My Review of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025)

 

Written by Julian Fellowes 

Directed by Simon Curtis 

Lady Mary Crawley (from the trailer):  "Families like our must keep moving to survive and all of your support is more important to me than I can say."

It feels like the moment has been prepared for. In the span of fifteen years, we've had this world encompass six series, five Christmas specials and now three movies. Is it really the end? For now, seemingly so.

Last time we left things, Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) had died and her presence still was felt amongst the characters throughout this movie. Particularly with the ex Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery). Yup, she's a divorced woman and yes, for this era it was a scandal.

Mary being separated from Henry had her thrown out of a party organised by Lady Petersfield (Joely Richardson), much to the annoyance of Robert (Hugh Bonneville) and Cora Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern). Unfortunately as the movie progressed, Robert ended up channeling his anger at Mary for being a divorcee.

Yes, Mary somewhat dominated this last movie. Being a divorced woman made into something of a social pariah but it also made her vulnerable to the scheming conman, Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola). The latter brought into Mary's orbit due to the return of Cora's brother, Harold Levinson (Paul Giamatti). Harold's still a bad businessman by the way but he's at least nice to Mary during the whole movie.

Mary's plight also inspired playwright, Noël Coward (Arty Froushan) to put on a play named Private Lives. Froushan's portrayal of Coward was a big highlight in this movie. We got funny lines, a single song and an implied threeway relationship with him, Thomas Barrow (Robert James Collier) and Guy Dexter (Dominic West). Oh and Molesley (Kevin Doyle) was also rather taken with Noel to boot. He was easily my favourite character that wasn't one of the main family/staff members.

As for the rest of the movie, there's a true passing of the torch moment. Mary took over Downton while Robert and Cora moved into the Dowager's house. There's a beautifully touching final scene that evoked so much of the series rich past. I had a tear when I watched it and it was clever use of archive clips. It might rank as one of my favourite movie moments of 2025.

Elsewhere, the rest of the movie had nice moments with Tom Branson (Allen Leech) and Edith Pelham (Laura Carmichael) and Bertie (Harry Hadden-Paton) truly stepping up for Mary, along with Isobel Grey (Penelope Wilton) and even Daisy (Sophie McShera). Not to mention another look into Mary's relationship with Anna (Joanne Froggatt). As you can tell, this movie was very much Mary's from beginning to end and no, that wasn't a bad thing at all. Let the divorced diva be lady of the manor for a good few years. 

- Henry cheated on Mary with another woman but hired a different one for the separation to be made official. All because Matthew Goode had scheduling conflicts for these movies.

- Cora and Harry's mother, Martha (Shirley McLaine) died between movies. There's also a tribute to Maggie Smith at the end of the movie.

- Anna and Mr Bates (Brendan Coyle) were expecting another child, while Molesley/Miss Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) and Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol)/Mr Mason (Paul Copley) got married between movies.

- Andy (Michael C Fox) succeeded Mr Carson (Jim Carter) as butler and there was some nice scenes with the latter and Mrs Carson (Phyllis Logan). Sir Hector Moorland (Simon Russell Beale) was also a minor thorn for Mary.

- Standout music: Arty Froushan's Poor Little Rich Girl.

- Chronology: 1930 at Downton Abbey for the majority of the movie as well London.

For a finale, I think Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale truly stuck the landing. It's a beautiful ending (for now) for this world and it had so many gorgeous character moments, dialogue and that last scene truly made the movie for me.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Saltburn (2023)

 

Written And Directed by Emerald Fennell

Oliver: "I wasn't in love with him. I know everybody thought I was but I wasn't. I loved him of course. It was impossible not to love Felix. And that was part of the problem."

Getting out of the festive phase and into some award contenders, I got around to watching this intriguing piece last night. Some seem to adore this movie, others not so much. I'm kind of somewhere in the middle with this one.

As a filmmaker, Emerald Fennell certainly wants to push boundaries and her previous effort, Promising Young Woman definitely evoked it's own controversy three years ago. This film definitely tried to push the edge but a part of me also thought it was slightly holding back too in a way.

The movie has Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, a middle class genius struggling to forge connections at Oxford until he happened to get very friendly with popular posh boy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Actually scratch "friendly" and just say "full on obsessed" because that's exactly how Oliver became towards Felix in a relatively short space of time.

It's not long before personal tragedy gets Oliver an invite at Felix's home, the Saltburn manor and even in less time Oliver was making an impression on Felix's family. Notably cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) as the latter was openly hostile to Oliver, trying to humiliate him at every turn before Oliver managed to get Farleigh ousted from the manor.

Oliver's trail of destruction was pretty fascinating to watch, especially following Felix quickly realising that his new friend lied about his family situation. With Oliver's obsession intensified, it didn't exactly end well for Felix and one by one, the remaining Catton family members were taken out of the equation.

Both Felix's sister Venetia (Alison Oliver) and father James (Richard E. Grant) cottoned on too late to Oliver destroying the family. However it was Felix's mother, Elspeth (Rosamund Pike) who had become too enamoured with Oliver with disastrous results. Let's just say the movie ended with Oliver getting rewarded for eating the rich.

- There's a fun appearance from Carey Mulligan as Elspeth's friend, Pamela, who none of the Cattons actually liked.

- The Brideshead Revisited and Maurice influences are rather deliberate as both books influenced Fennell's writing for the movie.

- Standout music: Of course it's going to Sophie Ellis-Baxter's Murder On The Dancefloor. For the most obvious reasons.

- Chronology: The movie started in 2006 with the majority of it then moving into summer 2007.

Saltburn might be one of the more interesting movies I've watched this year. In terms of performance, Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike and Carey Mulligan (brief as the latter was) stood out the most, though no one slouched here. It's a film that wants to be provocative and daring and in some ways, it does achieve that but at the same time, you definitely think they could've pushed it a bit further as well. Saying that I did this little bit of crazy decadence nonetheless.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of It's A Wonderful Knife (2023)

 

Written by Michael Kennedy

Directed by Tyler MacIntyre

Winnie: "I stood under the Aurora and said everyone would be better off if I never existed. Well, wish granted."

Oh Christmas time, and yes, more horror themed festive delights will be watched and reviewed this month, is one for LGBT fans. So a festive queer themed horror film it is and with an interesting title, which obviously evokes a certain Christmas classic.

