The second feature by artsy gay pornographer Peter de Rome is a crazed, visionary piece loosely based on an unnamed short story by Edgar Allen Poe (the story is probably William Wilson). A conflicted young seminarian called Caswell Campbell takes a three month sabbatical from his studies to explore his less Judeo-Christian impulses: casual gay sex and drugs. He picks up a callous trick at a bar and takes the man home, where Caswell gets brutally f**ked. Afterwards, the man makes no bones about expressing his disappointment, and when he leaves Caswell ingests one of the red-headed mushrooms he has in his hall. There follows a vision of himself sucking built men and being p**sed on.
Caswell then goes to a party, and seems to be haunted by a voice saying his name. At the party he gets off with a handsome young man, and they retire back to Caswell's for another session of intense sex and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Things are beginning to turn very strange for our protagonist, as at one point he finds himself in bed with his pick-up and a double of himself. After this, he retreats to the beach where he goes searching for some more mushrooms - directed by his double, who now seems to be his companion.
Caswell picks some 'shrooms, some red-headed and some white. He then picks up a man on the dunes and takes him home. Caswell takes one of the white 'shrooms and there follows an intense session of somewhat brutal and physically challenging sex, with the man cramming a baseball bat handle, a courgette and a banana inside Caswell. The next day, Caswell isn't looking too good, and when he consults his book of mushroom lore, he finds out why: he has ingested a deadly Amanita mushroom, also known as the Destroying Angel because of its extreme and lethal toxicity. Caswell leans that he is dying, and is sent into the grave by the laughing voice of his double. There's a final short scene, with Caswell in black priest's garb masturbating on his own newly filled-in grave.
As you can see, The Destroying Angel isn't your usual porno. It's hallucinatory montages and fractured narrative make it a kind of avant-garde nightmare, at times reminiscent of the more Black Magic orientated works of Kenneth Anger. Gay life is depicted as driven, compulsive and brutal - anyone who thinks Cruising is a negative image better stay away from this. The film very successfully suggests a riven consciousness, torn between Christian conformism and the need to experience more intense pleasures. Consciousness is divided, with a trickster Higher Self providing kicks and death. Most of the acting is pretty amateurish, except for Tim Kent as Caswell, who manages to suggest the protagonist's inner torment both in and out of the bed.
It's only available on DVD from gay porn dealers, which is kind of a shame as it's an underground film with explicit sex rather than a porno. It's probably one of the best films out there about the altered states hallucinogenic drugs can provide. It also, in a strangely prophetic way, prefigures the AIDS epidemic, as the sick and drawn Caswell languishes and sweats in his room, dying from a mistake in his lifestyle.
Caswell then goes to a party, and seems to be haunted by a voice saying his name. At the party he gets off with a handsome young man, and they retire back to Caswell's for another session of intense sex and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Things are beginning to turn very strange for our protagonist, as at one point he finds himself in bed with his pick-up and a double of himself. After this, he retreats to the beach where he goes searching for some more mushrooms - directed by his double, who now seems to be his companion.
Caswell picks some 'shrooms, some red-headed and some white. He then picks up a man on the dunes and takes him home. Caswell takes one of the white 'shrooms and there follows an intense session of somewhat brutal and physically challenging sex, with the man cramming a baseball bat handle, a courgette and a banana inside Caswell. The next day, Caswell isn't looking too good, and when he consults his book of mushroom lore, he finds out why: he has ingested a deadly Amanita mushroom, also known as the Destroying Angel because of its extreme and lethal toxicity. Caswell leans that he is dying, and is sent into the grave by the laughing voice of his double. There's a final short scene, with Caswell in black priest's garb masturbating on his own newly filled-in grave.
As you can see, The Destroying Angel isn't your usual porno. It's hallucinatory montages and fractured narrative make it a kind of avant-garde nightmare, at times reminiscent of the more Black Magic orientated works of Kenneth Anger. Gay life is depicted as driven, compulsive and brutal - anyone who thinks Cruising is a negative image better stay away from this. The film very successfully suggests a riven consciousness, torn between Christian conformism and the need to experience more intense pleasures. Consciousness is divided, with a trickster Higher Self providing kicks and death. Most of the acting is pretty amateurish, except for Tim Kent as Caswell, who manages to suggest the protagonist's inner torment both in and out of the bed.
It's only available on DVD from gay porn dealers, which is kind of a shame as it's an underground film with explicit sex rather than a porno. It's probably one of the best films out there about the altered states hallucinogenic drugs can provide. It also, in a strangely prophetic way, prefigures the AIDS epidemic, as the sick and drawn Caswell languishes and sweats in his room, dying from a mistake in his lifestyle.