Ganymede
In Greek mythology, a mortal youth called Ganymede was so good-looking that Zeus decided to kidnap him to Mount Olympus a pretty sweet deal, as it turned out, since he was not only made immortal and appointed the gods’ new cup-bearer, but also given eternal youth and beauty.
That’s not how “Ganymede” tells it, or rather twists it. The myth serves as springboard for this summer’s latest queer indie gem on VOD platforms, which takes those bones of the story and builds around them a horror movie that manages to be campy and creepy at once. Directed by Colby Holt and Sam Probst (from Holt’s original screenplay) and set in a small town in the modern day Bible Belt, this twisted mythology centers on high school wrestling star Lee (Jordan Doww), only son of a deeply religious local politician (Joe Chrest) who runs his household with an iron fist. When gay classmate Kyle (Pablo Castelblanco) makes an effort to befriend him, he quickly develops feelings that put him at odds with his conservative upbringing, small town gossip and a dark family secret involving his mother (Robyn Lively, giving deliciously hysterical villainess), along with his church’s fanatical pastor (David Koechner), soon have him under an even more controlling eye. What’s worse is that some ghostly sinister presence has invaded Lee’s mind with intent to drive him mad or at least toward self destruction unless Kyle can reach him first.
Like many such queer centric genre titles before it, “Ganymede” emerged from the festival circuit with multiple awards. With its LGBTQ focus unhidden behind religious homophobia at the core of its horror content, obviously this would resonate strongly among gay audiences particularly when conservative pushback against queer acceptance remains so strong today.
But for “mainstream” horror fans whose attentions tend to be more on the fright and gore than subtextual nuance of tropes, Holt’s movie may not prove as scary as intended chiefly because he and Probst do not hide their LGBTQ perspective between the lines. It’s evident fairly early on that this is exactly what it appears to be: A gay love story, albeit a doomed one.
Moreover, “Ganymede” inverts the supposed ethical system of traditional horror stories by depicting religion or at the very least weaponized faith as the source of evil in its narrative. Despite the almost immediate haunting of the young protagonist in the film, all (spoiler) supernatural elements of the story stay within his own mind and only manifest themselves in reality save for one crucial but indeterminate instance through his response to them, and any viewer can tell they are not what endangers him. Evil, for Holt and Probst, does not come from outside reality but rather from inside a stunted human imagination’s darkest corners that projects its own pre-programmed concepts onto that world and treats anything conflicting with those concepts as an existential danger. Indeed, this is same message as “Bride of Frankenstein,” “The Wicker Man,” or even infamously homosexual “Nightmare on Elm Street 2” but here expressed without any subtlety or ambiguity.
This is where Holt’s movie may fail to satisfy conventions of typical horror filmmaking, however it also happens to be why it succeeds as a work of art. Its refusal to conform with what is expected from it represents not just an artistic breakthrough but also signals major cultural change: no longer are queernesses like Ganymede seen only in terms counter cultural rebellion against dominant values; now they have become part & parcel thereof, threatened by abnormal norms which regard all othernesses as monstrous deviations.
Still though most viewers whether gay or straight will judge whether or not a film scares them based on if it evokes fear within themselves this one does so only because it confronts us with horrifying prejudice and violence suffered by queer people living under right-wing religious hatred. So even then still frank about how much terrorizing could we expect out such flick? For LGBTQ audiences especially there’s more here than meets eye too since really this isn’t just scary movie at all but rather disturbing analogy about having to hide oneself for survival, however that alone ought to scare anybody regardless whether or not the movie fits an expected genre formula what’s really frightening about world controlled by insane mindset like this isn’t just potential oppression against gays but also towards anyone who might suggest these beliefs deserve as much extinction dinosaurs got.
To make the whole thing work beside Holt’s sureness of direction, which fully embraces genre traditions (hence the campiness I mentioned) while treating the story as a realistic thriller with real stakes what goes a long way is a cast that gives performances several notches above what we’re used to seeing in these kinds of movies. Doww is a compelling and believable lead who never devolves into over the top histrionics, while Castelblanco triumphs at embodying the required heroic determination for his place in the plot while still being unashamedly femme-ish queer, we don’t doubt his ability to turn the tide, nor do we doubt the actors’ natural and unforced chemistry. They get stellar support from Lively again, as well as from Chrest a domineering patriarch who would be this film’s most terrifying figure if it weren’t for Koechner’s chillingly authentic pastor, whose buried self-loathing is painfully obvious as he bullies and tortures young Lee in the name of “conversion.”
Which brings us back to the title’s significance, and its roots in Greek mythology where it was born as a story of transcendence; In this movie’s religious leaders’ warped minds it becomes just that but opposite corruption done deliberately against ‘decent’ men by monsters who tempt them with desires deemed by some as ‘unnatural’. If anything maybe it’s that screenplay flourish that makes “Ganymede” an astute piece of social commentary more than a horror flick; when one twists an ancient tale like this so far out of shape as to provide justification for cruelty and repression then you’re underlining how toxic it can be to cling onto dogma which claims itself truth while casting all other views as products influenced by malice. That’s an illusion which has reached crisis point within American society and so whether or not true horror movie, “Ganymede” is a must-see.
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