Dir. Colby Holt & Sam Probst (2024)
A closeted high school wrestler develops a crush on an openly gay classmate, after which he finds himself at the mercy of a creature that can invade his thoughts.
Growing up in the South, I experienced surprisingly little racism for an area that everyone in the world seems to view as entirely racist. It was never really a question for me, or any of my family, that people of all races were equal. The real struggle, at times beneath the surface and at other shouted from the rooftops, was with homosexuality and the people who "claimed" to be so. No one I knew was gay, or at least none that I knew of, and it was always seen as some kind of deviance that thankfully had not yet invaded our downhome, small-town Southern environment. My brother came out as gay, to me first, when he was about sixteen years old. To say that this made me re-evaluate my thoughts and feelings about the subject would be an understatement, as there was never a single question that I loved my brother and wished nothing more for him that whatever happiness the world would allow. To rectify the feelings that I had for him, to situate that within my worldview and religious beliefs was certainly a bit of a struggle at first, but there was never a doubt in my mind that I would do whatever I needed to do to support him in whatever way that I could. To my family's credit, they were the same, all hateful rhetoric (which I didn't even realize was hateful at the time) pushed to the wayside as they loved him the same the day after he came out as they did the day before.
It is through this lens that I have been forced to view the world ever since, and it has resonated strongly for me that the struggles of people living with this identity in a world that doesn't respect (or even tolerate) it are largely ignored or belittled. I never had hate. No, I had indifference at best, disrespect at worst. I certainly lived amongst many who had much stronger feelings, and the type of Fundamentalist mindsets that resulted in the deaths of Matthew Shepard and many like him, along with the mistreatment and condemnation of scores of other young gay people, remained despite my own personal revelations. Directors Colby Holt and Sam Probst's new film Ganymede, a supernatural film based on their own experiences in the Christian South, deals with the world in which I grew up, focusing their own lens on an experience that is so foreign to me but also one that speaks deeply to my desire to be better than I once was and to recognize my own shortcomings.
Lee Fletcher (Jordan Doww) is a high school kid who seemingly has it all: he's a talented wrestler, his father (also named Lee and played by Lisa Frankenstein's Joe Chrest) is the town commissioner, and he's the type of guy everyone wants to know. When a gay classmate named Kyle (Pablo Castelblanco) arranges to be on the trash pickup service with him, he begins to have feelings that run counter to everything within his Christian Fundamentalist upbringing. As Lee struggles with coming to terms with his sexuality, he begins to be haunted by a creature that invades his thoughts and makes him see horrifying visions of destruction, linked with a suicide from several decades before.
Ganymede is an incredibly impactful film, dissecting the Christofascist direction our country is heading in a way that is perhaps a bit on-the-nose at times but also incredibly relevant. Chrest is terrifying as the elder Big Lee, and David Koechner (Todd Packer from The Office) is horrifically realistic as the hateful Pastor Royer. I got a lot of Red State vibes from the film, and that is most decidedly a compliment because Red State is one of the most underrated horror films of the last several decades. The social commentary is so disturbing and yet so unbearably real, a horrifying reality for so many in a world that is supposed to be progressive and tolerant.
That's really what makes the film work so well. The fact that this sort of thing is anyone's experience is devastating, and knowing that it is something real people go through today is disconcerting and incredibly sad. Perhaps it is my own personal experience that has made this film so impactful, but impactful it most certainly was. I applaud the filmmakers for their handling of such a sensitive issue, and I'm a little bit in awe of their ability to make an actually scary horror movie out of it. So many times the scares get lost in the message, or vice versa, and Ganymede does a tremendous job of balancing the two in a way that is so tremendously poignant.
The cinematography is excellent, a full-on indie tour-de-force of filmmaking. The score is likewise fantastic, tense and pounding in a way that draws you completely into the story. It's a heartbreaking film, and every piece of it adds to the emotional impact of the story. It's a horror film, to be sure, but it's also a commentary on social issues in a way that is unfortunately necessary. I absolutely loved it, and I sincerely hope that it finds its audience. I hope even more that it won't be something that even makes sense to the next generation.
Who this movie is for: Religious horror lovers, Socially conscious horror fans, Conversion camp survivors
Bottom line: Ganymede is shockingly efficient, a takedown of Christian Fundamentalists in a way that is unfortunately not a parody. It's also scary, incredibly well made and acted, and an altogether brilliant film. It's been a while since I've seen a film that effected me like this one, I'm sure owing a good bit to my own personal experience, and I am devastated that a film like this even needs to be made. Kudos to Holt and Probst for making such a powerful film.
