Frisk

Dennis (Gunter) begins to explore his violent homosexual fantasies when he meets Henry (Chester), a masochist who's also a necrophiliac pin-up. His friends are alarmed, but sceptical, when Dennis begins to write confessional letters describing acts of murder. The dubious equation of homosexuality, perversity and murder made in mainstream Hollywood thrillers like Basic Instinct or Cruising has outraged the gay community. Is it a sign of decadence or maturity that gays can now exploit gay-on-gay violence? And is it for edification or entertainment? Neither, probably. Verow made his mark as cameraman on Gregg Araki's Totally F***ed Up and MTV's Real World series. His first film as director (from a cult novel by Dennis Cooper) boasts occasional bursts of flashy editing, lousy performances (exception: Parker Posey in a ten-minute cameo as a fag hag only too happy to participate in a spot of orgiastic murder), and a sour sensibility quite in keeping with the characters.