Homosexual storylines do not bother me in the least. What does bother me, however, is a movie pretending to be a mystery / thriller, that's really just a porno, which sums up Open Cam.

This movie centers around a group of D.C.-based gay men who enjoy online chatting (and more) with others. But there is a killer in their midst, one who is picking off the online fornicators one by one.

From comical scenes where characters are car-jacked with plumbing pipes, to contrived situations set up only for the sex scenes, Open Cam fell short of everything it was and wasn't trying to be.

While I'm not a gay male, and can certainly stomach attractive men in intimate situations (hello, Six Feet Under!), Open Cam's sex scenes vascilated between gross and over the top. One character was clearly such a bad kisser that I was too distracted thinking about the awful beard burn he was giving his co-star, rather than what he was actually doing to him.

The fact that most of the actors are unknowns and this is their first movie comes as no surprise to me, given the fact that most of them had a hard time keeping straight faces (no pun intended) while delivering such lines as, "He stirs up trouble for breakfast without being awake."

Open Cam has a split personality. On the one hand, I think it might have been a good thriller, had the storyline been given more attention than the actor's naked bodies. On the other hand, this could have been a good porno if it hadn't tried to take itself so seriously.

The DVD

Video:
Ugh! The dark scenes were either too dark to see, or lit with what appear to be the director's favorite color: blue. And for a movie that's supposed to be about online interactions, and thus dedicates many scenes to laptop and computer screen shots, you'd think they could have found a way to make the onscreen (computer) text large enough to read. Since the movie, presented in widescreen, had no subtitles, I was out of luck as to what words were being exchanged via online chats.

Sound: Without English subtitles to rely on, I missed about 25 percent (or more) of the dialogue, as lines were either mumbled or muffled, due to either sound problems or lack of projection from the actors. The soundtrack music that was used, which was o.k. for the most part, was too loud, and I was constantly adjusting the volume for music / dialogue discrepancies.

Extras: In addition to the theatrical trailer for Open Cam, the DVD also includes a music video (Houston Bernard's "Say Goodbye"), which was long and amateurish. The deleted and extended scenes (mostly involving sex), of which there were eight, were interesting only in the fact that in two instances (with gratuitous nudity), the actors were talking and explaining how awkward and / or embarassing it was to be doing what they were doing (in this case, dancing and showering) with a film crew watching. There were also trailers for other Wolfe movies included in the extras.

Final Thoughts:
If you're looking for a mystery / thriller, skip Open Cam. If you're looking for gay male prono, you might like this, if you can get past the bad acting and cheesy dialogue. In the end, I would think there would be better prono than this, though.

Juliet Farmer, aka writnkitten