We've got a lovely small town named Angel Falls where a shifty but campy Mayor Henry Waters (Justin Long) is trying to take over the town, bit by bit while eating into every property he can get, no matter what. When one person refuses his power grab, Henry dons a white costume and goes on a massive killing spree.

Yup, from the start it was clear as day that Henry was going to be the killer but what I hadn't anticipated that after killing both poor Roger (William B. Davis) and his granddaughter Cara (Hana Huggins) that the killer would be taken out by local girl Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop). For that to happen so early in the movie meant there had to be a twist, right?

Of course there was. A year passed, Winnie couldn't get over her friend being murdered and her family's attempts to move from the killing annoyed her enough to make an unwise wish during an Aurora Borealis. Simply put, Winnie rewrote history and it had major consequences. 

Her family were splintered for starters. Her mother Judy (Erin Boyes) was sleeping around while her father David (Joel McHale) was not only mean spirited and distant but in this world, he was severely under Henry's thumb. Not to mention the fact that Jimmy (Aiden Howard) died in this world and Winnie's not even a Carruthers. It does show to be very specific when making wishes.

Fortunately for Winnie, the town pariah Bernie (Jess McLeod) turned out to be the very person she could rely on to help free the town of Henry's grasp and return to her own timeline. Along the way also being a very sweet and nicely earned romance between the two of them.

- The killer costume was an abandoned idea for the original Ghostface in the Scream franchise. There are a lot of nods to this franchise here.

- Shout out to Katharine Isabelle as Winnie's aunt, Gale Prescott. Gale, Jimmy and Winnie made up the LGBT characters along with Bernie, Karen, Henry and maybe Buck.

- Standout music: Carol Of The Bells, Holy F*cking Sh*t It's Christmas and Joy 2 The Girls.

- Chronology: A year passes within the movie itself.

It's A Wonderful Knife turned out to be the surprise delight, playing with familiar themes while doing something very fun with them too. Great performances from Jane Widdop and Justin Long, nice bits of gore,a visually cool killer costume and a sweet romantic subplot made this a great watch.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Horror Hunks - Final Guys, Bad Guys And So On

It's Halloween 🎃 and the end of the month. I've indulged in plenty of horror movies this month. For my final blog, I thought I'd do something a little different. Here's a rundown of some of my favourite guys in the genre. Enjoy.

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) - Psycho (1960-1990)

He might be an unstable mama's boy but who can resist the unhinged motel owner? Or at the very least the gorgeous Anthony Perkins.

Dewey Riley (David Arquette) - Scream series (1996-2022)

Every franchise needs it's sensible and collected player and for five movies in the franchise, we had everyday hero Dewey Riley. Still not happy about his death.

Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman/John Shepherd/Thom Mathews) - Friday The 13th series (1984-1986)

Tommy Jarvis was the closest to a proper foil that Jason Voorhees had in this franchise and any future revival should absolutely cast a fourth actor in the role. Best character in that franchise outside of Jason and his mommy.

Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) - A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

The guy can scream louder than anyone should, even in in distress but Jesse Walsh is one of the iconic Final Boys. In a movie that's pretty explicitly gay coded throughout.

Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) 

Dodgy attempts of an English accent to one side, there's something very delectable about Keanu Reeves in arguably the most thankless role in the bestest live action adaptation of this classic tale. He's a dreamboat here.

Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) - Halloween Ends (2022)

I don't care what other fans of the franchise say. Not only did I genuinely last year's conclusion to the Blumhouse trilogy but Corey Cunningham was one of the best new characters introduced to the franchise.

Andrew (Ben Aldridge) - Knock At The Cabin (2023)

The faithless human rights lawyer turned sort of action man and unwitting husband killer. The guy went through a fricking lot in one movie. Hot guy though.

Eddie (Dylan Fergus) - Hellbent (2004)

I know this might be a niche, given that's it's a movie only a small audience has heard but I had to include a character from it. The good boy desk cop who copped off with a hunky bad boy while surviving a hunky killer felt like the right choice.

Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) - Fright Night (1985)

It wouldn't be a Horror Hunks list without at least one vampire in the mix. My choice would be the bad boy next door neighbor who had too much fun in tormenting Charley Brewster and seducing his girlfriend. 

Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait) - The Covenant (2006)

Oftentimes I refer to this movie as the boy version of The Craft as it's largely the same plot/similar enough. Now I love Sebastian Stan's sexy bad boy in it but Steven Strait's equally sexy good boy is also a delight too. 

Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) - Gremlins series (1984-1990, 2023)

Yes, this might be more light-hearted family friendly horror compared to some of the others on here, but it still counts. I always liked Billy Peltzer as a character and found him rather sexy moreso in the underrated sequel to this franchise.

Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) - Rope (1948)

There's many a fascinating performance and character in this Alfred Hitchcock classic. None more than Farley Granger's eternally twitchy posh boy killer, Philip Morgan. Oh and he can tinkle the old ivories pretty well too.

John Constantine (Matt Ryan) - Constantine/Legends Of Tomorrow/DCAU (2014-2022)

Saving the best for last. There was no way I was going to do this type of blog and not include the best horror male. Of course I had to specifically reference Matt Ryan's sublime version of John Constantine. The man set the gold standard and is the ultimate horror hunk for me.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Agree/disagree, let me know, lol. Oh and Happy Halloween 🎃

My Review of Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)

 

Written by Casey McQuiston And Matthew Lopez And Ted Malawer

Directed by Matthew Lopez 

Prince Henry: "Please be patient with me, and I promise I wil try and be brave for us. Because when they write the history of my life, I want it to include you and my love for you."

Alex: "History, huh? Bet we could make some."

I guess August 2023 really has been the month for the YA LGBT audience. First with the release of Season 2 of Heartstopper, and now with the adaptation of Casey McQuiston's of Red, White & Royal Blue. I have never read the book, so my review clearly won't be too influenced by it. Well, maybe a tiny bit.

Anyways the premise of this movie played on the classic trope of "enemies/rivals to lovers" and it's certainly a fun one to watch. On one hand you have the son of the US female President and on the other hand, you have the "spare" Prince of the Royal Family. Such a culture clash already.

Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar-Perez) started the movie with an immense dislike for Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) and it's pretty mutual. Following the wedding of the latter's brother and an incident with both Alex and Henry having a massive cake crash on them, it's up to a swift PR campaign to get the two of them to appear like best friends.

