Androgynym

Director - Nick Iway (A Day in the Life of: Comedian Iron Nuts)
Starring - Nick Iway, John Lauterbach, and Traci Gardner
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Life to life unending"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (Out of 5):

     The world of horror, and cinema in general, continuously finds itself falling into fads over and over again.  They find themselves often imitating the last box office smash trying to capitalize on that film's success.  This is something we can see now with the rise of zombie flicks similar to The Walking Dead and supernatural paranormal flicks with jump scares similar to Paranormal Activity.  It is rare for a film to try to break the mold and step outside of the trends to deliver something unique.  Thank the heavens for director Nick Iway and his beautiful film Androgynym.  This was a film I saw a lot of hype for in several horror groups and pages on Facebook. I loved the poster and I had to see it.   I reached out to the film's Facebook page and they were nice enough to send a link to the online screener my way.  Thanks for that!

     The film follows Nym (Iway) who is the muscle for an underground crime lord.  Nym would often deal with doing cash pick ups or removing people that stood in their way.  At night he would often take advantage of his employer's women where he would have his way with them.  Life is good for Nym but things turn ugly when a rival crime organization steps in and takes out his boss.  Nym is forced to run and moves out of the city where he has a hard time picking up women to fulfill his sex addiction.  This forces him to masturbate where it just isn't working for him.  He overacts and cuts his penis off.  He orders some take-out to have it delivered and the delivery boy, John (Lauterbach), arrives and is genuinely worried about his well being.  He offers to score him some pills and when he delivers he brings back a copy of an animated film he is working on.  The two watch it and a relationship blossoms.  The two are almost inseparable after that but when a goon finds out where Nym is hiding and and tries to kill him, dragging Nym and his new partner into the middle of the seedy crime underground forcing Nym to choose between happiness and constant fear of losing his friend or leave knowing he will never be happy again but know his friend will be safe.

     I have seen so many films try something different and failed to hold the viewer's attention.  These films often lack conviction and dedication.  Androgynym is a film that steps out of the norm, thinks outside the box, and delivers one hell of a story that is powerful and entertaining.  The acting in this one is fantastic.  The entire cast deserves praise but the two leads, Nick Iway and John Lauterbach, were phenomenal.  These two feed off each other and you honestly believe there is something between the two.  I see a lot of chemistry between these two and I pray that we will see another film in the future from these two soon to be stars.  The story for this one is not your conventional horror story.  The story is a non-traditional romance set in the backdrop of a crime drama that takes a bloody turn.  This was a fantastic angle and the cast really helps it come to life.  Originality is dominant in this story and I would love to see this team return with more films.  Finally, the film does have a few on screen kills.  Most, or all, are by gun fire but the film does not let the horror fans down by giving us lackluster kills.  To make it up to the gore hounds, they give the viewer a great scene where one of the leads dismembers a corpse using various industrial kitchen instruments.  The practical effects are great and the kills look amazing.  Overall, Androgynym is a horror film you would expect not to like but if you will be pleasantly surprised.  The film is just as tragic as it is beautiful.  This film is a modern masterpiece in indie cinema and deserves all the praise it WILL get.  Check this one out and be sure to add it to your collection.