McKendry’s movie may at first seem unlikely to work, given its location restrictions and simple premise, but it does! This is partly due to Kwanten and Simmons’ outstanding performances, which work alongside Todd Rigney, Joshua Hull, and Ian McKendry’s deliciously dark screenplay. Glorious is now streaming on Shudder.
Beware the horrors that lurk behind a public toilet glory hole. That simple sentence may make you think Glorious is a queer horror rooted in the notion of cruising, bodily fluids and secretive rendezvous. However, while Glorious does indeed carry queer undertones, its soul lies in the science fiction horror of H.P. Lovecraft.
As Mark Twain once wrote, “When ill luck begins, it does not come in sprinkles, but in showers”, and for Wes (Ryan Kwanten), this statement could not be closer to the truth. We meet Wes in his car and his temporary home as he attempts to deal with the guilt of a recent messy breakup. Sweaty, dirty and smelly, Wes pulls into a small, isolated park with a public toilet for some much-needed TLC. However, as he finds nourishment in a bottle of vodka, his day, week, and year are about to go from bad to worse as he enters the toilet block only to hear a mysterious voice (J.K. Simmons) calling to him from the locked stall next door.
Rebekah McKendry’s creative slice of science fiction/horror cleverly uses its delightfully grungy public toilet setting to explore themes ranging from guilt to isolation to theology. Here, the concept of praying to a gentle, all-knowing God for help during our darkest times is turned on its head in a genuinely engaging slice of sci-fi/horror.
The result is a dark, bold and blood-soaked comedy/horror rooted in concepts of karma and belief. McKendry’s movie may at first seem unlikely to work, given its location restrictions and simple premise, but it does! This is partly due to Kwanten and Simmons’ outstanding performances, which work alongside Todd Rigney, Joshua Hull, and Ian McKendry’s deliciously dark screenplay. But at its heart, the success comes from Rebekah McKendry’s gloriously lit, grubby location where a man on his knees in puddles of urine and sick makes contact with an omnipotent, toilet-bound god.
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