By T. Von D.
There’s nothing I enjoy more than sinking into a dark theater on a Sunday afternoon to watch something weird and twisted — and Roxie Theater always has something that fits the bill.
My editor recommended Death Drop Gorgeous I think just because it looked fun; it came out a few years ago and only played the once at Roxie this Sunday, but maybe that’s for the best. Its rough edges and uneven pacing make it more of a niche curiosity than a lasting classic, plus it was just too chaotic. You can watch it free now on Tubi and Prime — but here are my takeaways in case you want to save a couple hours:
It’s a pretty simple setup: Dwayne, heartbroken, returns to his rundown hometown gay bar to reclaim his old bartending job in Providence, RI. Meanwhile, the bar’s washed-up drag queen, Gloria Hole, struggles to stay relevant in the evolving drag scene. As these two bitter souls try to navigate their messy lives, a masked killer begins targeting the bar’s patrons.
It’s a whodunit with no real clues and only a smattering of suspense, though the killer’s reveal and the final showdown do offer some thrills. What I loved was its unapologetic campiness, but I wanted the envelope pushed a bit. As I watched a masked maniac slaughter young men and drain them of blood, it felt like the whole thing served us a gay Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
There were some fun bits, though, like Gloria Hole throwing a lit cigarette into a baby stroller while boozing in the park. Add to that makeshift weapons like a screwdriver, an electric carving knife, and an old-school meat grinder. The over-the-top gore, with its homegrown vibe, adds a twisted sense of fun — and I mean that. Plus who needs good acting when you have bloody bodies? (I mean that, too.)
I could’ve done without some of the cringe writing: A TV news story about body found outside a Chinese buffet that’s now closed; Dwayne saying he’s not interested in “Blacks.” Yikes, writers — hard pass. At least the characters got what’s coming to them.
Some upsides
Some of my favorite performances were by the well-groomed, copy-paste homosexual detective duo whose every scene starts off like the beginning of a porno, and the over-the-top cliché bar owner, Tony Two Fingers, so named for his missing fingers, which you can definitely see curled into his palm the entire movie.
What saves this film is the practical effects used in the murder scenes. You can’t have a slasher film without a stack of bodies by the end, and at the very least, the escalating creativity of these kills deserves its accolades. With no budget for CGI, there’s a lot of fake blood, cackling and cheap props where you can watch someone take a stiletto to the eye.
This film was produced as a weekends-only project over the course of a year and a half and worked with The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans competition winner Victoria Elizabeth Black for the special effects. And well worth it if you ask me; Not everything needs to be a $10 million film to be entertaining.
Final verdict
Should you rush over to watch Death Drop Gorgeous? Yeah, probably not. There is a lot of sincerity in this project, and with Halloween coming, I might throw it on the TV as a background film at a party and point out my favorite parts to my own captive audience.
Meanwhile there are lots of other worthwhile showings at Roxie right now. Ongoing is CatVideoFest, which is exactly what it sounds, a compilation reel of the latest cat videos found online. 2001: A Space Odyssey also feels incredibly appropriate to play in San Francisco. Here is a movie known for its special effects at the time, with moviegoers getting high for that big-screen moment where Dave goes through the colorful wormhole. Sometimes big budget is the right choice, after all.
T. Von D. is a local museum worker and lesbian.
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