SWAP

Opening with a scene with Kayla (Jessica Lelia King) and Rad (James Eastwood) that could have come from a soft porn film, SWAP sets out its case to be taken seriously as an erotic horror.

For Kayla sex is a liberation and something to be experimented with such as chocking Rad during their session. Rad isn’t so convinced being more conservative.

He is however open to ideas and agrees to go with Kayla on a visit to her high-school friend Glory (Erin Anne Gray) and her new beau Angelo (Dallas King).

Their first encounter with the couple is them having rough sex over a table. Angelo’s tattoos and hair conjuring up images of Jason Momoa as Aquaman that really shouldn’t.

Kayla takes to the free sex and experimentation on offer. Rad doesn’t and even punches Angelo when he goes too far. Getting suspicious of the whole set up Rad, being a cop, uses his connections to research Angelo and doesn’t like what he discovers.

Writer, director, and producer Dallas King is an experienced filmmaker though this appears to be his debut acting in one of his own feature length films. All credit to him for taking on the tasks but what has emerged is not a lot of fun.

The writing aspires to provide enlightenment towards sex and a more bohemian attitude but is unconvincing with a torrent of pseudo philosophical babble which is very tedious. The horror is mild, perfunctory and there’s not that much of it.

The acting is functional at best with the dialogue and performances stilted. SWAP is also not an attractive picture: The lighting with the blue and red hazy hues don’t do it any favours at all giving it the look of an eighties hardcore film pirated several times onto VHS.

SWAP is available now on digital platforms.