‘You Cant Stay Here Review: Crucial Queer Horror Featuring Murderous Poppers

For decades, William Friedkin's Voyage was the only film that attempted to highlight cruising or the search for casual sex in a public place. The film Cruising , directed by and starring heterosexual citizens, caused a stir in the queer community and turned ordinary behavior into a spectacle for outraged heterosexual audiences. Now queer film pioneer Todd Vero directs a road trip thriller in his latest film , You Can't Stay Here . Through the lens of an openly gay man, Vero explores much of gay culture, exploring queer villains, the power of internalized homophobia, and the thrilling danger inherent in gay sex.

Shot like a great '90s movie, Guillermo Diaz stars in You Can't Stay Here as aspiring photographer Rick, who wanders Central Park photographing secret meetings in search of sexual partners. her. He struggles with his sexuality, recent divorce, career, being a father and an elderly mother who needs constant care. Sailing is her escape, not only a creative outlet, but also a place where she can anonymously express her sexual desires. No one knows her and she can truly be herself.

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But during one of his visits, he photographs a serial killer trying to take the life of another victim. Armed with a leather coat, a knife, and a mysterious concoction disguised as pop music (a nightclub drug popular in the gay community), this killer attacks a gay man in a park, posing as a consenting sex partner, and then knocks him unconscious. victims. unaware of their specific brand of poppers. It's like taking a drug that leaves victims powerless over their attacker. And Rick caught it all on camera.

Rick and the killer soon engage in a game of cat and mouse as Rick fears the man is stalking him and trying to get his life back together. He becomes paranoid, questions everyone around him, and can no longer trust his perception of reality. You Can't Stay Here takes the clichés of crime, action and erotic thrillers and repurposes them in a uniquely kinky context to create a low-budget psychosexual thriller. Plus, gay sex abounds.

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It is important to note that sex is presented as something normal, important and beautiful, and not as a spectacle that is slightly dangerous. Vero walks a tightrope of demonstrating the excitement of public sex without making it a spectacle, pointing the finger at gays and their promiscuous behavior. Instead, Verou creates an inherently queer world that doesn't shy away from the dangers of gay sex without making it dirty or evil. This is a specialty of Vero, who makes films like Frisk , which is about a gay serial killer. Vero is not interested in honest stories about the gay experience. Instead, he wants to deal with complex, chaotic weird characters who can be bad, messy, weird, and even evil. Verou has always pushed the boundaries of queer representation on screen and continues that trend with You Can't Stay Here .

To bring us into the minds of his complex characters, Vero uses a mobile aesthetic to make the film feel more like a documentary about a troubled gay man than a crime thriller. As the camera stays on Diaz's face and never leaves him, we can't help but delve deeper into the chaotic maelstrom of Rick's mental state. We question his motives and find ourselves joining an unreliable narrator as he struggles to navigate a swamp of mounting trauma and angst. The camera becomes a figure, a kind of voyeur, watching gay men having sex, thereby making us, the audience, more aware of our role as participants.

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Verrow's cinematography is matched by Diaz's outstanding performance as a sloppy cameraman straight out of an Argento film. She is shy and self-confident, a little young in her new outgoing personality, but still shy about approaching potential partners. He's both compassionate and pitiful, and it's this combination of things that makes him a captivating presence on screen as he descends into madness. It's nice to see Diaz in a film like this, moving from purer studio roles to more experimental and overtly gay performances.

Ultimately, Verrow's latest film is guerrilla cinema at its finest. It's punk, it's raw, and sometimes just looking at it can seem dangerous. Although the low-budget aspects show up from time to time, this does not take away the impression that it is impossible to stay here . Flirting is a reality of gay sex and should not be perceived as an act of perversion. Vero confirms assumptions about the gay community at a crucial time. This is a quirky horror story that is a must-see for those looking for more representation in the genre.

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