SCREENING ROOM

DVD: “Helicopter Mom,” “Fever,” “Tab Hunter Confidential,” “Age Of Consent,” & More!

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It’s a week of queer under the radar titles, from documentaries to comedies.

Closeted Hollywood matinee idol turned out and proud activist Tab Hunter is profiled in documentary Tab Hunter Confidential, while a groundbreaking London fetish bar receives the spotlight in Age Of Consent.

Two young queer lads plot a murder in the Leopold and Loeb-inspired Fever, while an overbearing mother decides she wants her teenage son to be gay despite his not even being sure where his sexuality sits in Helicopter Mom (above).

Now for trailers and details…

Tab Hunter Confidential

 

(VOD)

Tab Hunter was a 1950s Hollywood heartthrob, a hunky All-American boy… except very much closeted and gay. The ups and downs of his career and trajectory from that bygone era to a more campy onscreen reinvention in films like John Waters’ Polyester, and of course eventual coming out and happy present are recounted in this fast-moving, entertaining documentary from director Jeffrey Schwarz (I Am Divine, Vito). Know your LGBT history, kids!

Fever

($19.99 DVD; Artsploitation Films)

The sordid tale of gay thrill killers Leopold and Loeb, which inspired Hitchcock’s Rope and Tom Kalin’s New Queer Cinema classic Swoon, is given a Gallic twist in director Raphael Neal’s adaptation of Leslie Kaplan’s 2005 novel. Philosophy students Damien and Pierre break up the monotony of their privileged lives by committing a murder, which an optician, Zoe, may have witnessed to some degree. Will she give them up or, perhaps, become more caught up in the spell of the diabolical pair?

Helicopter Mom

($24.99 DVD; Breaking Glass Pictures)

Nia Vardalos stars as an overbearing single mom, Maggie Cooper, who becomes obsessed with the idea her sensitive teenage son, Lloyd, is gay. The boy, however, is actually not sure which way he swings, but that doesn’t stop mom – the title refers to a mother who basically hovers over her kid at all times – from trying to set him up with a boyfriend, sabotaging his attempts to date a girl, and forcing him to apply for an LGBT scholarship. What’s a sexually confused boy to do? Extras include a featurette and commentary.

Age Of Consent

Age Of Consent

($24.99 DVD; Bangor Films)

Prolific, provocative gay director Todd Verow teams up with co-director Charles Lum to put the spotlight – hopefully not too bright, though – on London’s famed gay fetish bar, The Hoist. In the process, they share all sorts of fascinating details about the UK’s LGBT history. Sexy and enlightening stuff. Also out this week is Verow’s experimental multi-character fiction feature, Available Light.

ALSO OUT:

RaceRace

Gods Of Egypt

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies

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