Cut Snake is a riveting, must-see thriller

From director Tony Ayres and screenwriter Blake Ayshford, Cut Snake is a tense, psychologically driven crime thriller in which one man discovers that biggest obstacle to putting the past behind him may be himself.

Set in Melbourne in the mid-1970s, the film tells the story of Sparra Farrell (Alex Russell), an ex-convict who is trying to make a new life for himself in a new city. He has found honest work and even becomes engaged but the prospect of this new life is challenged when his foreboding and charismatic cell mate Pommie (Sullivan Stapleton) tracks him down upon his own release and tries to reignite the passion they had for one another behind bars. Sparra finds himself enigmatically drawn back toward a world and a man that he was certain he had wanted to leave behind.

The Hollywood Reporter called Cut Snake “a terrific title for this dark, romantic crime thriller” and said that “the sexual tension hangs in the air like storm clouds.” The Los Angeles Times said it’s “feverishly, genre-shakingly different” thanks in large part to Sullivan Stapleton’s “magnetically coiled performance.”

Watch the trailer for Cut Snake below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Is This a Date?

Fans of the Dekkoo Original Series I’m Fine have a brand-new six minutes and ten seconds to get excited about. From Brandon Kirby, the creator behind I’m Fine, and actor Lee Doud, one of the shows leads, comes the new short film Is This a Date?

This not-so-romantic comedy follows one love-lorn young man (Doud) through a series of encounters with other attractive guys. In each, he’s trying to determine whether or not he and his new partner are friends, fuck buddies… or something more.

Co-starring Christopher Charles Baker, Francisco Chacin, Wolfie Trausch, Logan Allison and Danny Plotner, Is This a Date? takes a fast-paced, funny, sexy and bittersweet journey through the treacherous and seemingly endless process of finding that someone special.

Is This a Date? is streaming now on Dekkoo. All three seasons of I’m Fine are also available now.

IsThisaDate_1

 

Get ready to fall in love with THE BLONDE ONE

In the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Gabriel (Gaston Re) has just moved in with his colleague, Juan (Alfonso Baron). Shy and reserved, Gabriel is reluctant to follow Juan’s wandering hands and meaningful looks. With a revolving door of beauties streaming out of Juan’s bedroom, his machismo seems firmly in place. However, the attraction between the two men is undeniable.

What starts out as a sexual relationship based on convenience of location soon develops into the engrossing evolution of a tender and intimate relationship, which is as sweet as it is heartbreaking. But, as reality begins to set in on their homemaking fantasy, something needs to give… or does it?

Written and directed by prolific queer filmmaker Marco Berger (the man behind Taekwondo, Absent, Sexual Tension: Volatile, Fulboy and Hawaii), The Blonde One is one of the year’s hottest gay movies and most beloved gay movies.

Watch the trailer for The Blonde One below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

 

Short Film Spotlight: Clothes & Blow

Screened at over 20 film festivals and Winner of Best International Short at Dublin Short Film And Music Festival, Clothes & Blow is a comedy/drama for anyone who has ever struggled to be their true self around their family.

Written and directed by Sam Peter Jackson (The Bathroom), the 23-minute short film stars David Menkin (Florence Foster Jenkins), Nancy Baldwin (Mamma Mia!) and Christy Meyer (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them).

For American voice over artist Daniel (Menkin), life in London is one long autopilot ride of demanding client calls and awkward Grindr meets. But when his mother Stephanie (Baldwin) decides to visit from the US with less than 24 hours notice, Daniel is forced to re-evaluate how fully and authentically he is living his life.

Watch the trailer for Clothes & Blow below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Cousins

From writer-director-star Thiago Cazado, the creator behind the 2017 gay drama About Us, comes the unusual new romance Cousins, a controversial and supremely sexy new coming-of-age love story.

Young Lucas (Paulo Sousa) lives with his religious Aunt Lourdes (Juliana Zancanaro) in a quiet country town, where he dutifully helps her proselytize by playing biblical songs on his keyboard. His quiet life is soon agitated, however, when his aunt announces the arrival of another nephew named Mario (Thiago Cazado), who has just been released from jail. Forced to share a bedroom, these two cousins find their personalities clashing… until an unexpected attraction starts to bond them together.

The newest piece of work from a queer filmmaker on the rise, this new film is not afraid to push boundaries.

Watch the trailer for Cousins below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

A dark gay fairy tale comes to Dekkoo with 1998’s The Wolves of Kromer

Originally released in 1998, The Wolves of Kromer is a dark, funny fairy tale of darkly sexy gay werewolves, murderous old ladies and an old English town bent on getting rid of those not like themselves.

The story centers around the goings-on of two couples: Seth and Gabriel (Lee Williams and James Layton), a pair of werewolves who live outside the quaint village of Kromer and two tottering old women who share a secret. Young Seth, thrown out of his house after coming out as wolf, meets up with the worldlier Gabriel who, attracted to his fair face and bushy tail, takes him under his wing. They spend their nights foraging for food by the lake outside the village of Kromer, hanging out with other wolves, playfully terrorizing the townsfolk and eventually falling in love with each other.

All the while in the town, the seemingly harmless old house servants – the scheming Fanny (Rita Davies) and her daffy accomplice Doreen (Margaret Towner) – plot to knock off their mistress Mrs. Drax (Rosemarie Dunham) and direct blame on the wolves.

Tensions between the nocturnal animals and the hypocritical townsfolk come to a head as the town’s fire-and-brimstone preacher riles everyone up against the ostracized wolves.

