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Gaynemede

By Golu
Ganymede is something of a hybrid, mainly functioning as a coming of age queer drama commingled with the horror. With its religious homophobia at its core, this feature is semi-horror, not in a scary way but more in subtextual nuances. It confronts us with the horrific bigotry and abuse that is heaped upon LGBTQ existence from right-wing religious hate. The film tries to show an important lesson that will speak to many young people struggling with their sexual preferences, especially amongst problematic family members.

Set in a small town in the modern-day Bible Belt, it centers on high school wrestling star Lee , the only son of a deeply religious local politician who runs his household with an iron fist. Kyle , a gay student who is out to his classmates, has a crush on Lee. He finds out that Lee volunteers to clean up trash on the school grounds, so he signs up to join him. They start hanging out together, which makes Lee’s parents nervous, as well Lee also unsure about his feelings. Throughout he hallucinates of evil demons that gets triggered by any kind of events. Kyle doesn't givee up and makes Lee realize that it might be ok to the gay. One night when Lee's parents see the two boys embracing after a kiss, Lee’s father brings in the local pastor to "treat" his son, who believes gay people are influenced by a demon named Ganymede. He then begins to have sessions with Lee to free him of the demon by using electric shocks. And as the sessions begin, Lee starts to see the demon Ganymede and things begin to spin out of control. He goes to the extent of even self harming himself, only to be saved by Kyle in time making Lee's mother see the truth and accepting her son for who he is.

Ganymede is a horror movie about the effects of being forced to live in the closet. The production values and the acting make it feel like a made for TV movie. Actors do a good job, especially the boy playing Lee. He navigates the nuances of such a role with agility making you feel for him. Kyle, also does an ok job. Very little time is spend on actual coming together of the two boys because the film wants to focus more on the religious part of the whole situation. Despite all this, the film really has absolutely nothing new to say.  An openly gay high school boy falls in love with closeted gay boy... but then all kinds of weirdness starts to happen - with over-arcing elements of horror, we have seen it all before. The subplots about conversion therapy, shock treatment, suicide, genetics and more is all pretty much distraction to add drama to a typical gay teen love story.  Featuring the pastor on the pastor makes it show as if he is the prominent monster villain. Meanwhile he is hardly there and it should have been Kyle with Lee on poster. I feel the makers were really confused on what they really wanted this film to be. The film could have benefitted with a short story format. The whole idea of Lee's uncle being gay and passing on the genes was so absurd too. Overall, strictly just an ok film. (4/10)
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