PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Dustin Wayde Mills is a prolific indie horror director, having an impressive 25 directing credits in just 8 years. That being said, I’m not as familiar with his work as I should be. After seeing The Hornet’s Sting and The Hell It’s Caused, I will definitely be remedying that sooner rather than later. Read on to find out why you should check out this fucked up film.
The Hornet’s Sting and the Hell It’s Caused was written and directed by Dustin Wayde Mills (Easter Casket 2013). The film stars Joni Durian (Haunted House on Sorority Row 2014), Minnie Grey (Easter Casket 2013) Allison Egan (Primordial 2015), Kayla Nicole (Just Your Average Halloween Party 2016) and Dave Parker (Headless 2015).
Synopsis
This is the story of Rose and Freya. Rose is a photographer who specializes in bondage, degradation, dehumanization, and murder. She lures unsuspecting men and women into her grasp and breaks them down until there is nothing left. Freya is her latest victim, a very naive small-town girl.
It’s Eurosleaze meets Shot-On-Video meets Cinemax late night!
The Hornet’s Sting and the Hell It’s Caused is a pretty nasty piece of work. As viewers, we are witness to the systematic destruction of several people, male and female. They are stripped naked, their hands and feet cuffed and their mouths taped shut. Once this is done, they are subjected to various atrocities by an unseen photographer, and at times, forced to mutilate themselves, with one of the worst examples being a woman held at gunpoint and ordered to give herself a partial Glasgow Smile with a pair of scissors. That’s just the setup, and as shocking as it is, that isn’t what makes this film so bad. It’s what comes next.
After the intro, we follow the latest victim from the moment they unknowingly encounter the photographer through to the final frame of the movie. We get to know her a little bit, see her thrown in a horribly hopeless situation, watch her struggle to retain her humanity and fight back against the fucked up bitch who did this to her.
What really sells The Hornet’s Sting and the Hell It’s Caused is the performances. Joni Durian does a great job of balancing the vulnerability of a victim and the fierceness of a Final Girl over the course of her character arc, and she does it all completely nude, which couldn’t have been an easy feat. On the flip side, we have Rose, played excellently by Minnie Grey. Her character possesses a dual nature: a sweet, sexy persona she uses to draw in her victims, and the cold, calculating person she is under her figurative and literal mask. Watching the interaction between the two go from sweet and romantic to perverse and degrading is akin to witnessing a sweet dream takes a sudden turn into nightmare territory.
Final Thoughts
I didn’t know much about The Hornet’s Sting and the Hell It’s Caused going in, but I wound up pleasantly surprised, which is an odd thing to say about a film whose subject matter is so repulsive. The film took me on a brutal and fucked up journey and ended with me screaming in cheer at my laptop (and scaring my cats in the process). If you like your indie horror dark, brutal and full of piss and vinegar, I highly recommend you check out The Hornet’s Sting and the Hell It’s Caused as soon as you can. Stay tuned as I will have a review of the meta sequel, The Hornet’s Disciple and the Scars She Left, soon!
