Carter Smith’s debut film “The Ruins” was a slight dalliance into the body horror genre that was unnerving but also never went “full Cronenberg” in its approach. The film had great actors, and there was scope and intention, but it ultimately felt a bit hollow. With “Swallowed,” Smith returns to the body horror genre with more intention and a unique approach, but, like “The Ruins,” the film still feels unwilling to embrace its many disparate elements and genres to form a cohesive creature feature.
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Loosely jumping off of Carter Smith’s 2006 short “Bugcrush,” “Swallowed” follows two best friends, Benjamin (Cooper Koch) and Dom (Jose Colon), as they spend a final night together before one leaves for Los Angeles and potential gay porn stardom. In a last-ditch effort to send Benjamin off with some money, Dom agrees to a drug run that ends up being harder to swallow than originally intended and descends into a nightmarish, campy backwoods horror story that’s not for the squeamish.
Once again, Jena Malone returns to Smith’s fold, who plays the drug dealer that Benjamin and Dom meet at the beginning of the story, forcing the two to smuggle drugs by swallowing them before their journey. As always, Malone plays a nasty little badass who nails her part but ends up feeling underserved and underwritten in order to introduce the true villain of the story, played by a thoroughly creepy Mark Patton, known best for his role in “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.” This is the point where the film just can’t hold together and goes from promising queer love/horror story to a strange, corner-cutting cabin in the woods creature feature.
The savior of the film and the beating queer heart within it is the relationship between best friends Benjamin and Dom. Thanks to solid performances from Cooper Koch and Jose Colon, the duo feel immediately authentic and worthy of a full-on will-they-or-won’t-they romance, which the film dabbles with but abandons for other twists and turns. Yes, the relationship helps service the many metaphors in the film; however, those metaphors are so murky and mixed that one can’t help but wish for a clearer picture. What the relationship does allow is for the typical “male gaze” portions of the genre to be flipped on its head to entertaining and sometimes delightfully shocking effect.
Smith’s direction, along with Alexander W. Lewis’ cinematography, are both practical and utilitarian, unlike Smith’s “The Ruins,” which had a larger sense of scale and terror. Their choice to largely opt for handheld photography adds to the lack of control and unease the characters feel from moment to moment. It also certainly helps create an atmosphere in the more stomach-churning and tense portions of the film, but, again, when you’re servicing a fractured script, cinematography can only do so much.
What is “Swallowed” trying to say? The film seems to be wanting to be many things simultaneously. One could make an argument for the film being a giant metaphor for the queer experience or a takedown of the evil capitalistic nature of our society, but it’s hard to tell if it’s one or the other when push comes to shove. Horror fans may find themselves looking past such things in favor of a serviceable queer thriller, but many may wish Smith finally fully commits to the body horror genre as “Swallowed” ends up feeling largely like a half-measure torn between genres that aren’t blended well enough to please genre die-hards or a larger audience. As the title suggests, “Swallowed” gives you something to chew on, but apart from a few shining and delicious morsels, it’s less of a feast and more of an underwhelming meal. [C+]