The fun part was the movie moving swiftly past their initial rivalry (something involving Alex mishearing a past conversation from Henry) to a full on texting friendship. Then there was a New Year's Eve party that had the two share their first kiss.

Now with this being in the YA genre, I think some were hoping the R-rating this movie got would mean that we were going to get more explicit sex scenes between Alex and Henry as their relationship blossomed but what we got was something on between. Slightly more racy than the average YA adaptation but not quite on a HBO level either. For me, it was just fine.

The chemistry with Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar-Perez was absolutely spot on and while there's an abundance of cheesy dialogue and some serious logic gaps with the overall politics and royalty bits, I absolutely bought the love story with Alex and Henry and their perspectives too in relation to coming out. 

Alex does have a somewhat easier time coming out as a bisexual man. He got the support system with his President mother, Ellen (Uma Thurman), his father, Oscar (Clifton Collins, Jr) and best friend, Nora (Rachel Hilson). Saying that though, there's a foil for him with a reporter ex-boyfriend, Miguel (Juan Castano) who had zero problem outing Alex and Henry's relationship. 

As for Henry, yes it's the oligation of being a Royal and not being allowed to love who he wants to. Something that's driven into by his married brother, Phillip (Thomas Flynn) and his somewhat homophobic grandfather, King James III (Stephen Fry). Still though Henry had a supportive sister in Beatrice (Ellie Bamber) and the movie certainly ended on a very happy note between Henry and Alex. All's well that ends well would be the order of the day.

- Shout out to to Sarah Shahi for her performances as Zahra, who got a lot of funny one liners here.

- Doctor Who connections aside from Stephen Fry included Jemma Redgrave as the narrator and Sharon D. Clarke as the UK Prime Minister.

- Casey McQuiston did have a cameo in the movie and there's a scene where Alex was reading her other book, One Last Stop. I assume Amazon intend to adapt that too.

- The post credit scene was a reaction to Alex and Henry having the cake fall on them.

- Standout music: Up The Hill Backwards by David Bowie (Henry's dog is named after him), Piano Sonata No. 11 in AK 331 by Alfred Brendel and Fruit by Oliver Sim.

- Chronology: 2023 and 2024, given the re-election of Ellen Claremont. 

Red, White & Royal Blue did basically everything I expected of it and my expectations were moderate to begin. It's a light, frothy but feel good movie aimed at a younger audience than me and I think it succeeded there. Great chemistry with Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar-Perez, some good intimate scenes with Alex and Henry and a cute ending. That's all it needed to do and it did it well. 

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Cruising (1980)

 

Written And Directed by William Friedkin

Steve: "There's a lot you don't know about me."

This film was on my list for a while to rewatch, especially after doing a recent rewatch of American Horror Story: NYC. To say this happened to be a movie with a very mixed reception within the gay community would be an understatement. It's not exactly an affirming movie of sorts.

In fact, at the time of it's release and based on a novel from 1970 of the same name, Cruising was a movie largely criticised for it's misrepresentation of the BDSM community. Have watched it properly today, it's not hard to see where those criticisms stem from.

Saying that, in spite of its poor representation, it's also a vital piece of gay cinema, focusing on a serial killer targeting gay men and an undercover cop out to stop the killer. Of course, there's also a rather strange ending and the cop in question getting a crash course into a world they otherwise would've been perfectly oblivious to had they not been picked for this particular assignment.

The cop being Steve Burns (Al Pacino), a fairly average guy with a nice girlfriend named Nancy (Karen Allen)  but he has ambitions to be a detective. It was something his boss, Captain Edelstein (Paul Sorvino) was able to play on as Steve relocated to the Meatpacking District in order to scope out the killer.

While Steve poorly try to integrate himself into the gay community and night scene (his cluelessness somewhat sticking out like a sore thumb in various scenes), the only connection he managed to make was being friends with playwright Ted Bailey (Don Scardino) while basically pissing off everyone else.

As Steve tried to find the killer, he falsely believed a headstrong waiter named Skip Lee (Jay Acovone) was the killer, only for a rather unusual style interrogate involving a big cowboy slapping the shit out of Skip to prove otherwise. However the killer did make their presence known as the movie came to its odd conclusion.

The killer of course being a schizophrenic musical student named Stuart Richards (Richard Cox) who ended up getting stabbed by Steve in self defence before being arrested for the murders of the movie. What's odd about the movie's ending was watching a newly promoted to detective Steve back at his girlfriend's apartment, finishing off his shaving and staring at the camera, indicating something darker about him than when the movie started with him.

- The victims of the movie included Loren Lukas (Arnaldo Santana), Eric Rossman (Larry Atlas) and Martino (Steve Inwood). Ted would also end up dead with his roommate Gregory (James Remar) falsely accused of it.

- The source material for this movie was a book of the same name by The New York Times magazine editor Gerard Walker. though the protagonist in that was called John Lynch.

- The legacy of this movie has included some of Robert Mapplethorpe's work as wel as the documentary Interior: Leather Bar.

- Chronology: 1970s New York. At one point, Steve mentions being from the Bronx.

Cruising has certainly earned it's mixed reputation for gay cinema but it's a fascinating movie, albeit compounded by a rather frustrating ending. Still though, a great central performance from Al Pacino does make it a must see. 

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Last Ferry (2019)

 

Written by Ramon O. Torres

Directed by Jaki Bradley

Stranger (to Joseph): "Work on your lies little lawyer and friendly tip: no one goes to the meat rack any more."

After the massive misfire that was Fire Island (2023) I thought it was time to go and watch the movie with the same location in question, a similarly decent protagonist and in some respects, it's a case of more of the same. Except this movie came beforehand.

Anyways, our protagonist this time around was a gay lawyer named Joseph (Ramon O. Torres) who decided that he needed a hook up. His solution was to go to Fire Island for that, but he chose the off season, which was the least terrible thing to happen to him in this movie.

While brooding over his career future and a brief phone call to his mother, disaster them followed Joseph like a bad smell. The first being Joseph getting tricked into drinking drugged water and getting mugged by a guy and that guy would later try th same trick on someone a lot more prepared than Joseph.

