Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent

Sunday May 26, 2003

United Kingdom, 2002 - 75 minutes
Directed by Lab Ky Mo

British tale of gay misfits sparks Cannes walkout

NINE DEAD GAY GUYS

The most shocking film showing at the Cannes Film Festival this year is not a gruesome foreign thriller or an explicit erotic drama. It is a British comedy.

Nine Dead Gay Guys has had critics and hardened film industry executives walking out from screenings in droves. 'I am not easily shocked,' said Arlene Carter, an American assistant producer, 'but I could not believe what I was watching and hearing.'

The dark, sexually graphic film stars the veteran British actor Steven Berkoff, alongside Fish, the lead singer with the band Marillion, and Vas Blackwood, who appeared in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. It also stars Michael Praed, the former star of the Eighties American soap opera Dynasty, who in his youth played Robin Hood on British television. 'It is hard to believe an actor who was such a wholesome children's hero has come to this,' said Carter.

While pundits had predicted that Irreversible, the uncompromising new film by the French-Argentine director Gaspar Noe, would be dubbed 'the scandal of the festival' due to its long and graphic rape scene, it is Nine Dead Gay Guys that has provoked the biggest protests.

The plot revolves around two young boys who arrive in London from Belfast to try to make a living. Unemployed, they quickly fall into the underground lifestyle of the rent boy in order to supplement their Giro cheques.

The boys build up a clientele of gay misfits, mostly drawn from a pool of negative racial stereotypes, including a rich Orthodox Jew, a well-endowed black man, and an unhygienic Indian taxi driver. The supporting cast also features a dwarf who attracts lovers by touting a cattle prod.

'Most people in the cinema left after the first few scenes,' said Carter. 'I lasted it out as long as I could and by that point there were only four dead gay guys.'

The film's backer and promoter, Hannah Rothman of Park Entertainment, said it was not intended to upset people. 'It is just a light-hearted look at the scrapes these two boys get into. OK, these may include prostitution and killing people, but it is meant to be silly and not to be taken too seriously.'

One of the deaths involves a character flying through a car windscreen at the point of orgasm, while Berkoff's character dies as he is being violently sodomised.

The film has had two public screenings in Cannes and has already had interest from an American distributor. 'We would love the film to be released in Britain too, and most of the feedback has been positive,' said Rothman. 'Of course, you always get some people who say, why would I want to see this?'

Some critics have compared its politically incorrect humour to the cult cartoon show South Park, and others have declared it to be 'so bad taste that it is good taste', but most audiences have been stunned by the frank subject matter.

· Nine Dead Gay Guys is the feature film debut of Asian-British writer Lab Ky Mo, who is a previous winner of the Carl Foreman Screenwriting Fellowship. It has been made in conjunction with Bafta.