Blowie Is More Sex-Horror Tease Than Slasher Thrill Ride
Stilted erotic horror film Blowie serves up loads of sex and some suspense in a tale of content creators stalked by a masked killer.
Swerving down a lane usually reserved for Bruce LaBruce, queer filmmaking duo altSHIFT (Ed Aldridge & Sam Lidbetter) dance between arthouse, grind house, and gay bathhouse in the sex-positive but still stiff erotic slasher Blowie.
Adult film actor Bishop Black, muse of LaBruce’s 2024 satirical horror The Visitor, features alongside fellow gay and alt-porn stars Gabriel Cross, Kayden Gray, Leander, Clark Lewis, and Kali Suhdra as a crew of sex workers-cum-content creators assembled for an ill-fated weekend in the country.
Shooting at a luxurious mansion on a remote Welsh estate, the performers, playing mock versions of themselves, get off to a sticky start. An accidental death on-set, during a scene of extreme BDSM, prompts a conspiracy to cover up the fatal mishap. Yet, despite the concerted deception, a masked killer emerges to seek deadly revenge.
The movie — directed, produced, written, and edited by altSHIFT — takes its sweet time getting there, though. Blowie’s more a horror tease than a real balls-to-the-wall slasher pic, holding back on the fearsome kills till just when you think the mayhem might never come.
For the most part, it dabbles in an atmosphere of dread and secrecy, mixed with the light comedy of queer porn actors behind-the-scenes on a disaster-strewn shoot. Their very particular pre- and post-scene hygiene practices, and different dietary needs, are frequent fodder for conversation that’s not all that compelling.
The cast handles the hangout camaraderie credibly, along with the explicit sexual situations, naturally, but the acting falls flat when moments call for more acute emotions, which is a lot of the time. Acting terrified might be the most underrated task of a horror cast, as demonstrated by the majority of this troupe missing that mark.
The writing exceeds the performances, except in a few cases. Muscled short king Cross distinguishes himself as the one most likely to sell a good joke. Black, portrayed as a tarot-carrying spiritual medium when not engaged in sexual hijinks, also commits, although to less consistent effect.
Lewis, as the one relative innocent among them, summons a full-fledged character, matched only by the movie’s enigmatic killer, Blowie, in a molded, doll-faced glory hole mask.
altSHIFT builds a couple of tautly cinematic sequences — one involving a roomful of balloons — around Blowie stalking victims through the mansion. One poor soul suffers an especially gnarly death by stabbing, but the blood-splattering violence generally stays on the tamer side of R-rated, as opposed to the copious flashes of X-rated sex.
Blowie treats its audience to a variety of explicit adult content, in diverse combinations. On top of the conventional gay man-on-man shenanigans, the film works an impressive array of hardcore kink — from BDSM and breath play, to lone female cast member Sudhra pegging a very willing bisexual bottom — into the plot.
The filmmakers also inject pointed references to sex workers’ rights and U=U, addressing HIV stigma. But social messages feel incidental to the movie’s true ambition, to mix playful erotic thrills with horror movie chills, and loads of queer camp. It hits that stride really only near the end, though definitely has plenty of smutty fun along the way.
Blowie (★★☆☆☆) is available now on Digital and VOD on Google and YouTube Movies. Visit darkstarpics.com.
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