The conventions of the slasher movie genre get a new twist in this independent horror story. It's late October, and Eddie (Dylan Fergus) aspires to be a cop on the West Hollywood Police Force's roster, though a vision problem has kept him from passing the physical. Eddie gets the assignment to look into a grisly murder in which two men were found decapitated in a car parked on a remote lover's lane. Eddie tries to put the crime out of his mind when he heads out with three friends -- Joey (Hank Harris), Tobey (Matt Phillips), and Chaz (Andrew Levitas) -- for West Hollywood's over-the-top gay Halloween celebration. While festivity is in the air and hunky guys abound, Eddie soon discovers that the same killer he's been looking for is on the prowl at the block party, wielding a scythe and lopping off heads with aplomb. Can Eddie stop the killer before he murders his friends? And who is this fiend and what is his motivation? Hellbent received its world premiere at the 2004 San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi