Frisk

There is a brief scene after the credits that perhaps most people have not waited to see. I wonder if the UK censors in the mid - 1990's did as well; it is in my opinion the key to the whole film. Without spoilers it implicitly says that the whole film is a joke, and that the supposedly ' unbearable scenes ' are a kind of acted out pantomime for adults, and that over 18 years olds are adults! The acting is no worse than what you can see in other short for cash cult films, and sometimes it is quite good. The gist of the scenario is a fascination with killing so as to see the inner organs within our outer flesh, and only two scenes one in a windmill and one at the end that I averted my eyes. I have done this in certain family Westerns! Also, and that is again in my opinion this is not a purely gay film at all. A young woman joins the men in the so-called atrocities, so using logic this crosses over the divide of how it is just men who think about killing. I do not think it is gruesome especially as in 2025 you can see worst atrocities on television news. And they are real, and this film is definitely not. And Todd Verow is a good queer director who is not afraid of choosing risky material. If the film was submitted today in the UK would it get a certificate ? A question that I think needs an answer.

Frisk is one of a number of films by new film-makers (such as Todd Solondz, Tom Kalin, John Hewitt) who are for no-one. I love this disturbing new genre. Neither guided by morality nor restricted by the reality/fantasy divide, these films don't seek a wide audience. Instead, these films explore the underground, less explored territories of desire in its darker manifestations. This film isn't simply about sex and power, it concerns being gay in the era of AIDS and the insistency of desire. Frisk plays into the gay=death equation but this is only natural when being gay still remains for some blind people a lifestyle choice if not an aberration. Its a film about killing lovers, put blankly, and about experiencing the forbidden reaches of passion and obsession. Its a cold film and relentlessly reminiscent of De Sade's writing. Transgression and shock rule here but there's no easy comfort zones. A film of lust, decadence, cruelty and annihilation. Be warned.

Perhaps it's not entirely fair for me to review this movie since I walked out in disgust about halfway through and came back only for the last ten minutes. But I agree with Dennis Cooper: The literal interpretation of his book makes the film an entirely predictable exploitation flick - in terms of narrative and in the amateurish way it's all presented - instead of a compelling and artful auto-interrogation of f*cked-up desire. The most damage done is by director Todd Verow's inability to transpose the colloquial first-person of the book into something that makes sense for a movie. At this point in his career, he doesn't have the skills to pull it off, which results in a decision to make the serial killing explicitly real. I suppose Verow thinks that makes his movie more transgressive than Cooper's book which only tells me he didn't understand the book in the first place. Verow can be a creative and entertaining filmmaker - his Once and Future Queen is a scream; and Anonymous showed promise - but Frisk is dull and obvious, and only a half-star away from being complete garbage.

This is another of those art films that goes nowhere but gets there in style. This film is gritty and fascinating in a sick, can't help but look at the car wreck on the highway sort of way. It's not bad enough to turn off so you keep watching hoping that sanity will be restored. It won't be but you watch nonetheless.

This film is about a gay man who has had fantasies about killing other men since teenage.

Honestly, I see little point in the existence of "Frisk". It is a poorly made B movie with poor acting and poor production. The plot is not well explained or particularly engaging. Apart from the main character Dennis, there is no character development. So most people in the film seem like random people, making the plot more confusing to follow.

I am very disturbed by these perverted and sick minds portrayed in the movie. It is not a film for me.