a few more layers of symbolism and subtext to enrich the film, it turns out there’s not really anything here other than a juvenile desire to shock and scandalise.
• Swallowed is released on 24 April on digital platforms.