Then in his drugged state, Joseph only went and witnessed a murder but before he could anything about it, the killer chased him and Joseph passed out. Fortunately for Joseph though, he seemed to have acquired a saviour of sorts named Cameron (Sheldon Best).

The movie then had Joseph staying with Cameron and the latter's friends but as characters, they're mostly harmless ciphers. Except for Rafael (Myles Clohessy) who spent most of his screen time generally being grouchy and drunk as the result of a break up. Needless to say both Rafael and Joseph didn't hit it off while Joseph and Cameron got a lot more intimately acquainted by the second half.

However any hopes of Joseph enjoying his badly timed vacation went out the window when it was revealed that Rafael was a killer and Cameron an accomplice/general enabled. Needless to say, Joseph nearly ended up dead but didn't and this movie ended on a rather weird and abrupt note.

- Ramon O. Torres who played by Joseph also wrote the script for the movie.

- Myles Clohessy who played Rafael did go on to co-write and direct Fire Island (2023). Tonally these two movies are very similar to one another.

-  Apparently the movie drew influences from The Wailing (2010) and Stranger By The Lake (2013).

- Chronology: The off season for Fire Island. 

Last Ferry has its moments as a movie and I think there's a solid central performance from Ramon O. Torres but it's also very undercooked with little development in the central threat itself. An extra few minutes and a clearer ending would've done wonders for this overall decent LGBT mystery.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Rope (1948)

 

Written by Hume Cronyn And Arthur Laurents

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Brandon: "What are you doing?"

Rupert: "It's not what I'm going to do, Brandon. It's what society is going to do. I don't know what that will be but I can guess and I can help. You're going to die, Brandon. Both of you. You are going to die."

Continuing with the Pride Month related blogs and we have this classic from 1948, which might one of the earliest homoerotic thrillers from way back when and all in one setting too. Two rich boys, one murder, a party and the wrong guest invited. Yup, it doesn't get any thrilling than this one.

The rich boys in question being the rather sociopathic Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and his his musically talented but eternally stressed cohort, Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) open the movie by strangling to death their former classmate David Kentley (Dick Hogan). Then they hide his body in a chest and decide to throw a party as Brandon feeling the exhilaration of a kill wanted to push his luck that much further with Philip feeling the exact opposite.

Yes, while both men partook in a murder, the way in which both of them react to said murder was night and day. While Brandon felt nothing but joy and rationalise than any inferior human was worth killing, Philip spent the entire movie being a nervous wreck and making the pair of them look suspicious to all their guests.

Speaking of the guests, they all had their parts to play, especially given why Brandon specifically selected them for the strangest of parties. There was David's father, Henry (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) , his aunt Anita Atwater (Constance Collier), former friend Kenneth Lawrence (Douglas Dick) as well as David's lover, Janet Walker (Joan Chandler), who was an ex of both Kenneth and even Brandon. 

Of course while these characters and housekeeper Mrs Wilson (Edith Evanson) were all fantastic characters and unwitting pawns for Brandon's vanity, there was one person he would've been better off not inviting. Even Philip knew it was a bad idea and Brandon ignored him.

The person being of course, former prep school house master Rupert Cadell (James Stewart) whose very presence elevated what was already a fantastic movie. Brandon made the mistake of believing that Rupert's own commentary for acceptable murder would work to his advantage, only for Rupert and an increasingly erratic Philip to be his very downfall.

The movie raises the questions of intellectual superiority with people like Henry actively showing their disdain for Brandon's callous attitude to human life while Rupert was forced to regret his own unintentional part in encouraging both Brandon and Philip's experiment. For men who used rope to end a life, the uncovery of it along with gun shots into the air ended theirs too in a poetic final scene.

- Anita could read palms but didn't detect that Philip had killed her nephew though. Philip also knows how to strangle a chicken.

- The homoeroticism with both Brandon and Philip was off the charts as they largely squabbled like an old married couple. Both John Dall and Farley Granger came out later as well. Dall was gay along with writer Laurents while Granger was bisexual.

- The inspiration for this movie did come from a real life murder than happened in 1924, though it's adapted from a play from 1929.

- Chronology: I'm assuming the year of it's release. The film was set in Manhattan. Both Brandon and Philip never made it to Connecticut.

Rope is an absolute triumph in every sense of the word. One of the most experimental movies from Alfred Hitchcock and totally absorbing from start to finish. The performances from John Dall, Farley Granger and James Stewart are immense to watch. Gripping stuff.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Fire Island (2023)

 

Written by Myles Clohessy And Emma Harrell And Phil Harrell

Directed by Myles Clohessy

Rafael (to Troy): "If I can't have you, no one will."

I said earlier in the month that I'd be doing more LGBT themed blogs for Pride Month and I meant. This movie wasn't even remotely on my radar until a few hours ago and I wish this was a positive review but eh, it's not gonna be I'm afraid.

Last year we had a romcom movie of the same name that had a nice positive buzz to it and a few months after it, we had American Horror Story: NYC, which had it's own Fire Island themed episode. Both of those were much more entertaining than what was on display here.

The movie opened with a young girl being killed by a mystery killer and then we cut to Troy (Connor Paolo), the closest to a protagonist the movie has. He's heartbroken over a former boyfriend who killed himself during the pandemic and it's the last bit that I take a little issue with.

Most movies and shows in the last three years have largely handled COVID as a main plot badly and here it's no different. Anyways, Troy got himself roped into visiting the titular island by his friends, comprising of a lesbian couple and a bisexual woman with her boyfriend, unaware it's a holiday they won't survive.

One by one, each of the characters are bumped off by a killer who's revealed to be some random guy named Rafael (Jonathan Bennett). Rafael's taken a fancy to Troy and wants the latter to stay with him. Troy's less keen on the idea and does make an effort to get away from his homicidal admirer. You can take a wild guess as to what eventually happened to Troy and it's the least of the movie's problems.

Now I'm all for more gay themed horror and while I'm not always expecting something a little deeper, this movie had some interesting ideas that it just badly utilised. The COVID commentary felt a tad too late and Rafael definitely lacked for a horror baddie. I didn't find him scary and he wasn't campy in a fun way either. However he did come out on top though, so he had that in his favour.

- Other characters in the movie included a creepy Irish guy spooking out Troy, an older gay couple named Jason and Wes (killed), a determined detective named Santino (also killed) and another friend group for Rafael to target.

