Muerte en la Playa (Spanish) [Death On The Beach]

This is an early-90s film, and that context genuinely matters when you watch it. It was probably fairly talked about in its day. It’s a murder mystery erotic thriller that’s somehow both dramatic and utterly ridiculous, and the sheer absurdity actually made me laugh a few times before I had to remind myself that logic clearly wasn’t much of a concern for filmmakers back then. David, the central character, is deeply messed up and genuinely cruel, yet you still feel sorry for him because he’s obviously a victim of sexual abuse who never processed any of it and instead inflicts that pain on everyone around him in the most horrible ways possible.
The movie starts with the brutal murder of a naked man. We then meet David, a young man who has just left boarding school after a teacher dies, almost certainly the murder we have just seen. He arrives at his wealthy mother’s beautiful oceanfront home to spend time with her and her boyfriend, Paul. They both keep trying to push David into socializing, meeting girls, and making friends, but he has no interest in any of it. Paul quickly realizes David is gay, whereas his mother simply refuses to acknowledge it. David begins spending time with a pair of hippie guys, already making both his mother and Paul uneasy, and when they start asking him for money and taunting him over his denial of his sexuality, he pushes them to their deaths. Paul becomes convinced that David is responsible, while the mother remains entirely oblivious. David later befriends Tony and Tony’s girlfriend, who are there on vacation. There is clear chemistry between David and Tony, and David even gets Tony alone for a while. Paul uses the chance to film the two of them as proof for the mother. Once David discovers Tony was involved in the setup, he kills him as well and frames the family’s deaf and mute servant. The mother returns and still cannot make herself believe that David has been behind everything, all to keep his sexuality hidden. Eventually, the servant escapes jail, returns to the house, and kills David, leaving his mother all alone.
Almost the entire film is set either in a swimming pool or by the ocean, and I genuinely think it may have the highest concentration of men in tiny speedos that I have ever encountered in a film. David spends basically the whole runtime in a bikini swimsuit, as does every other man on screen, and the homoeroticism is relentless. Had this been made in the US five to ten years later, it would have gone straight into gay sleaze or slasher territory, complete with full nudity, shower scenes, and a camera that very clearly cannot stop looking. You are absolutely not meant to think too hard about this one. David would honestly prefer to murder people rather than admit who he is. The mother constantly talks about work and money, but never seems to be doing either one; she just drinks and swims. Paul is interesting in an odd way, because he does seem to genuinely want the mother to see David for who he is, but every single thing he does to make that happen is questionable at best. The film is probably slightly less trashy and a little less thrilling than I have made it sound, but it has that complete 90s charm: sun-drenched beaches full of speedos, some decent kills, a little full frontal male nudity, and enough sleaze to keep it entertaining. I went in with absolutely zero expectations, and it did not bore me once. Worth watching for its silliness and all of its erotic weirdness. (5.5/10)