Fantasia International Film Festival (FIFF) – Queer horror is having a moment. There’s a forthcoming Shudder docuseries on the topic. Meanwhile, “the gayest horror film ever made,” A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, has a cult following, to the point it has a documentary, Scream, Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street. The star of that film, Mark Patton, is now a queer horror icon. In writer/director Carter Smith’s Swallowed, Patton plays a flamboyant crime boss. His campy performance makes this feature worthy of a watch, along with the creative body horror and exploration of queer identity.

The story initially follows friends Benjamin (Cooper Koch) and Dom (Jose Colon), who get caught up in the drug run from hell. Benjamin plans to move to LA to work as a gay porn star. Dom devises a scheme to do a drug run so Benjamin has enough cash for the move. However, everything goes horribly wrong. First, they’re held up at gunpoint by the go-between, Alice (Jena Malone), who forces them to swallow the drugs. Except, the guys don’t down bags of heroin. The bags contain nasty little bugs, which makes for some truly icky body horror. They need to release the goods before they hatch. This leads to some rather uncomfortable moments, especially after a redneck punches Dom in the stomach at a rest stop, causing a problem with the merchandise, thus imperiling Dom’s life.

Smith really crafted a strong first half. Malone, who also starred in Smith’s The Ruins, gives an intense, hard-edged performance. She commands the first forty minutes. The bug premise makes for a nail-biting ride, too, while allowing Dom and Benjamin’s relationship to grow. I guess when your life is in danger, you’re no longer afraid to tell someone how you really feel. However, the film takes quite a tonal shift in the second half that may be offputting to some viewers.

What begins as body horror morphs into survival horror, once Patton’s character Rich arrives. The young men try to escape his predatory clutches after Alice, his sister, dumps them at his isolated cabin. Despite the abrupt shift, Patton gives one heck of a performance and steals the latter half of the film.  While the tonal shift is a bit jarring, the face-off between Rich and Benjamin especially excites. Patton picks up where Malone left off in terms of villainy.  He also delivers some stellar lines, like, “You messed with the wrong queen, bitch!” It’s evident he had fun getting into the over-the-top role. However, this overtakes the deeply personal relationship between Dom and Benjamin which was a focal point for the first half. It’s like that’s dumped for another story.

While Swallowed contains body horror, it isn’t brutal, especially compared to The Ruins. In fact, body horror is more of a trigger to explore the characters and queer identity. But fear not horror fans. There are still some gross-out moments and nerve-jangling scenes. Despite some tonal issues, Swallowed delivers the goods, with stellar performances by Malone and Patton and newcomers Colon and Koch.

Swallowed screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival, happening July 14-August 3.

7 Out of 10