- Nice shout out to Mean Girls, given the actor playing Rafael as well as a Batman reference because why wouldn't you?

- Connor Paolo can sing pleasantly enough and even played the guitar during a bar scene. 

- Chronology: It was set during the pandemic with characters wearing masks and talking about isolating at times in the movie.

Fire Island could've been an entetaining enough horror romp but it's largely a bit of a mess with most of the actors on autopilot (Connor Paolo being the only one to make an effort), the scares sorely lacking and yes, I know it sounds shallow but a little bit of guy on guy wouldn't have hurt either. I wouldn't say avoid but it's definitely not a must see either.

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of Thrive (2019)

 

Written And Directed by Jamie DiSpirito

Alex: "I'm glad you left your medication out."

Joe: "Yeah, me too."

It's officially Pride month so I thought it'd be appropriate if my first blog for the month was something gay themed and this short movie from a few years back was something I've been meaning to watch for a while.

Today seemed like the perfect day to do so and having finished it, it's a rather topical short film about a morning hook up with two strangers who end up bonding over something they both have in common. The thing being that both men are HIV positive.

The short movie takes place from the perspective of Joe (Taofique Folarin) who invited Alex (Ben Aldridge) over for sex and seemed eager to get rid of him when Alex suggested a coffee. However before Alex left the building, he confronted Joe about having HIV.

This wasn't a case for judgement but more empathy. Alex expressed interest in Joe telling him about being HIV positive before revealing that he was too, along with the fact that he had a long term boyfriend aware of his condition. 

What went from a simple hook up resulted in both Joe and Alex bonding over their experiences as HIV positive men that Joe agreed to that coffee date by the end of the movie, along with Alex devising an alternative way to revealing to someone about having HIV. I thought that scene in particular was quietly effective.

- Joe was an English student and Alex in digital marketing. The former has had HIV for a month while the latter for eleven years.

- I could be wrong but this short film might be have been one of the first gay roles that Ben Aldridge has played. Since then there's been The Long Call, Spoiler Alert and Knock At The Cabin.

- This movie really is short, clockingin at nearly 17 minutes long in one apartment.

- Chronology: I'm assuming 2019, given when it was released. It's available to watch on Mubi.

Thrive made for a solid short film with nice performances from both lead actors (as well as a nice but brief sex scene between Alex and Joe) while offering a somewhat different perspective to the topic at hand. It's worth a watch.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Swallowed (2022)

 

Written And Directed by Carter Smith

Benjamin (to Thee Suburbia): "I'm just grateful to everyone who believed in me and helped me to get to where I am today."

Well, I was craving a little more queer horror and while this one definitely isn't as mainstream as oh say, Knock At The Cabin, there's at least a similar setting for this movie, but everything else here was vastly different and a little a bit gnarly too.

Best friends Benjamin (Cooper Koch) and Dom (Jose Colon) are having one last night of fun before the latter headed to LA to make a name for himself in the gay porn industry. Dom's such a supportive friend (but supposedly straight) that he wanted to earn a little extra cash to help Benjamin fund his new life. It's a nice gesture. Unfortunately Dom's means of wanting to help his friend was fraught with disaster.

The means being something of the drug smuggling kind where Dom's contact Alice (Jena Malone) forced both Dom and Benjamin to swallow the bag of drugs and extract them at a rest stop, only for an encounter with a homophobic redneck to complicate an already messy situation. Needless to say, Alice wasn't best pleased with said complication.

The complication being that the drug in question are actually a larvae that has a venom with certain side effects. Those effect included both an unwanted erection and paralysis and sadly for Dom, not only does he suffer from both of them when the larvae actually breaks out of it's cocoon inside but there's also the problem of Alice's actual boss as well, who made his presence known towards the second half of the movie.

The boss being Rich (Mark Patton) - a rather trigger happy, easily slighted and paranoid gay man who also wasted little time in taking Alice out of the equation, showing false sympathy upon Dom dying while also getting a little too letchy with Benjamin for his own good. Of course Benjamin was also savvy enough to use Rich's fixation on him to his advantage. 

Let's just say, there's a great scene of cat and mouse between Benjamin and Rich and while the latter isn't remotely intimidating as a villain, there's a certain camp-ish to Rich nonetheless. Not to mention a rather satisfying ruthlessness to Benjamin as he managed to avenge his friend's death, give Rich his just desserts, offer some peace to Dom and fulfilled his goals during a post credit scene that kept cutting throughout the credits themselves.

- The credits saw Benjamin being interviewed by Thee Suburbia at the Squirty Awards for the movie Backwoods Boy Bangs.

- This is the second LGBT movie that Cooper Koch has been in with a similar wooded setting. The other one being They/Them, which I will get round to at some point.

- Queer horror fans will largely know Mark Patton from A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. 

- Chronology: I'm gonna assume 2022 as in the year of it's release.

Swallowed certainly had it's gross moments with it's premise and while some of the acting was a little hammy in parts, I found this movie to be a lot of fun. Overall, Cooper Koch has the potential to be a queer horror final boy and I hope there's more of him in this genre to come.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Firebird (2021)

 

Written by Peeter Rebane And Tom Prior

Directed by Peeter Rebane

Roman: "Who would've thought it? Actors and pilots getting along so well."

Sergey: "I can't imagine it any other way."

I was going to leave this movie until Pride month but something just told me to finally sit down and watch it, which I did this afternoon and I'm really glad I did. A love story under a military backstory and forbidden passion between two men and it's beautifully handled.

Based on the memoir, The Story Of Roman by Sergey Fetisov, British actor Tom Prior put on his best accent to play Sergey Serebrennikov. In this movie, Sergey was a young private in the last few weeks of his military service for the Soviet Air Force. Sergey also had aspirations to be an actor but before he could leave the Air Force, a certain someone came into his life.

The certain someone in question being his superior officer,  Roman Matvejev (Oleg Zagorodnni) and it's not long before both Sergey and Roman find a common ground in photography, theatre and a mutual attraction towards one another, initiated by Roman himself and as quickly reciprocated by Sergey. The two of them fall madly in love with one another, but their relationship became fraught with risk of imprisonment for Roman, due to an overzealous commanding officer desperate to out the couple.

As the movie progressed, Sergey had left the Air Force and had gone to Moscow to try his hand at acting while Roman had married base secretary Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya) and fathered a child with her. However despite trying to distance himself from Sergey, Roman found himself heading to Moscow in order to reignite their relationship.

