Ladybug is a proudly queer and highly entertaining supernatural thriller that holds moments of brilliance. As Grayson and Sawyer’s love affair gently simmers among the ladybugs, oils, acrylics, and charcoal, Cruz and Co. slowly allow past secrets to fly free as the Cabin becomes a portal between worlds and two souls merge, opening a door that cannot and will not be closed. Ladybug is awaiting a release date in the UK.
“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Art can capture an urgent moment, a fleeting beauty, an event that ripples through time and occasionally the artist’s or the sitter’s soul. There are times when looking into the eyes of a person frozen in time in an exquisite portrait almost seems to talk to us, offering a strange, supernatural link to the time and place of its creation as we become the artist looking upon their muse. By its very nature, art holds a mirror to life, creating a moment frozen in time through oil, pastels, pencil, watercolour or acrylic. The power of art sits centre stage in Tim Cruz’s engaging and creative queer chiller Ladybug, as canvas and paint become a doorway to a violent, unresolved past in a dusty log cabin in rural Pennsylvania.
Grayson (Anthony Del Negro) is a well-known New York artist seeking an escape from the big smoke following a recent, messy separation from his boyfriend, Noah. Armed with his artist’s tools, a suitcase of possessions and his trusty phone, Grayson has decided to head out to an old dusty cabin that has been in his family for years. The cabin will give him time to sort out his feelings and pent-up anger while providing him with the silence he needs to create, something he was struggling to do in New York. As for entertainment, he has his phone, paint, and the dating app he just re-joined.
There’s no electricity as Grayson arrives at the cabin, but it’s not as bad as he feared, despite the cobwebs, dust, covered furnishings and ladybugs. Luckily, there is a local handyman service, “King’s.” Grayson picks up the phone and dials the number, only to be greeted by a gruff voice, saying someone will be with him in the morning before abruptly hanging up. But as night falls, a torchlight outside the cabin unnerves Grayson. Is someone watching him?
As Grayson rises from his bed the following day, a handyman—an attractive young man named Sawyer (Zachary Roozen)—is already working in the cabin, much to Grayson’s surprise and concern. But Sawyer isn’t what he expected from a rural handyman. He is young, loves art and conversation and is more than a bit flirtatious. Maybe Grayson won’t need his dating app after all? Or maybe Sawyer has his own reasons for being there, motives tied to a bloody and violent past. As Grayson and Sawyer’s bond deepens, their artistic passion and a tentative spark of attraction are about to uncover dark secrets and a mystery that has been decades in the making.
Tim Cruz’s entertaining and engaging supernatural mystery is a welcome addition to the queer horror genre and one that shines through Del Negro and Roozen’s on-screen chemistry and some cracking performances from Scout Taylor-Compton and Lisa Thornhill.
Del Negro and Cruz’s spooky and fun screenplay pays homage to a range of literary and cinematic classics, from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray to David Koepp’s underrated Stir of Echoes and Jerry Zucker’s 1990 smash hit Ghost. However, due to the many influences at play, Ladybug occasionally feels overstuffed with ideas, somewhat distracting from its strength: the ability of art to transcend time and place. Equally, some interesting discussions on gay sex, secrecy, lasting trauma and risk alongside the male need to run from problems rather than face them feel underdeveloped.
However, even with these flaws, Ladybug is a proudly queer and highly entertaining supernatural thriller that holds moments of brilliance. As Grayson and Sawyer’s love affair gently simmers among the ladybugs, oils, acrylics, and charcoal, Cruz and Co. slowly allow past secrets to fly free as the Cabin becomes a portal between worlds and two souls merge, opening a door that cannot and will not be closed.
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