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| Courtesy of Minutehead Pictures |
Though
the disturbing psychological breakdown shocker film has done before, this is one
of the first times in recent memory with an openly gay male character enmeshed in a gay relationship as the
scare fest’s scream queen while also being a nervous, searing, viscerally affronting and gory nightmare picture that will linger
in the minds of viewers for some time.
One of the latest examples of the distinctly LGBTQ thriller that’s
also broadly appealing to horror fans, Hypochondriac follows Will (Zach
Villa), a young and successful gay potter living in a fancy apartment with his devoted
boyfriend Luke (Devon Graye). He gets
along swimmingly with his co-workers and being pillar of strength he helps talk
out of the tree employees going through their own respective panic
attacks.
However, Will has buried a dark
past involving his abusive and deranged mother (Marlene Forte) who tried to
kill him before being institutionalized herself. His carefully constructed world free of the
domineering insane clutches of his mother begins to unravel when out of the
blue she beings blowing up his cell phone claiming Luke isn’t the nice
boyfriend he thinks he is, triggering within him the beginnings of hostility leading to a nervous breakdown
that grows ever more hallucinatory and paranoid as it proceeds.
While deriving more than heavily from Richard Kelly’s cult
favorite Donnie Darko replete with a demonic furry costumed creature who
may be real or imaginary, Hypochondriac nevertheless proves to be a
shattering and heartbreaking horror show of a seemingly well-adjusted person
completely giving in to their fears and anxieties.
Much of the film’s strength comes from the
two leads Zach Villa as the victim of a nervous breakdown and Devon Graye his
frustrated boyfriend trying to make sense of his lover’s seemingly abrupt and arbitrary
meltdown. Equally strong are Marlene
Forte and Chris Doubek as Will’s divorced parents with Doubek making the father
figure a beleaguered soul who doesn’t mince words with his generally difficult
son.
The
electronic soundtrack by Robert Allaire is a near-darkwave cornucopia of music,
helping to usher in the sense of growing doom and foreboding as the film’s poor
hero continues to lose his grip on dealing with ordinary everyday life. Both elements combined help to yank the rug
out from under the viewer in a steadily disorienting audiovisual experience
with hints of the hyperkinetic editing of Ben Wheatley.
While some of the film’s openly gay and possibly furry
leanings might be too much for some horror-goers including a scene that would
surely earn it an NC-17 (released unrated instead) and while clearly lifting
from Donnie Darko, Hypochondriac is nevertheless a uniquely
affecting and kind of upsetting thriller that makes you feel this man’s
encroaching malaise and feel for both characters as people under extreme
duress.
One of the better explorations
of anxiety and depression in horror and a fearless foray into previously unseen
visual elements and ideas in the genre, Hypochondriac is an assured and
affecting horror debut that tries to put on film the struggle of reckoning with
our own psychological demons to try and have some semblance of happiness and
peace of mind. Not for everyone but a
refreshingly new spin on the gay male scream queen that genuinely does sink it’s
bloody teeth into you.
--Andrew Kotwicki
