Exploited review – college slasher is a toxic pile of yuckiness | Film

Since the very dawn of the seventh art, critics and cinephiles have debated … what are the very best LGBT slasher films? It is possible that in a couple of decades, this film will be subject to some kind of bold revisionist reconsideration, some flashy contrarian reassessment, and creep in to the lower reaches of the Top Million. But right about now, there’s not much to be said for it, save for a certain wry irony in the pertly self-aware title.

Jordan Ver Hoeve brings minimal nuance to the role of Brian, just starting at college and coming to terms with his gay identity. Having just met his hunky roommate Jeremy (Andrew Matthew Welch), who is diffidently making out with his girlfriend on the bed (who is Jeremy kidding?) Brian finds a flashdrive on the floor, plugs it into his laptop and discovers video files of its previous owner Caleb (Colin Bates) having online sex with various freaky people whose kinks are – possibly – supposed to be funny.

But then something horrible happens and Brian and his friends are plagued by what could be someone hacking into their social media. Or could it be that the ugly toxic spirit of this flashdrive has been loosed into the biosphere, to wreak horror and chaos among attractive young people with amazing cheekbones? One of the two, anyway. Possibly both. There’s something to be said for tilting the hetero world of this genre, but Exploited has a yuckiness to it, which is related to a nasty ageist and (arguably) misogynist final twist.

Since the very dawn of the seventh art, critics and cinephiles have debated … what are the very best LGBT slasher films? It is possible that in a couple of decades, this film will be subject to some kind of bold revisionist reconsideration, some flashy contrarian reassessment, and creep in to the lower reaches of the Top Million. But right about now, there’s not much to be said for it, save for a certain wry irony in the pertly self-aware title.

Jordan Ver Hoeve brings minimal nuance to the role of Brian, just starting at college and coming to terms with his gay identity. Having just met his hunky roommate Jeremy (Andrew Matthew Welch), who is diffidently making out with his girlfriend on the bed (who is Jeremy kidding?) Brian finds a flashdrive on the floor, plugs it into his laptop and discovers video files of its previous owner Caleb (Colin Bates) having online sex with various freaky people whose kinks are – possibly – supposed to be funny.

But then something horrible happens and Brian and his friends are plagued by what could be someone hacking into their social media. Or could it be that the ugly toxic spirit of this flashdrive has been loosed into the biosphere, to wreak horror and chaos among attractive young people with amazing cheekbones? One of the two, anyway. Possibly both. There’s something to be said for tilting the hetero world of this genre, but Exploited has a yuckiness to it, which is related to a nasty ageist and (arguably) misogynist final twist.