It's from here where things had gotten far more complicated with the pair.At first, Sergey wasn't keen on getting back with Roman but when they did reunite, we saw them effectively living as a couple with vacations. On top of that, we also Sergey revealing a dark secret about a childhood friend of his that certainly provided some context to earlier scenes in the movie.

Sergey also wanted more than Roman was willing to give and a party soon saw the pair's relationship being outed by a former friend of Sergey. This resulted in Roman's marriage to Luisa predictably falling apart with the former also heading on a mission to Afghanistan with tragic results.

The fallout of Roman's death saw both Sergey and Luisa forced to confront the truth about the man they both loved and lost with an equal amount of sympathy being given to both of them for their loss. The final scene with Sergey at a production of The Firebird ended the movie on something of a bittersweet but heartfelt note.

- Tom Prior who played Sergey, co-wrote and co-produced the movie with director Peeter Rabane. The director also has a brief appearance onscreen at the end of the movie.

- We see Sergey in a production of Hamlet after he left the Air Force. He referenced Shakespeare a bit. 

- Standout music: Boney M's Rasputin as well as Kino's Bezdel'nik number 1 and The Seasons by Tchaikovsky.

-  Chronology: From 1977 into the 1980s for this movie. 

Firebird is a beautiful love story, loving brought to life by director Peeter Rabane, as well as both Tom Prior and Oleg Zagorodnni, both of whom give compelling performances as Sergey and Roman alike, with excellent chemistry and some lovely romantic scenes together. The story might take a tragic turn but this was definitely a worthwhile film to watch. Highly recommended.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Spoiler Alert (2022)

 

Written by David Marshall Grant And Dan Savage 

Directed by Michael Showalter

Michael (re Kit): "I wanted our story to be a picture perfect happy ending love story but what we got was a real love story."

Love stories and television shows I suppose could go hand in hand and here, it's almost like the perfect marriage of both. You have a love story between television journalist Michael Ausiello (Jim Parsons) and photographer Christopher 'Kit' Cowan (Ben Aldridge) and it's a relationship that we get to see unfold in this movie.

Based on Ausiello's own book, Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, we open with Michael during Kit's last few moments in the hospital where he died to a trip down memory lane as Michael showed a bit of his past and close relationship with his mother, Mrs. Ausiello (Tara Summers). Therr's a few moments in this move where Michael's childhood was looked at through the prism of a sitcom and it's pretty effective.

Of course the main story here does involve his relationship with Kit and their first meeting definitely wouldn't feel out of place of a romcom with a charming meet cute at a bar with the both of them. A meeting becomes a date and soon enough they're actually dating. If a Smurf collection cannot pull the pair apart, then nothing can. Except of course, the big C itself.

Kit's diagnosis happened within the second half of the movie during a time where him and Michael had been together for over a decade but had been living apart due to issues on both sides. We saw Michael do everything in his power to help Kit fight his cancer to little avail while also getting time to know both of Kit's parents, Marilyn (Sally Field) and Bob (Bill Irwin), both of whom were a massive support to the couple.

I'm not gonna lie. I do follow Ausiello on Twitter, due to him being a television journalist and vaguely knew about his relationship with Kit and the book this movie adapted. Their relationship onscreen was presented as two people, fairly different to one another who fell in love and had thirteen years together. It's a relationship that like many had it's ups and downs but one where two people were clearly in love with the other.

I think both Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge had a task on them to get this right and both of them absolutely rose to the challenge here. They had believable chemistry with one another and the moment where Kit died was absolutely heartbreaking to watch with both actors giving it their all. Then there was Michael's eulogy itself, adding to the poignancy of his love for Kit.

This movie might be a condensed version of a relationship spanning the length it did but I do feel like it did a great job of telling everything it needed to do. Seeing both Michael and Kit fall in love with each other, go through the odds they went through. I don't class myself as a romantic person but this was definitely a beautiful but very human love story to watch and I may have shed a tear too.

- Smurfs aside, Michael had a thing for both Gilmore Girls and Felicity while both him and Kit were fans of Rupaul's Drag Race. Kit was also a fan of magic as a kid.

- Kit did have an affair with a co-worker named Sebastian, played by Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski. Michael likening him to Tom Daley was amusing.

- Standout music: Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head and Robyn's Dancing On My Own.

- Chronology: Aside from scenes from Michael's childhood, the movie itself spans from 2001 to 2015. Christmas factored a lot in this movie.

Spoiler Alert really was a perfect depiction of Michael and Kit's relationship, fantastically brought to life by the script and direction, but especially the knockout performances from both Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge as well as the always wonderful to watch Sally Field. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Knock At The Cabin (2023)

 

Written by M. Night Shyamalan And Steve Desmond And Michael Sherman

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Leonard (to Andrew/Eric): "It's time for the next sacrifice. Are you willing to make a choice?"

As a gay guy who loves the horror genre, the one thing I've wanted was more was to have prominent LGBT characters front and centre with LGBT actors in the roles while at the same time giving us a quality movie. With this entry from M. Night Shyamalan, I more or less got that wish here.

Focusing on a gay couple named Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), this apocalyptic themed outing based on Paul Tremblay's book, The Cabin At The End OF The World saw the pair taking a vacation in in the titular cabin with their eight old year daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui), only to find that a break away from their city lives attracted some very unwanted visitors too.

The visitors being mild mannered grade school teacher, Leonard (Dave Bautista), nurse Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), single mother and line cook, Adriane (Abby Quinn) and gas company man, Raymond (Rupert Grint). The foursome are convinced that the world will end and the only way to save will be for Andrew, Eric and Wen to make a horrible sacrifice.

Needless to say, both Andrew and Eric (who spend a fair chunk of the movie tied up) have somewhat different thoughts about the pickle they've been placed in. Andrew's completely skeptical of Leonard's doom mongering prophecy and believed him to be a charlatan and challenged Leonard at every turn. This included Andrew getting free and coming close to nearly killing Leonard before the latter took himself out of the equation, so to speak.

Then there was Eric. Unlike Andrew, Eric did believe in Leonard's bad omen and at first it did seem like he had been influenced by largely being concussed but as the final few minutes unfolded, it became sort of clear that perhaps Leonard had a point. If you've read the book, you'd know what the outcome of this movie would be. However, things were changed and it's probably a change that made sense for the general audience if nothing else.

