I haven't reviewed many movies lately because I've been burned several times.
For example, the summer camp psych-slasher movie Hell of a Summer (2023) just dropped on Hulu with an icon featuring three obviously gay guys staring at a bloody axe.
When I checked the cast list, I discovered that five of the top seven male cast members are gay or bi in real life.
Obviously this will be a movie about a group of gay guys fighting a psycho-slasher.
Time to check the trailer.
Scene 1: Jason loves Camp Pineaway so much that he returns year after year. Now age 24, he gives a "welcome" speech to the new counselors, with the rules: no smoking, no drinking, no cell phones.
Jason is played by Fred Hechinger (top photo and icon left), who is heterosexual but played the "I'm gay but the skittish producers won't let me say so" Emperor Caracalla in Gladiator II.
Scene 2: The campers haven't arrived yet, so the counselors party. I don't notice any boy-girl coupling. The extremely femme Chris arrives with his boyfriend Bobby, and yells "Hey, Girl!" at a girl named Shannon.Chris is played by Finn Wolfhard (icon right), who is "bisexual." Usually this means attracted to men and women, but apparently Finn means attracted exclusively to men but not wanting to say "gay," just in case he may be attracted to a woman in the distant future.
Boyfriend Bobby is played by Finn's real-life boyfriend Billy Bryk (left and icon center). He is "not into labels," meaning "gay, but afraid to admit it because then people might think he was gay or something."
Finn and Billy are also the writers and directors. This is their project.
Scene 3: Later, femme Chris kisses Shannon? WTF?
And brags to boyfriend Bobby that he performed oral sex on her. Why isn't the boyfriend upset? Are you a feminine-presenting heterosexual with a gay bestie, Girlfriend? That's a big gay tease.
Left: Two gay guys to tide you over. This is going to get rocky.
More after the break