After a brief hiatus, Carter Smith returns to the horror genre in Swallowed. Smith also pens the film’s screenplay. After a drug run turns disastrous, two friends, Benjamin (Cooper Koch) and Dom (Jose Colon), must survive a nightmarish ordeal of drugs, bugs, and horrific intimacy.
Benjamin is preparing to become a gay porn star in Los Angeles. Trying to make the most of a bittersweet situation, he and his longtime friend Dom (Jose Colon) spend their last night together, hitting clubs and discussing their choices. To save his friend’s wallet, Dom drives to his cousin’s girlfriend, Alice (Jena Malone), who has a special mission for them.
Dom and Benjamin become drug mules after Alice gives them balloons filled with unknown items to swallow. When the men get down after ingesting the balloons and driving away, they hesitate but persevere. Trouble soon erupts inside a rest-stop restroom as a gay-bashing monster punches the men, triggering a digestive process that reveals something terrible.
One of the greatest strengths of the scenario lies in the way it illustrates the profound bond between these two quite different friends. When the spectator is initially surprised to learn that the two characters are not a couple, they will increasingly understand why their complicity is foolproof. Through this filiation, the tension will reach rather gargantuan proportions. The feature film will go from drug trafficking to body horror before ending with a touch of thriller. It should be noted; however, that horror, as corporeal as it is, is more suggested than shown, which may disappoint gore lovers.
In his direction, Smith offers a thoughtful approach to actors and seems especially drawn to suggestive passages. He seems to swim like a fish in the water. The filmmaker had already worked in the genre before with his film The Ruins.
Against Jena Malone’s’ solid villain, Cooper Koch and Jose Colon exude unwavering chemistry. Horror fans will also recognize Mark Patton (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge), who amazes the most by employing perverse accents. Patton can command the screen with his presence and nuanced delivery of lines. This, combined with his experience, allows him to bring a certain level of depth and complexity to his role that the other actors in the film can’t match.
If anything, Swallowed validates that Smith is a welcome voice in the horror genre.
Final Grade: B
Swallowed is available on all streaming platforms tommorow
After perfecting his craft in the world of shorts and episodic television, director Jingyi Shao transitions into features with his debut, Chang Can Dunk from Disney +. The director also pens the screenplay for the film, which follows Chang (Bloom Li), a 16-year-old Asian American high school student in the marching band with a love of basketball.
The con is on in director Benjamin Caron’s sophomore film Sharper, a joint production with A24. Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka pen the film’s screenplay, which opens with text explaining what a “sharper” is. A “sharper” uses their sharp mind to swindle for a living. We soon meet our first character New York antiquarian bookshop owner Tom (Justice Smith).
Director Brad Anderson teams up with writer Will Honley for his latest thriller, Blood from Vertical Entertainment. Jess (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse and mother recently separated from her husband Patrick (Skeet Ulrich), moves her daughter Tyler (Skylar Morgan Jones) and young son Owen (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) back into her family farmhouse.
Reviews And Dunn is a unique blog showcasing all things cinema, music & theater.
You must be logged in to post a comment.