4allmovie
A masterclass in queer horror! Adrian Chiarella brilliantly subverts the conversion therapy trope by turning the "cleansing" ritual into a living, shape-shifting nightmare. The entity taking the shape of what the boys desire most—each other—is a devastatingly poetic metaphor. Tyson Perkins’ gorgeous, bleak cinematography of rural Australia makes every frame feel loaded with dread. It’s atmospheric, deeply romantic, and utterly heartbreaking.
If you have seen It Follows, then a lot of the beats of this movie will be familiar to you. This movie, however, is better than It Follows because it gives a context as to why it happens. The characters therefore become more relatable and the tension becomes more grounded than the jump scares of It Follows. The cast in this movie are doing a great job, and the director is doing fantastically. The effects are well produced and the indifference of certain side characters heighten the sense of abandonment that the characters suffer through. It's a good watch.
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