Swallowed (2022)

[8]

Two friends (Cooper Koch and Jose Colon) swallow bagged drugs to smuggle them over the Canadian border for some quick cash. But when they’re assaulted at a rest stop, one of the bags bursts and creates a medical emergency that quickly spirals into a fight for survival. The young men are kidnapped at gunpoint by their dealer (Donnie Darko‘s Jena Malone) and brought to a remote cabin where she reveals the drugs are actually insects with high-inducing, paralyzing bites. While struggling to pass the insects, things are further complicated when Malone’s boss (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2‘s Mark Patton) arrives to salvage as many of the bugs as he can… and molest their nubile carriers.

Swallowed misses out on some obvious potential for body horror viscera and gore, but it makes up in psychological complexity, elevated by terrific performances from everyone involved and taut writing and direction from former fashion photographer Carter Smith (The Ruins). Smith’s screenplay layers an unrequited love story on top of the drama, with Cooper’s openly gay character and Colon’s straight one nearly reaching a romantic revelation before the film takes one of several tragic turns. Koch conveys empathetic vulnerability in spades here. He’d become famous just a few years later for a similar, even more striking performance in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

Malone’s performance is unlike any she’s ever given before. She’s a no-nonsense, genuine threat in this movie — and without trying too hard. Just when you think she’s going to be the main villain, enter Mark Patton as her icky, deranged boss. Patton confidently generates the tension throughout the last half of Swallowed, finding the right balance in his acting style, somewhere between broad fun and grounded reality. He and Koch carry the third act all on their own, in an interesting gay predator vs. gay prey showdown.

I’m reluctant to label any film a ‘gay horror’ movie, especially when it’s just including a gay character or two. But Swallowed really is a gay horror film in many ways. It’s got a gay protagonist and a gay villain, both played by gay actors of different generations. It also has the nascent gay love story between Koch and Colon working in the background. And, yes, it even has full-frontal eye candy courtesy of Mr. Koch. If that’s not enough to earn the label, let me tell you about the scene in which Malone forces Koch at gunpoint to reach into Colon’s ass to retrieve several bugs. So if ever a gay horror movie has been made (outside the realm of camp), Swallowed isn’t just one of them. It’s one of the best.