It's a change that I'm not too mad about but one that might divide fans of the book or even Andrew and Eric here. As a couple, there's good chemistry between Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff. Also while I appreciated the use of flashbacks to flesh out their relationship, I do wish we had seen a bit more intimacy with the pair of them. Saying that, this does seem like a better step forward for mainstream gay couples in the genre, so there's that.

As for the doomsday guys in question, both Leonard and Sabrina were the only two that the movie dedicated enough time on and both Dave Bautista and Nikki Amuka-Bird were excellent. I did feel a bit bad for Adriane but Raymond (or Rory) was definitely the most antagonistic of the group before his rather quick demise. 

- This is the second movie from Shyalaman to be an R-Rated one. There's a bit of a Tarantino influence as well with certain scenes.

- Each of the strangers wore a different colour (Leonard/white, Sabrina/yellow, Raymond/red and Adriane/blue) to represent being one of the horsemen of the apocalypse.

- Standout music: Boogie Shoes certainly got used in a rather interesting way, especially towards the end of the movie.

- Chronology: I'm going to assume 2023 for most of this movie.

Knock At The Cabin made for a tense thriller with excellent performances from Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff, Dave Bautista and Nikki Amuka-Bird. Shyalaman (who even had a brief cameo in the ,movie) delivered with the script and this will probably be regarded as one of his stronger of movies.

Rating: 8 out of 10

2022: Year In Review

Final blog of the year and fittingly enough, it's one where I run down some of the shows that piqued my interest. 

Without further ado, here goes. It's not in a specific order and yes, there are some shows that didn't make my list because I didn't like them or watch them, lol.

House Of The Dragon (HBO): Easily my favourite show of the year. This prequel series breathed some old life into George RR Martin's ongoing Fire & Ice saga.

American Horror Story: NYC (FX): This season might have shamelessly ripped off Cruising with a side order of Angels In America but it also delivered one of the best seasons in it's eleven year run.

The White Lotus (HBO): Moving from Hawaii to Sicily certainly proved this series wasn't a flash in a pan with this season proving to be even better than the first one. 

Stranger Things (Netflix): The fourth season saw the gang going up against Vecna and delivered their best season yet. 

Interview With The Vampire (AMC): A beautiful retelling of the classic book/movie, which managed to up the gay content and then some. 

Pam & Tommy (Hulu): Lily James and Sebastian Stan both  delivered with their performances as the consequences of a sex tape played out for the world.

Doctor Who (BBC1): Specifically The Power Of The Doctor. An excellent bit of fanservice to end Jodie Whittaker's era while providing a nice lead in the 60th anniversary specials for 2023.

The Boys (Amazon): The Twitter memes might be exhausted at this point but this show delivered a hell of a third season, especially with Soldier Boy and the Herogasm episode. 

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix): Evan Peters. That's all I'm saying. Give the man his Emmy already. 

Chucky (SyFy): A bunch of killer dolls, a Catholic school, a murder mystery, a meeting of survivors both past and present and a very bloody Christmas finale made this second season a must see.

Only Murders In The Building (Hulu): Our intrepid trio of podcasters back for a second season solving the murder of their landlady with Paul Rudd providing a hook for the third season.

Wednesday (Netflix): Another gothic treat from Netflix with Jenna Ortega providing a new spin on the deadly but cynical teenager.

The Sandman (Netflix): This gorgeously gothic fantasy series might have taken a long time to make it to live action but the wait was definitely worth it.

Doom Patrol (HBO Max): Immortus might be taking their time to rise but this season has hit it's stride with the groups dynamic and a potential romance between Negative Man and Mister 104.

Legends Of Tomorrow (CW): Alas, the show ended on a cliffhanger never to be resolved but those last few episodes were nothing short of enjoyable, especially for Gwyn Davies.

Superman & Lois (CW): Not quite as impressive as the first season but the use of Bizarro world was a highlight throughout the season.

Peacemaker (HBO Max): I wasn't expecting a show with one of the most annoying characters from The Suicide Squad to be so good but both John Cena and James Gunn really delivered with this one.

Titans (HBO Max): This show has always been a mixed bag but this season has surprisingly stepped things up with the Brother Blood and Mother Mayhem storyline.

Big Boys (Channel 4): This lovely coming of age series focusing on the friendship of a gay man and his straight best friend provided plenty of laughs and some rather heartfelt moments.

Derry Girls (Channel 4): The third series of this Northern Irish show ended with the Agreement and in between that saw our leading girls grow up as they headed into the big world. Oh and Liam Neeson too.

Neighbours (Channel 5): The only soap highlight with a jam packed final episode, only for Amazon to pick up the show a few months later.

Wreck (BBC3): A nautical horror slasher on a cruise liner and several LGBT leads. BBC3 really justified their terrestrial return with this one.

Welcome To Chippendales (Hulu): Although yet to finish up, this series focusing on the rise and fall of the Chippendales creator has been an interesting one nonetheless. 

Ms. Marvel (Disney+): 2022 wasn't a great year for the MCU on streaming but this show was probably the best of a mixed bunch.

Some honourable mentions also would be Bridgerton, Love Victor, Harley Quinn, Werewolf By Night, The Gilded Age and The Watcher.

Yes, there are some omissions from the list but this year had a lot of shows to watch and by the looks of it, so will next year. 

My Review of In From The Side (2022)

 

Written by Matt Carter And Alan Silver

Directed by Matt Carter

Mark: "You think I like having to hide this from everyone we know while you parade around with him?"

Warren: "It's not the same."

Mark: "Like what is it you want from me?"

Touted as the a first gay rugby movie, this certainly had something to live up to  as a film and fortunately I can say, it definitely did that and then some. Premise would seem simple - one rugby lad, in the case Mark (Alexander Lincoln) found himself getting involved with rival team member, Warren (Alexander King). Not too complex, except for the fact that not only are the pair on rival teams so to speak, but both of them have their own partners.

For Mark that seems to be a rather distant relationship with his more affluent partner, Richard (Alex Hammond) with the latter being openly dismissive of Mark's rugby life while Warren's relationship with fellow team member John (Peter McPherson) seems to be one of obligation than any real love attached to it. Both of these are hard to root for, which somewhat makes the connection that Mark and Warren seem believable enough.