Filled with tender romanticism, social satire and laugh-out-loud comedy, this modern-day gay parable is a delight from beginning to end. Also, quite notably, it’s narrated by Boy George!

The Wolves of Kromer is streaming now on Dekkoo.

 

Short Film Spotlight: Matt

How does one become a daddy? That’s the question at the center of writer-director Ori Ravid’s new short film Matt.

World-renowned gay adult film actor Colby Jansen stars in his first dramatic role in Matt. It is a short tale of two “Matts” – one an accomplished architect (Jansen) who has been around the block, the other a nursing student (newcomer Patrick Wallace) who is fresh out of the closet. Matt invites other-Matt over for drinks, a movie… and a night that will mean much more for one of them than the other.

Matt is a coming of age story about a young man’s potential path to “daddyhood”. It is about how we go about finding ourselves after we first come out with no road map or real sense of direction. And it is about how hookups can help inform our sense of self, how they can help steer us where we’re supposed to go.

“When gay characters are depicted on screen, they are usually happy-go-lucky and asexual, or deeply troubled but have incredibly hot, beautiful sex,” said Ravid. “With Matt, I simply aimed to depict a realistic hookup between two gay characters who happen to be in very different places in life. Whether you’re gay or straight or bi or something else, we all go through messy experiences that help shape who we are. It’s time to celebrate that.”

Watch the trailer for Matt below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Make yourself a fourth wheel with the sexy new gay series The Third

A sexy and provocative new Dekkoo Original Series from creator Matthew Lynn, The Third follows the story of Jason Height (Sean McBride), a young man recently displaced on the West Coast. During his conquests and adventures as a twenty-nine-year-old gay man in Palm Springs, he stumbles into a triad relationship with Carl and David (Corey Page and Ryland Shelton), an attractive, gay couple who are on the outs after thirteen years of marriage.

Sean McBride, Corey Page and Ryland Shelton in The Third

Thinking that a third person might spice up their relationship, Carl and David agree to move forward with Jason. What starts as a fling soon turns pretty series. The trip soon learn, however, that relationship issues only become more apparent once someone steps in to fill the gaps. What ensues is a tumultuous experience as everyone tries to figure the true definition of love… and whether or not it can be maintained in a three-person relationship.

Sean McBride, Corey Page and Ryland Shelton in The Third

Watch the full trailer for The Third below and don’t miss this addictive new series – available now, exclusively on Dekkoo!

Now Available: These Peculiar Days

At only 30 years of age, Mexican writer-director Chucho E. Quintero already has three feature films under his belt. His first, Six Pack, was a high school coming-of-age drama; his second, Velociraptor, a dialog-driven gay sci-fi sex comedy. Now he brings us These Peculiar Days, in which eight high school friends celebrate their graduation by heading out to a cabin in the woods. That may sound like the set up for an Evil Dead-esque horror film, but the one thing you can always expect from Quintero is that he’ll defy your expectations.

Still from These Peculiar Days

An adolescent coming of age tale, These Peculiar Days follows this group of buddies as they gear up for a wild weekend to remember. Just before the trip, Isabel (Sofia Sylwin) breaks up with Roman (Gerardo Del Razo) when she finds out he’s been cheating on her with Oscar (Carlos Hendrick Huber). When Roman tags along to try to win her back, it turns this pleasant weekend into a ticking time bomb that will be set off by their unstoppable sexual impulses.

Still from These Peculiar Days

Soon, the lines between their sexuality begin to blur as allegiances and love affairs are quickly made and broken. An unabashedly erotic look at modern sexual fluidity between young adults from acclaimed writer-director, These Peculiar Days is both fresh and endlessly compelling.

Still from These Peculiar Days

Watch the trailer for These Peculiar Days below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

 

 

Lilting is an emotional and rewarding tear-jerker

Ben Whishaw stars in Lilting as Richard, a deeply sad young man trying to work through grief. He recently lost his lover, Kai (Andrew Leung), unexpectedly and far too early. Kai’s mother, Junn (Pei-Pei Cheng) is also in great pain as a result of the loss. Kai sent her to a nursing home temporarily while he worked up the nerve to come out to her and invite her to live with Richard and himself. Unfortunately, he died before he had the opportunity.

Richard is deeply concerned with his late lover’s mother well-being. He knows that Junn is unhappy in the nursing home and would like to offer her a way out. The problem is that she has no idea how important Richard was in her son’s life. In fact, Junn, thinking that Richard was just a roommate of Kai’s, seems to think that he was a bad influence on her son. Richard doesn’t want to betray Kai by revealing the truth about their relationship. On top of that, he and Junn don’t even speak the same language.

In an effort to get closer to Junn, Richard hires a translator (Naomi Christie) to help them communicate. But as time goes on and Junn becomes increasingly agitated and suspicious of Richard’s motivations, the truth starts simmering to the surface, practically begging to be revealed.

Lilting is a melancholy, but ultimately uplifting tear-jerker filled with likeable characters that help the emotions sink in. The only villain of the piece, the source of the film’s conflict, is Junn and even she’s sympathetic. She’s unreasonably difficult and treats Richard as an irritation even though he’s on a saintly mission to help her, but she’s also grief-stricken and all alone in a strange country where she’s not able to communicate.

Director Hong Khaou has a poetic sensibility and the cast is uniformly excellent, particularly Whishaw. He sells his character’s admirable mix of deep sadness and unyielding altruism so well that it’s practically a guarantee that your heart will break for him. Lilting is a touching meditation on death and grief that never neglects to celebrate life and love simultaneously.

Watch the trailer for Lilting below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.