I had a movie marathon last weekend so I’m going to do mini reviews of the movies I watched. I usually gravitate towards rom-coms only because they’re guaranteed to have happy endings but I was able to watch a couple of darker movies.

Anyhoo, here goes…

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The Thing About Harry

Sam is a young gay man who’s forced to share a car ride with Harry — a popular jock who was his enemy in high school. But things take an unexpected turn when Sam learns that Harry has come out, opening the door for a potential romance

The thing I liked about this movie is that whenever I thought I knew where it was going, it doesn’t go the way I expected it to. It tried not to go the usual rom-com routes while still delivering our requisite happy ending. This one has not only one but two grand gesture moments. I’m kinda meh on how they played musical chairs when it comes to sleeping with their friends turned boy/girlfriends turn exes then back again. Still, if you like a feel-good gay rom-com, this is it.

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Shadowlands

Shadowlands explores love in three separate stories – a couple renegotiating a relationship, a narcissist grrasping to comprehend it, and star-crossed lovers mourning its loss.

When I first saw trailer, I was reminded of the Japanese movie, Ranpo Noir, with its dark themes and sensual imagery. This anthology is divided into three parts, what I liked to call, The Weird One, The Cute One and The Sad Sad One.

Narcissus a.k.a The Weird One is about a surgeon in 1928 who was obsessed with his own fucked up idea of perfection. This one would have been more effective had the acting been a little better. The main actor looked the part but he lacked the intensity.

Mating Season a.k.a The Cute One is about a couple in 1951 talking about the idea of having an open relationship while camping in the woods. One day they met a young man who they welcomed into their company. This is my favorite. It’s sweet and fluffy with just a hint of paranormal.

Pygmalion Revisited a.k.a The Sad Sad One. is about a modern day artist grieving the loss of his partner. This here was raw grief. The flashbacks of happier days juxtaposed with the present one nearly had me bawling like a baby.

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eCupid

A gay man nearing 30, and in a 7-year relationship rut, taps into an otherworldly Internet ad that starts omnisciently controlling his life.

I first saw this on Youtube, tried to watch it but found it a little bland. Then I tried to watch it again and found it’s not so bad after all. As far as gay rom-com goes, this is one of the okay ones. Marshall was an ass for trying to dump his cute boyfriend and he needs to grovel more.

Vampire Boys

Jasin and his vampire brood’s time is running out. In order for them to survive, Jasin needs to find a mortal to turn into a vampire to spend eternity with. Los Angeles provides plenty of young candidates. The brood has their eyes set on Tara, a young, gorgeous blond college student. Tara is open to the idea of becoming a vampire, but someone else enters the picture to disrupt the brood’s plans. Caleb, a fresh face college student new to Los Angeles, keeps dreaming of a mysterious stranger. At school, Caleb meets the stranger, Jasin, and they have an instant connection. The problem is that time is short, and Jasin needs to convince Caleb that eternity as a vampire can be a very sweet life.

This is so low budget I can’t even!

We are way past overdue for a proper gay vampire movie, Hollywood! Somebody do a big budget remake of this because F4 vampires for the win.

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Devil’s Path

Two men encounter each other on a dangerous gay cruising park trail, and quickly find themselves caught up in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

A twisty suspense thriller that has a lot of running around. Normally I get bored with chase scenes but I really liked that this movie has two very unreliable MCs so it’s pretty unpredictable.

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A group of social gay men welcomes a handsome new guy into the circle of friends, but they fail to notice that friends start disappearing, one by one.

A very tongue in cheek serial killer falls in love story. Not exactly hilarious and I didn’t even get the Youtube jokes but heck, it was cute. Cute’s my jam so…

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I had a great time and would have watched more but my eyes were getting blurry already. I’m happy that the quality of LGBT movies have been improving instead of being relegated to the usual B-movie category. Here’s hoping for more quality LGBT movies.

Are rom-coms your thing? Or are you more into the darker stuff? What’s your favorite LGBT movie?