It wouldn’t be Gay Pride Month without a good movie that’ll get audiences talking. In this case, though, Drew Bolton’s Killer Unicorn is much more than a “good” movie – it’s absolutely fantastic in a self-deprecating sort of way, and it’s one of the few films that was modeled after the slasher genre and actually delivers on that promise. Killer Unicorn is frustrating, gory and campy, and yet it hints at deeper elements that plague the gay community, even more than the buff serial killer wearing a rubber unicorn mask. Written by Jose D. Alvarez, Killer Unicorn sees the title character stalking and hacking his way through the local gays and freshly polished drag queens. In the same vein as I Know What You Did Last Summer, the targets are forced to discover the killer’s motives if they hope to fight back and survive the weekend. Starring Dennis Budesheim, Alejandro La Rosa, Markus Kelle, Monica Garcia-Bradley, Horrorchata, Jose D. Alvarez, J’royce Jata, Biblegirl666, Elizabeth James and Grayson Squire, Killer Unicorn was recently acquired for distribution by Indican Pictures. You can find it in select theaters in New York City, Houston and Los Angeles on June 14th 2019 before it transitions to DVD and digital platforms on July 9th 2019. Directed by Drew Bolton and shot under NiteFix, here’s why you should see this movie and consider buying it on DVD next month.
The horror genre has this secret fan base that no one really acknowledges. The LGBT community adores scary movies, and they attempt to infuse a lot of the category’s stylistic elements into their own craft. Here’s the thing, though. We haven’t received a long, hard hitting gay horror film since 2004’s Hellbent. I don’t say this lightly, but I think Killer Unicorn is going to be a standout cult classic for years to come after it hits home media. It’s something that we (I married my husband in March, yall!) can be proud of, and it shows that LGBT people can produce and star in a horror film while simultaneously entertaining the fuck out of a wide audience. Writer and producer Jose Alvarez, director and editor Drew Bolton, co-producer Aj Mattioli, cinematographer Corey Green and editors Matthew Huber, Liz Requena, Russell Uddin and Erin McCaffrey should be so proud of themselves for what they created here. A campy, suspenseful, glitter-filled nightmare that’s going to shock, dismay and absolutely turn you on. Although, trigger warning in effect, it does seem a little Pulse-ish, with a dance club being the center of the killer’s massacre. And while the movie alludes to the drug and unprotected sex crisis plaguing the LGBT community, it still manages to be delightful and fun and carefree. One of the lines, “Jamie Lee Curtis made that look so much easier,” had me in stitches.
This is my only complaint – I hated every single character except the killer. Obviously he’s no angel himself, but at least he doesn’t talk. All of the characters on screen are so vapid, clue-less and self-absorbed that you can’t help but to get behind the slasher. He’s hot and comes up with interesting kills, and yeah, I guess you could say I’d want him to chase me around an alley, too. He’s also involved in a few sex scenes – I counted four in this movie – so at least he’s getting it on while cutting them down. In the best use of on screen and behind the scenes talent, I have to say my favorite shot of the movie was Killer Unicorn stalking a victim in a metallic area while the alarm is blaring around them. The crystal clear picture of the camera, the suspense built between actors, the lights flickering on and off, and the way the scene attacks all of your senses at once – it’s just expert film-making at its finest and one of the best shots in independent cinema this year. Honestly, I wanted to watch Killer Unicorn solely based on its movie poster. What I ended up finding, though, was a film that far exceeded my expectations. A stiletto filled slasher that’ll make you gag with suspense, Killer Unicorn is the LGBT movie that’ll have the demographic talking. It’s also a celebration of life and love, with poignant nods to the promise of a better tomorrow, slathered in blood, piss and cum. I loved it.
Final Score: 9 out of 10
I could have 10/10’d it, but I literally hated EVERYONE.
