Horror Hunks: Jesse Lavercombe in Violation

'A troubled woman on the edge of divorce returns home to her younger sister after years apart. But when her sister and brother-in-law betray her trust, she embarks on a vicious crusade of revenge.'

It's October, meaning it's time to bring out the hunks of horror!  FH viewers know I love featuring films, television shows and photo shoots with the heteronormative is flipped.  That's certainly the case with the horror and psychological drama Violation.   In the 2020 Canadian film, creator and writer Jesse Lavercombe plays Dylan, the brother-in-law who pays dearly, and violently, for his betrayal. 

'Violation is decidedly dark, potentially dangerous and probably deranged and  flips the revenge genre on its head.'

As a writer, Lavercombe is usually creating stories and characters, for film, and for musicals and plays.  With Violation, he's helps supporting the vision of two writers and directors.  I don't think it's a coincidence when you watch the scene, one of the writer and directors is a woman.  The scene is very graphic, turning an erotic encounter into something far more violent.

The scene also stands out as it's Lavercombe's Dylan who is both the victim, and focus of the nudity.  Yes, it's graphically violent, but it's so rare to see a male erection in a horror film, especially with directors who don't try to mask or hide the male penis through tricks, quick cuts or prosthetics.  As shocking as the scene is within the story itself, it also pushes the boundaries in a positive way with the role reversals.   

Audiences have sadly become almost numb to violence on their screens, and are also used to seeing naked, or almost naked women, running for their lives before being butchered by a killer.  This scene, still managed to shock through the direction, the writing, and the incredible acting.  The film won three of the most prestigious awards for Independent films, at Sundance, TIFF (Toronto International film festival and the NYTimes Critics’ Pick .  For his role as Dylan, Lavercombe won the Toronto ACTRA Award as well as being nominated for a Canadian Screen Award .

Igby Rigney: In Brief

 I always brought my own tensions to wherever I went.

Although I had conflicting feelings about The Shards, I didn't about star Igby Rigney who played Bret.  Rigney had a challenging task playing a character who in some ways was both the hero and the villain, the protagonist and the antagonist, well, at least one of them.  As a writer, Bret was also directly driving the story.

I'd never heard or seen Rigney before The Shards, although one of his projects, the mini-series Midnight Mass, is on my list of shows to watch.  I think part of the reason was that the character of Bret reminded me a bit of myself in high school.  Not the creepy part, (I hope) but the writer part, and the part of Bret that never feels a true part of the group.  His sexuality also of course played a role, but Bret actually seemed to maneuver through those complexities more smoothly than I did.  I certainly wasn't bedding multiple hotties,  and rich married men in my teens.

I also looked a bit like the actor, and had his exact same hair style through most of my teen years.  I however, went to high school in the 90's, so can't blame the 1980's on that overly dramatic side part I styled and sprayed each morning before heading to school.  

Given it was a Ryan Murphy produced show, a little gratuitous skin was certainly not surprising, but Rigney in tighty whities and black briefs was also accurate for the time period.  I don't think I knew there was underwear for guys other than small briefs until I got older and realized not everyone wore the multi-colored six-pack brief packs that my mother gifted me with every Christmas.  I played sports and spent a fair amount of time in locker rooms, and briefs did seem the undie of choice for most of the guys in my school.  I wouldn't be caught dead in loose boxers, those were what I thought only old men work and boxer briefs were just taking ofg due to Marky Mark.

Igby Rigney on Instagram

Horror Hunks: Coda

'It was murder, your words remember? Murder. I say we find the fuck who's doing this and have a little one on one.'

Barry Cox

Image by Birds Eye Studios

I know Halloween is over, but there was one last horror themed post I put together that I didn't have space to post. If you look back on classic horror films, it's generally a damsel, not a dude, in distress.  Although there have always been male victims, most of them were side kills, men who got in the way of the killer's main focus, the final girl.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Over the last five or six decades however, we've seen the rise of the horror himbo.  The strong, good looking hottie.  He's nice to look at, but usually not the brightest candle in the pumpkin.  He's often a secondary character, often the final girl's friend or boyfriend.  

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Understanding that horror movies have a huge gay following, not only have we seen the rise of gay themed horror flicks, we've also seen more skin and more vulnerability in the ways these horror himbos are slashed and dismembered.  The vulnerability has been amplified, with hotties being butchered often half-naked.  It's usually after having sex for the very last time, (sorry Kevin Bacon and fellow Friday fatalities)  or in the shower.   Take a look back to on the rise of the horror himbo, and the hot final boy, on the NEXT PAGE HERE:

Alpha Delta Zatan

Penises in Peril

' Fred Krueger! He's inside me, and he wants to take me again!'

Jesse Walsh

First two images from Spiridon41 

When I was growing up in the late eighties and nineties, horror movies scared the shit of out me.  I mean lasting fear, weeks of night terrors and sliding into my parents bed in the middle of the night.  When I got a little older however, that fear was something I was drawn to, especially in October with Halloween on the horizon.

