Queerantined

Daily Dose: Clive Barker hearty dose of homoerotic noir

Welcome to Queerty’s latest entry in our series, Queerantined: Daily Dose. Every weekday as long as the COVID-19 pandemic has us under quarantine, we’ll release a suggested bit of gloriously queer entertainment designed to keep you from getting stir crazy in the house. Each weekend, we will also suggest a binge-able title to keep you extra engaged.

The Magical Mystery Tour: Lord of Illusions

Horror icon Clive Barker hit a new high with this 1995 thriller; an irony, considering that Barker would retire from directing feature films shortly thereafter. Lord of Illusions channels classic film noir mysteries and gay fetish clubs into an erotic tale of mystery, magic, and bonkers horror. Perpetual silver fox Scott Bakula stars as private eye Henry D’Amour who stumbles onto a murder mystery involving a Manson Family-like cult, a David Copperfield-type magician, and an undead warlock. As with all Barker’s work, the film also has a powerful erotic charge, which includes an overtly gay former cult member, and the implied homoerotic relationships of several other key characters. Bakula shows off his range and abilities as a leading man…not to mention his naked body, and a young Famke Janssen shines in one of her earliest roles. Maybe it’s the stir-crazy. Maybe it’s the horniness. Maybe it’s the need for an adrenaline rush. Regardless, we have the craving for something sexy and scary, and nobody does the love child of the two better than Clive Barker.

Streams on VUDU.

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