Review: Queer horror short film ‘Hangry’ grinds bigotry into a fresh meat feast
The Bola Ogun-directed short film is scrumptious.
If you’ve grown up queer in the country, you’re well versed in real world horrors. The venomous “faggot” dripping from MAGA freaks’ rancid fangs, or the way onlookers ogle your flamboyant attire and huff some other obscenity under their breath, or the way supposed loved ones spout such nonsense as “love the person not the sin.” And that doesn’t even scrape the surface of violent hate crimes, which reportedly are on the rise. You live in fear, and just hope that today is not your day. Short horror film Hangry, directed by Bola Ogun, plops the viewer into the front row of an agonizingly real experience, following 17-year-old Rae as she prepares for college. But, as we quickly learn, her homophobic, alcoholic step-father just won’t let her go.
Hangry, with a script written by Tennessee Martin, wastes no time in plunging right into a sticky vat of tension. Awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call from “Asshole,” Rae (Ellie Gall) rolls out of bed to greet her sloshed step-father Leroy (Justin Kirk), who demands fried, greasy beef tips. He’s noticeably disheveled, and his mood wildly erratic. The sauce further melts away any sense of right and wrong — and he soon tosses Rae against the wall, assaulting her before she can slither away from his slimy grasp. Rae plays the dutiful daughter, though, and finishes frying up his midnight snack, but she has a plan. A plan worthy of The Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl.”
The film, running a brisk 12 minutes, slides into Hostel mode and delivers up scrumptious gore on a silver platter. As she continues warding off Leroy’s advances — and revealing in a bit of necessary exposition that he drank away her mother’s money, once saved for her tuition, and sold off all her pain pills — Rae must make a decision. Does she let this bigoted maggot continue ruining her life, or does she take matters into her own hands? Well, she firmly, unapologetically, and triumphantly does the latter. Ogun’s work with the camera is gritty and smart, keeping you captivated from the opening to the final frame. The finale laces in a bit of wonderfully dark, perhaps disturbing, situational humor — a moment at which I literally chuckled out loud.
Hangry will certainly squelch any hunger you’re feeling. Guaranteed.
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