Written by Justin Kelly And D. Madison Savage
Directed by Justin Kelly
Brent: "All right, let's fuck."
Over the last few months, I've been watching different LGBT themed movies and one that was on my list was this one. Yes, I'm familiar with the subject matter in question and I was curious to see how this particular story would be handled.
The results seem to be a bit of a mixed bag. What could've been a provocative thriller turned out to be more TV movie but not necessarily bad in itself. It's just more average at best as the topics of gay porn, owning your brand and murder are dealt with here.
The star of the movie of course was gay porn performer, Sean Paul Lockhart aka Brent Corrigan (Garrett Clayton). This movie opened with his move to Pennsylvania where he told his mother, Janette (Alicia Silverstone) he was doing a paid film internship. In reality, he was embarking on a different film career.
That career being in the adult entertainment industry where he quickly became the muse of Cobra Video director Stephen Kocis (Christian Slater). Going under the name of Brent Corrigan, the former was soon making name for himself in gay porn but also his relationship with Stephen quickly soured when it was clear the latter was underpaying him.
Of course in this day and age with the rise of certain platforms, someone like Brent could cut the middle man out and here, he did wisely several times with Stephen. Unfortunately the latter trademarked the name Brent Corrigan and Sean's involvement with two other sex workers had disastrous results for Stephen.
Yes, the movie tackled the murder of Stephen Kocis (real life Bryan, btw) by faded escort Joe Kerekes (James Franco) and his boyfriend, Harlow Cuedra (Keegan Allen). It's a brutal scene and it was down to Brent's cooperation with the police that both Joe and Harlow were brought to justice for Stephen's death.
By the end of the movie, we did have justice served, a reminder of Brent's innocence in this tragic story and a look into Corrigan's life after the murder itself. However the real Brent Corrigan has also publicly condemned this movie and it's depiction of the events.
- The movie is based on Andrew E. Stoner's book, Cobra Killer: Gay Porn, Murder, and the Manhunt to Bring the Killers to Justice.
- Molly Ringwald also had a decent role as Kocis's sister, Amy.
- Standout music: Scissors Sisters Filthy/Gorgeous, H.U.N.X's Can A Man Hear Me and Hysterics Pleasuredome.
- Chronology: Started in 2004 with Lockhart's first meeting with Kocis as it lead into the latter's murder in 2007.
King Cobra is definitely an oddity of a movie. It had the potential of being a gritty, insightful look into the themes and real life story it covered but the results feel like something you'd get for a TV movie. The performances are serviceable but imagine if a better production had gotten this story with Brent Corrigan on board with it. Very missed potential.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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