For the most part, there was always a final girl, but rarely a final boy.  Sure, we all saw our fair share of teen heartthrobs shirtless in horror flicks, often getting offed by the psychopath, but the kills were different.  There was usually a sex, or erotic element to the relationship between the killer, and the final girl.

There was a difference in the vulnerability.  The girls were usually really hot, with their clothes ripping off as they fled from the killer.  The men, were usually put into the jocks and nerds category.  I remember when I watched Tower of Evil on TCM about a decade ago. (HERE:)  I remember really noticing how the UK based film portrayed both the male and female victims the same way, and I liked it.

Ejacula

Looking back, I do see that this was attempted in American films.  There were several quick male nude scenes in the Friday the 13th series, and I can't think of a more vulnerable victim than Tom McBride, (HERE:) in a wheelchair before Jason hacked him up.

Contestant 666

One of the most well known horror himbos, or scream kings was Mark Patton from Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.  The homoerotic installment from the franchise was not initially well received, nor was Mark's portrayal as final boy Jesse Walsh.  Mark's experience on the film was documented in the 2019 documentary Scream Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street.  I've featured Mark and the film in several posts on the site HERE:

It was really only looking back at Freddy's Revenge, that audiences, especially gay audiences, had appreciation for the film, even if those behind the scenes, are still reluctant to admit it. Since then, producers began to really cater to their LBGTQ horror fans.  Films like Hellbent, Judas Kiss , Midnight Kiss and Swallowed feature not just gay characters, but shirtless, and sometimes naked hotties, fighting for their lives.

There were also countless gay porn parody's, softcore horror flicks like Dead Boyz Don't Scream and Quinn Jaxon and David Bradbury in Vampire Boys 2: The New Blood.  There is also the slew of forgettable David DeCoteau that had various shirtless and undie wearing dudes in distress.   I think it's the vulnerablity depicted with half-naked horror himbos that makes my horror hunks series one of my favorites to work on.  Just when I think I've found the mall, another hottie running for their lives appears. 

Friday the 13th by TR Pics

I love the homo flip on the heteronormative narrative, and it's become really one of the core themes I explore on the site.  Iconic symbols of female sexuality, are flipped with males in the roles.  There's a reason I feature a male witch every year at Halloween.  When I was a kid trick or treating, I generally stuck to traditional male, (cowboy/robber) or unisex, (Ghost, Devil) costumes.  It's empowering to see masculine elements weaved into these characters once, only safely inhabited by women.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Today, horror himbos are everywhere, especially on television.  Watch any Ryan Murphy show, not to mention the slew of teen Vampire and Werewolf dramas.  Today, it's clear these projects are aimed at both the female, and the gay male audiences.  

HellBent

I'll continue to search for new movies with hot male himbos, but if you know any that I've missed, please drop me a line!  Although October is still horror film central, we all love a half-naked frightened hottie any time of the year.

Love Me Deadly

Blood of Tribades

Creamerie

Dead Boyz Don't Scream

Horror Hunks: There's Nothing Out There

 A horror film of comic proportions...

There are countless horror flicks with iconic staircases, and this film would certainly not be on the list.  The film, nor the staircase, are particularly iconic, both do have their charms.  First off, I love a horror film that doesn't take itself that seriously, and with the killer in this flick being a giant mutant frog, that would be a difficult task.

Mark Collver

In the 1991 horror comedy There's Nothing Out There, a horror film buff tries to warn his friends that spending spring break in a house in the woods of would be dangerous.  They of course scoff at him and go anyway.  Of course things start to change after a huge mutant frog starts to pick them up one by one.

In addition to loving horror flicks from the 70's, 80's and 90's, there were a few other reasons to pick this film for today's staircase theme.  First off, there are three scenes featuring male skin.  The first is a shot of actor Robb DelGuidice.  DelGuidice plays a punk rocker who strips down to his jock strap for a quick flash of his butt in a swimming scene.

The second skin baring scene features actor Mark Collver, who strips down to well, nothing, for a late night skinning dipping scene with his girlfriend.   DelGuidice had a short career, with two roles in the 1990's, and one last credit for 2003.  This flick marked Collver's first professional role, and he  continued to worked periodically throughout the 1990's and 2000's. 

John Carhart III

The third scene of male skin features actor John Carhart III and is the scene connected to the staircase.  In addition to a quick flash of his hairy butt crack, Carhart's character Nick remains in tighty whities after the mutant frog attacks on the stairs to the basement.  The cutie got his first big screen film role as a dancer in 1988's Hairspray, followed by his role in There's Nothing Out There.  Carhart is still a working actor, and has mostly appeared on television and in short films including an appearance in a short just last year.

Nothing like a hot guy in tighty whities while everyone else is dressed!