….: A Review Of THE POGO FILM PROJECT

 

Most of the time reviewing a film is pretty damn straight forward. I receive the film, watch it, and discuss whether or not is was effective, what worked and what didn’t…typically whether or not I enjoyed the film and it getting a good rating from me are interchangeable. The film we’re about to discuss taught me a lesson, and because of it the way I think of reviewing is changed forever. That film is THE POGO FILM PROJECT.

I first heard about the Pogo Film Project in a pretty odd way. After reviewing The Trouble With Barry a few years back a slew of emails poured in requesting that I review more films with a “gay” twist. Turns out that a straight reviewer willing to review movies with a homosexual subtext or gay main characters is a pretty rare thing. My search for films like that came up empty handed for the most part, with most of the films I discovered that fit the bill turning out to be softcore homo erotica (Even I have to draw the line somewhere guys) that is until i discovered a little known releasing company called bestdeaths.com (aka scream kings) who seemed to take a more serious approach to Horror with a gay theme. Before I reached out to the company (whom have since sent over a nice little helping of their fare that we’ll discuss in another article soon) I reached out to filmmaker Pete Jacelone about this warped little take on the Gacy murders. He promptly sent it over and boy did I get more then I bargained for!

THE POGO FILM PROJECT shows us the more…intimate side of Gacy’s atrocities; the murders themselves! With a bit of embellishing on the part of the writer, several scenarios play out illustrating how Gacy was able to subdue, torture and murder several young men in his home.

Dark to the point of being evil, stomach churningly believable and too effective for it’s own good, The Pogo Film Project is a very tough watch and I must admit I spent a large part of my viewing experience (which clocks in at a whopping 3+ hours) wondering if some sick fuck was using this as whack material. I also have to say that I sat through this thing twice because the first time I saw it I didn’t comprehend that the loving and lingering approach and sexualization of the scenarios was done to attempt to put us in the same frame of mind as Gacy and not to arouse the audience or exploit the victims as I had initially thought.

The acting here was actually quite good, in fact I can honestly say that the gentleman who played Gacy was probably the closest to the real deal I have ever seen in a film. His bizarre blend of effeminate boyishness and gruff manliness is a tough thing to mimic and this guy got that shit down pat. Each of the victims also did a wonderful job, but this is also where my general uneasiness of this project comes into play as well. You see it’s a bit of a stretch to say Gacy’s victims were young men, young teenage boys is a more accurate way of describing them and here this is represented very realistically with actors who really do look young..too young.

The deaths here consisted mostly of strangulation (as did the real cases) and each death is done impeccably well, combined with the low res camera and  voyeuristic angling this aspect gave this film a snuff movie like feel that, to be perfectly honest, freaked me the fuck out.

Here’s where things get confusing. I always tell the truth about my opinion of a film and I will here as well; I hated this thing, fuckin’ HATED it, it made me so uncomfortable to watch that I needed a shower and to pray after watching (and considering the things I’ve watched for this site that says a fuck load)….but why did I hate it? Because it shocked and disgusted me, because it brought the facts of these horrific crimes to light in a way that was too damn lifelike too damn true to form, because it…horrified me.

The bottom line is, even though I didn’t enjoy this film, it did it’s job. In fact I would go as far as to say that the film was never made to be enjoyed in the first place. It was meant to disgust and horrify and for that I give this film 2 middle fingers chopped off and sanded to the bone. Would I watch it again? Probably not. Should you pick it up? If you’re a die hard true crime fan who really wants to get into the world’s first killer clown’s head then fuck ye

ah you should.