E-Mail This Article to a Friend HELLBENT

85 MINUTES | KENDALL SQUARE

This new horror movie from director/writer Paul Etheredge-Ouzts provides more giggles than screams, which is a shame, since it also empowers a marginalized group. Four gay friends go out on Halloween and hook up, party, and bond, until they start being picked off by a mysterious masked figure. Once the killings really get going, it’s pretty straightforward horror fare, with the "nice" gay guy (Dylan Fergus) filling the traditional good-girl heroine role. It’s refreshing to see a movie that deals so casually with gay culture, but that’s about all the film has going for it. A horror movie doesn’t really need good dialogue or characters to be successful, but it does need to be scary — someplace Etheredge-Ouzts isn’t willing to go with his likable, goofy characters. And in spite of the film’s gay-friendly attitude, a killer who targets gay men is an unsettling point Hellbent never explains. It’s a bitter bite in an otherwise inoffensive treat.