‘The Prodigy’ is now available to rent or buy from all major streaming platforms!

From the producers behind House of the Devil and The Innkeepers comes a bone-chilling new descent into queer psychosexual horror.

Beau Swartz stars in The Prodigy as Adam, a street hustler who has just about given up on life. At the start of the film, he’s picked up by a mysterious trick whose seemingly sinister intentions go largely unnoticed. Adam can’t even muster up the energy to care about his own fate.

He accompanies this man to his isolated home in the desert and soon finds himself held captive – stuck at the mercy of a psychopath whose dark history prevents him from understanding the difference between reality and his own murderous fantasies. As Adam sits locked away in confinement, he finally begins searching his soul… and finds himself faced with an important decision. Should he give up on life completely… or fight like hell to keep it?

Directed by prolific filmmaker Omar Salas Zamora and co-written by frequent collaborator Calvin Picou (who delivers a truly menacing performance as the titular prodigious psychopath), The Prodigy is an unexpected, genre-bending follow-up to their gritty 2020 drama Adam in Fragments. While that film followed Adam during his earlier days on the streets, you don’t need to have seen it to enjoy or understand this one. Both movies function as stand-alone pieces of work that happen to follow the same character.

The Prodigy finds the versatile filmmaking duo sharpening their horror skills – and ‘sharp’ is the right word. This film is not for the squeamish. If you’re looking for lighter fare, we highly recommend the Dekkoo-originals Here Comes Your Man and Nothing But Flowers, two projects from Zamora and Picou that feature far less bloodshed and a whole lot more gay romance! For those who aren’t afraid to get a little twisted, we can’t recommend The Prodigy more highly.

Watch the teaser trailer for The Prodigy below. The film is now available to rent or buy from all major platforms, including Dekkoo.

Musician Mark Clennon delivers a stunning performance in the gripping gay drama ‘I Don’t Know Who You Are’

After suffering a sexual violation at the hands of a stranger, Toronto-based musician Benjamin (Mark Clennon) must pull together the money for HIV-preventive treatment in the event that he’s been exposed to the virus – while also trying to avoid the man he’s just started dating.

Short of cash and determined to solve the problem himself, Benjamin spends a frantic weekend trying to raise the necessary funds… and he only has 72 hours to do so.

In his first feature, writer-director M. H. Murray filters his own real-life experience through the character of Benjamin, whom he and lead actor Mark Clennon created in their 2020 short film Ghost.

Bracing and unapologetically provocative, I Don’t Know Who You Are is all about inner conflicts forcing themselves to the surface, with an additional level of commentary on how hard it is to simply exist in Toronto without money or status.

The film also features a powerhouse performance from Clennon, a Toronto artist and poet who also serves as the film’s producer and story editor, in addition to writing and performing all of Benjamin’s songs.

Watch the trailer for I Don’t Know Who You Are below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Two-Headed Calves

The 29-minute short Two-Headed Calves follows bride and groom Johannes and Marie (Andreas Hammer and Jennifer Sabel).

At the beginning of the film, a torrential downpour breaks out in the middle of their outdoor wedding reception… and that turns out to be the least of their problems.

The biggest issue is that Johannes has been keeping a secret from Marie for the entirety of their relationship. He’s gay. He always has been, and he always will be. But that hasn’t stopped his meddling, conservative parents from trying to fix what they perceive as a problem.

Working with an unorthodox personal conversion therapist, Johannes momentarily believes he has overcome his own sexuality and can bring happiness to every disapproving person in his life – even if it comes at the cost of his own.

But when everything that can go wrong does go wrong during the wedding, it seems like a sign that he needs to start being open and honest – especially with his new bride.

Using a found footage aesthetic, German director Benjamin Kramme crafts a painfully funny family comedy that also brilliantly skewers the entire notion of conversion therapy.

Watch the trailer for Two-Headed Calves below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘The Harvesters’ explores sexuality, masculinity, and religion in a conservative farming community

The Harvesters follows Janno (Brent Vermeulen), a South African teen from a very particular type of family. His parents are deeply invested in religion, white Afrikaner solidarity and their farm. A sensitive boy, Janno’s interests lie elsewhere.

When his parents decide to bring a troubled, but charismatic kid named Pieter (Alex van Dyk) into the household, a struggle for dominance soon ensues.