However their relationship itself while genuinely gripping with to watch with some strong chemistry between Alexander Lincoln and Alexander King does have it's own problems. One being that it's a relationship born out of deceit that even Mark's own mother, Alice (Mary Lincoln) while lamenting about her own union with Mark's father, Leonard (Nigel Fairs). It's something that clearly stuck with Mark as the consequences of his affair with Warren come out during a New Year's Eve party.

Those consequences being the breakdown of his own relationship with Richard, which I didn't really are as a bad thing in itself as his teammates initially being somewhat disappointed in him but there was his relationship with Warren too. Ultimately, while an interesting relationship between the pair, it became something of a doomed love affair nonetheless.

With our lead male not ending up with either Richard or Warren, you could think this was a film with a bleak ending but in reality, it was one with a surprisingly mature one. Mark made a reckless choice to have affair, it had consequences but there was a sense of him learning from his mistakes and maybe not repeating his own parents pattern. That in itself could be seen as a good thing.

Then there's the actual rugby itself. We saw both the Stags and A Team play off each other and then former against another major team in which they emerged as the victors. We got plenty of training sequences, lads nights out after the match, talks about the need for more inclusiveness in sports and some focus on some of Mark's fellow team mates.

The team mates in question being the likes of Pinky (Pearse Egan), Henry (Will Hearle), Gareth (Carl Loughlin), Jimmy (Christopher Sherwood) and coach Stuart (Chris Garner). All of them were written well as supporting characters with both Pinky and Henry standing out the most out of all of them. As someone who doesn't have the biggest interest in rugby, this movie did a great job fleshing out the game along with the characters and central romance.

- As well as co-writing, directing and providing music for the soundtrack, Matt Carter also is a rugby coach himself and had played the sport foe years. 

- We got some nice Christmas scenes away from London with Mark and Warren in which the latter proved not be great at skiing.

- Standout music: Matt Carter's By Your Side and Christmas Time With You with Tashara.

- Chronology: Despite this film being released in 2022, it was actually filmed in early 2019, prior to lead actor Alexander Lincoln joining ITV soap, Emmerdale.

In From The Side is a triumph of a movie, telling a very compelling if doomed love story with the two leads. Both Alexander Lincoln and Alexander King are excellent to watch as Mark and Warren. There's plenty of drama, male nudity/sex scenes, general camaraderie and team spirit, humour and so much more. One of the best movies I've seen this year.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022 Netflix Series)

It took me a little longer to catch up with this recent and rather controversial limited series from Netflix, focusing on infamous serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer. Was it worth the watch?

Written by Ryan Murphy & Ian Brennan & David McMillan & Janet Mock & Reilly Smith & Todd Kubrak

Directed by Carl Franklin & Clement Virgo & Jennifer Lynch & Paris Barclay & Gregg Araki

Glenda Cleveland (to the police): "I called you for months and its too late. Y'all come too late."

Ryan Murphy's foray into the world of Netflix over the last three years with the type of shows he's chosen to do have been a mixed bag for some. As shows they've largely felt no different to the majority of his FX content and in some respects, the rather long title of Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story could've easily been a lost season of American Crime Story. In fact, watching this series did remind me of the second season of that show, which had focused on Andrew Cunanan's murder of Gianni Versace. Tonally, this series wasn't that much different to it.

The first episode opened with Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters) taking home his last victim, Tracy Edwards (Shaun J. Brown) with the intention of killing him. Only this time, Tracy managed to escape from Dahmer's grasp, alert the police and get Dahmer arrested to the relief and anger of his neighbour Glenda Cleveland (Niecy Nash), who had warned the police about Dahmer, only to have been ignored by them.

From the second to the seventh episodes, most of this limited series put the focus on Dahmer's childhood. We see him growing up as a strange kid with a morbid fixation on taxidermy, something which had been encouraged by his father, Lionel (Richard Jenkins). We also see Lionel marry another woman, Shari (Molly Ringwald), following the separation from Jeffrey's mother, Joyce (Penelope Ann Miller), whose own mental issues were depicted throughout the series.

On top of Jeffrey flunking high school, getting kicked out of the army, bouncing from various jobs and his volatile relationship with his religious grandmother, Catherine (Michael Learned), the show saw his descent into terror with an emphasis on some of his victims. Something that Dahmer was able to do due the shocking incompetence of the police force at the time a well as their lack of accountability following the fallout of Dahmer's crimes revealed.

This series made no bones about the fact that the majority of Jeffrey's victims were non white and along with Tracy Edwards, some of the victims largely emphasised throughout the series included Konerak Sinthasomphone (Kieran Tamondong), Steven Hick (Cameron Cowperthwaite), Ronald Flowers (Dyllon Burnside) and Tony Hughes (Rodney Burford). Most of these men died at the hands of Dahmer and the ones who survived him were deeply scarred by what Dahmer had done to them. 

While family members of Dahmer's victims have been critical of this series, I'll admit this series has at least tried to be respectful to them as well as depicting the fallout of Dahmer's actions, his trial, life in prison, finding God as well as his own brutal death at the hands of a fellow inmate. Not to mention the dark shadow that his reign of terror had left on everyone, including Dahmer's own family.

- Other killers who factored into this miniseries within context to Dahmer were Ed Gein (Shane Kerwin) and John Wayne Gacy (Dominic Burgess).Ryan Murphy has previously depicted versions of Dahmer and Gacy in American Horror Story: Hotel.

- In spite of the controversy surrounding  the show, it's become of Netflix's biggest hits in less than a month of its release.

- The end credits of the finale showed all seventeen victims of Dahmer. 

- The episode titles for the episodes are Bad Meat, Please Don't Go, Doin' A Dahmer, The Good Boy Box, Blood On Their Hands, Silenced, Cassandra, Lionel, The Bogeyman and God Of Forgiveness, God Of Vengeance.

- Standout music: The song Please Don't Go by KC And The Sunshine Band was used a lot in this series.

- Chronology: From 1959 up until 1994.

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story made for an uncomfortable watch with a compelling set of performances from Evan Peters, Niecy Nash, Richard Jenkins and Rodney Burford to name a few here. Also given the success of the series, I wouldn't be shocked if another real life monster gets emphasized in a follow up show.

Rating: 9 out of 10