King Cobra

The sordid story behind the 2007 murder of Bryan Kocis (the owner of Cobra Video, a gay porn video company) is dramatized in the latest James Franco vehicle in which the star -- who is straight, by the way -- plays gay.

Franco takes the role of Joe, (based on Joseph Kerekes), the owner of Viper Boys, a rival porn video company that has designs on Cobra's top earner, a young -- too young, as it turns out -- star who goes by the name of Brent Corrigan (Garrett Clayton). The character based on Bryan Kocis is called Stephen here, and he's played by Christian Slater (which is pretty funny, given Slater's appearances on "Archer" as a homophobic CIA agent always in conflict with Archer's gay colleague Roy). Keegan Allen plays Harlow (based on Harlow Cuadra), Joe's lover and main actor, and the guy who wields the knife when Joe and Harlow decide to dispose of Stephen in order to bring the hot Corrigan -- and his paying fans -- into their fold.

Slater camps it up a little, but delivers a generally sympathetic performance, while Franco alternates between bug nuts aggression and flat-out bad acting. Allen, though, has moments when he makes your blood run cold, while Clayton proves he's capable of handling what turns out to be an underwritten role, considering his character's central importance to the plot. Alicia Silverstone and Molly Ringwald also have small parts, which -- together with the exasperating synth score -- almost gives this flick an '80s feel.

Overall, "King Cobra" ranks on par with Franco's other gay-themed projects, which include "I Am Michael" (based on the life of "ex-gay" born again pastor Michael Glatze; in "King Cobra, Franco plays it the other way 'round, his character having previously been a youth minister), "Sal" (a Franco-directed film about gay actor Sal Mineo, who is played by Val Lauren), and "Interior, Leather Bar." (which takes as its theme legendary lost footage from the controversial 1980 William Friedkin-directed film "Cruising," and which Franco co-directed). That is to say, it's not very good by any objective measure, but it has a screwy watchability that all but guarantees it will have a cult following. I'm just waiting for the day Franco announces he will be writing, directing, and starring in a movie about the currently self-destructing gay right-wing celebrity Milo Yiannopoulis: That would serve both as a bright jewel in Franco's gay cinema tiara and a fitting closure to Yiannopoulis' less than "Dangerous" career.

The only extras included on this Blu-ray release are outtakes from the film, in which the actors make sport of fluffed lines and take-ruining technical problems.

"King Cobra"
Blu-ray
$24.99
https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/film-drama/king-cobra