Main cast: Anthony Michael Hall (Michael), Daniel C Brochu (Kyle Bridge), and David Bowie (The Host)
Director: Russell Mulcahy
The victim of The Hunger this time is Gemma Files’s short story Guided Tour.
The most interesting thing about Wrath of God is that it features men kissing one another. That’s something new for this show, and I can’t say I am displeased in any way. Sadly, while other episodes have no issues with soft porn sex scenes, this one limits itself to a kiss and that’s about it.
Kyle is approached by a mysterious hooded man, Michael, one stormy night when the man just pops in out of nowhere at the dilapidated greenhouse part of the apartment complex belonging to Kyle’s family.
At first startled by the other man’s appearance, Kyle calms down when Michael kisses him. Michael claims to know all about Kyle, and this somehow leads the other man to think it’s a great idea to show Michael around the place.
Meanwhile, Kyle’s tenants begin to die painfully, one by one. Is this murder spree linked to his mysterious visitor?
Poor Anthony Michael Hall. He’s reduced to wearing a ratty-looking white raincoat with raccoon-makeup around his eyes, which is a sad testament to his career once his fifteen minutes are up. It’s like watching a terminally ill relative on life support and asking the doctor, “Is there really nothing else that can be done for the poor dear?”
Still, there is something about this episode that makes me become quite fond of it, regardless of its actual merit. Perhaps this is because I am a sucker for moody, melodramatic thriller, and there is a lot of this episode—the cinematography, the lighting—that sets the atmosphere very well.
Unfortunately, the story seems too large to fit within this episode, as it feels incomplete, with many key pieces missing in the jigsaw puzzle, so to speak.
The main issue here is that Kyle appears too trusting at times, especially when it comes to Michael, and just bizarre at other moments, such as his blithe lack of reaction to all those tenants of his getting killed in graphic, gory ways. I assume that he’s the actual killer, but no, which in turn makes his behavior even more bewildering.
Perhaps the whole thing is an allegory that tells people to screw the homophobes and that God doesn’t consider homosexuals as sinners at all, but even then, this episode doesn’t feel coherent enough to deliver that message with much impact.
Nonetheless, I like this one regardless of my issues with it. Maybe it’s because Mr Hall plays a brooding mysterious dude pretty well, and that the two guys here are easy on the eyes. I don’t know. I do know that this episode isn’t very good, but what the heck, this is my website so I suppose I can be generous now and then.
So, three oogies, just because I like it. So there!
