Death Drop Gorgeous: Providence film to stream as part of Boston’s Wicked Queer film festival

Young gay men who work at a local drag club are lured out through the dating app POUNDR and then brutally murdered. This is the story behind Death Drop Gorgeous, a film written and directed by Michael Ahern, Brandon Perras-Sanchez and Christopher Dalpe that is set to be streamed on July 25 as part of the Wicked Queer: The Boston LGBTQ Film Festival. If you enjoy B-movies, ’80s slashers, John Waters-style irreverence and Giallo psychedelia sprinkled with unforgettable drag queens, then this is a ride you’ll want to get on.

Ahern said of the film, “Death Drop Gorgeous came to fruition because we wanted to create a horror movie we hadn’t seen being made. A lot of queer folks love the horror genre, but proper representation is often lacking within it or the representation is cliche and underdeveloped. We started writing it on nights and weekends and our mantra was, ‘Let’s see how far we can take this.’ The momentum kept on coming!”

Providence almost becomes a character in this film. Ahern said, “I think people will recognize a lot of themes and motifs throughout the movie that’ll remind them of the creative capital.” But Ahern credits the community for helping to bring the film to fruition. “Between partnerships and local businesses who let us film in their establishments, to our actors and local drag artists who signed on, to fundraising our budget, this entire endeavor has been a community effort, so the film is definitely a love letter to our little city.”

This is Wicked Queer’s 36th film festival. Though the film typically is hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and screened in theaters throughout the city, this year’s festival will be entirely virtual. “Wicked Queer is kind of my proudest achievement thus far,” said Ahern. “This is our first feature film and to say we got into one of the longest running queer film festivals in the nation? Insanity. Shawn Cotter, executive director of Wicked Queer, has been so supportive of our grassroots ethos, and we couldn’t be happier to be amongst family. Also, our film is legitimately wicked queer, so it feels quite appropriate to be premiering with them.”

The Wicked Queer Film Festival takes place Jul 24 – Aug 2. For more information on the festival, go to wickedqueer.org. Death Drop Gorgeous streams on July 25 at 9:30pm. For more information on Death Drop Gorgeous, go to deathdropgorgeous.com.