Take A Closer Walk With Thee in October
Debi Moore
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The LGBTQ community is under fire in a lot of places right now, but one place where it seems to be flourishing is in the horror genre. A Closer Walk with Thee, a new “homoerotic evangelical exorcism movie,” is heading our way in October; and we have the early details here, including the trailer, a few stills, and the box art.
A Closer With with Thee was co-directed by John C. Clark and Brie Williams, and Williams wrote the script based on a story idea concocted by the two of them. It stars Aj Knight (named Best Actor – Graveyard Shift at the Nashville Film Festival), Gregory Shelby, Kelsey Boze, Megan Hensley, and Deborah Venegas.
Clark and Williams describe their experience making A Closer Walk with Thee as follows: “As queer filmmakers, we both brought unique and sometimes opposite experiences and histories to this project. John grew up in a conservative Baptist household, and we relied heavily on his religious background to craft the environment of this story. Alternately, Brie was raised with little religious exposure, which allowed her to approach the subject with an open mind. She did extensive research, including attending services at John’s parents’ church while writing the screenplay, and we both attended a ‘real’ exorcism together, with our actors later attending an exorcism performed by the same exorcist.”
As for their influences, they explain, “Our cinematic influences ranged from the eroticism of Kenneth Anger’s bikers and devils, the austerity of Yasujiro Ozu’s lensing, and the black comedy of Todd Solondz’s tragedies, as well as countless horror and genre films and filmmakers. Of course, it was also a micro-budget feature made in only ten days with a budget less than a school teacher’s salary; we embraced our financial limitations as motivation to find creative and inventive solutions… we also didn’t set out to make strictly an issues drama. We wanted to have fun and keep a satirical edge in our depiction of religious extremism, so dark comedy is an important element of the film. We also consider this a work of homoeroticism and treat some of the exorcism moments as near-BDSM role-play scenarios. Our goal was to make a highly personal film that might also be appreciated by diverse audiences, from LGBTQ audiences who might see it as a funhouse mirror reflecting their own stories on screen, to genre and arthouse audiences who might appreciate a narrative that perhaps pushed the boundaries of their expectations.”
“Ultimately,” they conclude, “we made this film for anyone who’s ever struggled with the intersection of sex and religion, anyone who’s ever had a crush on someone who didn’t return their affection, and anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider. We’ve been there, we feel you, and this one’s for you.”
The film arrives on Blu-ray and DVD October 17th (pre-order here) courtesy of Altered Innocence with special features that include a commentary track with directors John C. Clark and Brie Williams plus the trailer.
Synopsis:
Like The Exorcist as directed by Gregg Araki, the queer erotic horror-comedy A Closer Walk with Thee follows Jordan (Knight), a young Christian missionary who gets caught watching his handsome pastor Eli (Shelby) in the shower. The house church ostracizes him until Eli (who happens to be a fledgling exorcist) suggests it may be demonic possession that’s giving Jordan his ungodly urges. What starts as an exorcism to save their friendship quickly descends into psychosexual madness.
Categorized:News
