Times change. Not too long ago, men were teased for being homosexual: it was a common insult. Today, the flipside is true: homophobia is frowned upon. In my opinion, a phobia should be defined as an uncontrollable fear, not prejudice as is commonplace with the term homophobic. We only see the true meaning of this term after living through (or at least seeing) the events presented in Scream For Me.
Even madman (Tony Simmons), the rapist, tries to convince himself that he isn’t gay by disguising Garrott as a woman. He duct tapes his genitals, slaps a wig on his head and puts lipstick on Garrot while repeating his heterosexuality. Another thing that he constantly repeats is that he came over to have sex and he will be damned if he doesn’t. He considers these moments as preliminaries to sex, but we get the impression they are actions preliminary to death. It is an interesting concept to avenge the death of innocent victims with a doubly horrifying murder; to combat madness with an even more intense madness.
The film combines murder, rape, forced transvestitism and madness presented in nightmarish green and red lighting. For the simple reason that it pushes the limits of what we normally on screen, this short film deserves to be seen. When Garrott slaps, strangles and smashes his victim onto the ground, the combination of camera angles, the editing cuts and the sound make you forget you’re watching fiction.
As you have learned, this story is about rape. It requires an open mind to be fully appreciated. I personally enjoyed its interpretation of psychosis. During psychosis, thoughts, questions and theories zoom through your head, disguising reality. From what I can understand, this is what happens to Garrott and these aspects could have been developed further. The team that conceived Scream For Me seems solid enough to develop a longer film during which we would have the time to sympathize with the characters.
|