Skull & Bones
Written by: Michael Den Boer on October 8th, 2007
Release Dates: USA, 2006
Production: BTB Productions
Approximate running time: 73 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen
Language: English
Written by: Michael Den Boer on October 8th, 2007
Release Dates: USA, 2006Production: BTB Productions
Approximate running time: 73 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen
Language: English
Director: T. S. Slaughter
Writer: T. S. Slaughter
Cinematography: Paul Serrano
Cast: Derrick Wolf, Michael Burke, Ryan G. Metzger, James Stover, Daniel Meredith, Eugene the Poogene,
Just about everything has been done before in the horror film genre and in most cases the best ideas have been done to death. When I go into a new horror film for the first time I always prepare myself for that feeling of déjà vu, but on some very rare occasions a film comes along that surprises me.
Recently I had a chance to check out the independently-made gay slasher horror film SKULL & BONES, directed by T.S. Slaughter. This is not your typical horror film: the majority of the film’s content is sexual in nature and meant for mature audiences. First off the film’s two killers are homosexuals whose killing spree actually starts off by accident when they kill a classmate they are trying to humiliate by having sex with him while he is unconscious. The two killers Justin and Nathan, bored with their lives, decide to up the ante by kidnapping, raping, and murdering male students who attend a certain Ivy League college.
To say that the plot for this film sounds bizarre is an understatement since there is so much more perversity that runs through this film like the killers wearing masks of presidents while raping and killing their prey or making a zombie sex slave out of one of their victims. Each of the killings is very graphic and all of them feature male intercourse.
One thing that I found annoying as the film progressed was how each of the four Ivy students is asked the same questions and how each student is so easy to capture. The repetitiveness of these four kidnappings disrupts the flow of the film. Despite their homicidal tendencies I found the Justin and Nathan characters to be likable and offensive at the same time. Performance-wise SKULL & BONES is filled with eccentric characters all of whom could only exist in this world.
The filmmaker that T.S. Slaughter most likely drew inspiration from might be John Waters, who pushed the boundaries of good taste and censorship like SKULL & BONES does. Even with these similarities between SKULL & BONES and the cinema of John Waters, what the former lacks is a subtlety that cuts so precisely and effortlessly in all of John Waters‘ films. Not since viewing John Waters‘ PINK FLAMINGOS for the first time have I been so utterly disgusted and disturbed with a film’s depravity. Ultimately most will find the sexual themes and content in SKULL & BONES to be vulgar or just downright disgusting while some may see past these exteriors and find a campy film that explores avenues rarely taken in the horror genre.
For more information about Skull & Bulls visit visit this website.