As Pieter slyly draws various family members under his spell, Janno begins to sense that he’s being replaced as the favored son. The boys soon start a dangerous fight for power, heritage and parental love that will change both of their lives forever.

A stirring, subtly homoerotic take on the myth of Cain and Abel, The Harvesters explores repressed sexuality, religion and masculinity in the deep South African countryside. The feature-length debut of Greek-African filmmaker Etienne Kallosis, the film offers up tense and pitiless drama about the intersection of familial and cultural dynamics.

Watch the trailer for The Harvesters below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Casa de Bonecas

Supple young bodies fuse and ooze in the delirious audiovisual freak-out Casa de Bonecas.

Kind of like a mix of John Waters and David Lynch, this experimental – and experiential – 15-minute short from Brazilian writer-director George Pedrosa doesn’t tell a story so much as establish a deeply weird vibe.

This mind-melting film follows three scantly-clad queer performance artists as they descend into a trippy rabbit hole of madness – a dark, wet place where the grotesque and the sensual merge and anyone who enters is seduced by the pink secretions that lie within.

There is plenty of gross-out imagery in store as the film gleefully sashays through various genres – musical, comedy, sci-fi and horror, just to name a few – and our heroes transform into beautiful creatures who dance, devour and arouse.

A cross between your worst nightmares and your wildest wet dreams, Casa de Bonecas is thoroughly bonkers in the best possible way.

Watch a brief clip from Casa de Bonecas below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

John Benjamin Hickey stars in beloved filmmaker Eytan Fox’s cross-cultural romance ‘Sublet’

Tony Award-winning theatre veteran John Benjamin Hickey stars in Sublet as Michael, a travel columnist for The New York Times who reluctantly goes on a trip to Tel Aviv to write an article after suffering a tragedy.

Leaving behind some unresolved relationship troubles with his husband, Michael just wants to do his research and fly back home as soon as possible. But when he sublets an apartment from Tomer, an incredibly attractive young film student played by newcomer Niv Nissim, he suddenly finds himself drawn into the life of the city.

The intense bond he forms with this casually seductive younger man ends up transforming both their lives in unexpected ways.

The newest feature from acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox, the writer-director behind Walk on Water and Yossi and Jagger, Sublet is sexy, charming, thought-provoking and ultimately life-affirming.

Watch the trailer for Sublet below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Get seduced by the erotic, mystical queer allegory and stoner comedy ‘A Dim Valley’

Young actors Whitmer Thomas and Zach Weintraub star in A Dim Valley as ecology grad students Albert and Ian.

The pair are spending the summer collecting samples with their curmudgeonly advisor played by ‘Midnight Mass’ and ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ star Robert Longstreet. At his woodsy cabin along the Appalachian Trail, close quarters foster comical friction and unexpected bonds between the two young men.

When three mysterious, enigmatic female backpackers (played by Rachel McKeon, Feathers Wise and Rosalie Lowe) crash into their lives, they push the men to open up to one another… and their true feelings and desires soon begin to deepen.

A clever new indie gem from writer-director Brandon Colvin, A Dim Valley is partly a queer allegory, partly a hilarious stoner comedy and partly a transcendental meditation on mysticism and love.

Watch the trailer for A Dim Valley below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Hotter Up Close

Screenwriter and star Christopher Matias Aguila delivers a heartwarming and hysterically funny lead performance in the delightful 15-minute comedy Hotter Up Close.

He plays Chris, a barista who is nursing his wounds after a recent break-up and feeling some apprehension on the eve of his 30th birthday. His self-esteem takes a nose dive after an awkward encounter with Aiden, a hunky coffee shop customer and distant Facebook friend played by Francisco San Martin.

But when Aiden invites Chris and his plucky best friend Dana (played by a scene-stealing Liz Jenkins) to a gay pool party, he gets an unexpected opportunity to show off his new swimming trunks and, just possibly, win over the man of his dreams. He’ll just need to learn to accept the fact that sometimes ‘awkward’ can be ‘cute.’

Packed with quotable dialog and hilarious supporting performances, Hotter Up Close is a winning short rom-com that we only wish was longer. We’ll just have to wait to see what Aguila and director Leland Montgomery have in store for us next.

Watch a short teaser trailer for Hotter Up Close below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.