These homoerotic horror shorts count down to Halloween with “Hot Ways To Die”
Hot Ways To Die, a series of “fun size” erotic gay horror shorts that’s dropping a new video each day through Halloween.In other words, it’s like an advent calendar—but make it horny and scary.The project comes from rising filmmaker João Dall’Stella, who describes Hot Ways To Die as “a collection of steamy queer moving images.” As its title suggests, each installment takes a facet of the sex lives of gay men—the sauna, a glory hole, an intimate massage—and turns it into campy, gory gothic horror.For example, his series kicked off on October 22 with the short “Through A Hole,” which opens on a fanged set of pearly whites then zooms out to reveal we’re looking through a hole in a bathroom stall (calling to mind Troye Sivan’s “Rush” video) as the sounds of a classic monster movie score swell.A post shared by João Felipe Choma Dall’Stella (@joaodallstella)It’s brief, to be sure, but the titillating blend of pleasure and fear gives Dall’Stella’s series its bite.As he tells it, Hot Ways To Die is all about celebrating desire through the lens of queer horror history:“For years, I was afraid of being queer and coming out of the closet,” Dall’Stella shares in a statement. “It took me a while to realize that living authentically means letting go of that fear.”“It’s similar to watching a scary movie—when you face your fear, there’s a sense of relief and excitement about what’s next.”And, speaking of what’s next, Day 2 short “Don’t Drop The Towel!” features a steam room hottie (Ty Chen) wearing nothing but a white towel.
