Destroying Angel (DVD)

Contains Restored & Controversial Footage Exclusive to the DVD.

Hyperbolic claims that certain films are "unlike anything else" or "have to be seen to be believed" are often overused. Everything can't be that special or different. However, The Destroying Angel, a Hand In Hand classic by legendary director Peter de Rome, is. Not only is it most likely the first gay porn horror film, it's also truly puzzling and disturbing.

Intense, hallucination-filled sex is juxtaposed with a young seminarian's struggle with both his homosexual desires and the lure of the magic mushroom from the Soma plant. At once a cautionary tale (which is a bit of a downer) and a grotesque celebration, The Destroying Angel is one film you have to see to believe. Once you do you won't forget it.

Lithe Tim Kent, who looks a little like 80's comic Emo Phillips, plays Caswell Campbell, a tortured young man who's taking a sabbatical from his training to be a priest. See, he's gay and very much uncomfortable with this fact. He's so uncomfortable that his anxieties have manifest themselves in harrowing visions of a naked, semi-erect man who appears almost everywhere to taunt him with his swollen, sticky cock. This specter, something like an alter ego, is sexually threatening, but he also embodies Campbell's guilty conscience. The alter ego is in many ways a vengeful trickster god. When Campbell brings home the beautiful and hung Bud (played by Bill Eld) for from a bar the spirit mocks Campbell, filling his head with a kaleidoscope of bloody religious images that cause him to freeze up and regret his sexual desires as they are playing out. Bud leaves unsatisfied and scornfully tells Campbell as such.

This first sex scene is a blur of disturbing sights and bloodless, almost brutal sex. Bud chokes Campbell with cock and whips him with a belt— all the while creepy electronic music (an original and near-amazing score by Joe Mann) adds an air of sinister dread. Campbell seems unable to escape the dark visions that tear at his sense of self so he does just what one would think he had to: he submits to them. He eats a mushroom that has inexplicably appeared at bedside and has the first of many, ultimately fatal hallucinations.

Campbell lies on the floor of a dark room, surrounded by six men in skin-tight jeans. They masturbate and suck each other. Campbell reaches for them, but remains on his back in awe. One by one these faceless, sometimes uncut cocks spew massive wads of jizz onto his bucking, sweaty body. He swoons in ecstasy, which is, appropriately, a religious and sexual phenomenon. Campbell's life spirals downward from this point; he can't stop partaking of the Soma plant. His hallucinations become more and more threatening and violent as reality blurs. At one point his alter ego joins him during sex with his friend Grant. It's unclear as to whether or not Campbell can handle this.

The inevitable climax, which is so original and bizarre that I won't reveal it, doesn't clear up any confusion, but it does make a very, very lasting impression.

ON DVD ONLY the scene in which a stud is fucked with a baseball bat has been re-introduced. Not to be missed!

Starring Alain Monceau, Bill Eld (a.k.a. Bill Young), Billy White, Thom Aaron, Tim Kent, Paul Eden, Philip Darden, Rick Scott, Evan De Braye, Gian-Paolo Cotto and Glenn Middleton.

Directed by Peter de Rome.

DVD features include Jump to Your Favorite Scenes; DVD-ROM Compatible; No Regional Coding for World Wide Playback.

A Hand in Hand Films/Bijou Classic on DVD.