User Reviews

The real life murder of Cobra Video owner Bryan Kocis has all the ingredients for a promising movie: sex, greed, betrayal, lonely/sad people, users/abusers, and, of course, homicide, all revolving around a central character who is as manipulative as he is physically alluring-- an homme fatale, as it were. Unfortunately, though it comes close a few times to fulfilling that promise, "King Cobra" ultimately fails to do so.

At the heart of the story is Sean Paul Lockhart (Garrett Clayton), who, after telling his mother he's going to a film making workshop, leaves his home in San Diego to go make a solo video for Cobra under the name Brent Corrigan. Cobra's owner (Christian Slater), re-named Stephen in the movie, is obviously smitten but grudgingly respects Brent's wishes to sleep in the sparsely furnished guest room rather than join the pornographer in his big, luxurious bed. The Internet is quickly smitten by Cobra's very young discovery, too. Realizing he's got a potential gold mine, Stephen offers Brent more money to make hardcore videos, and a star is born.

Among Brent's growing fan base are L.A. rent boy Harlow (Keegan Allen) and his domineering boyfriend/pimp Joe (James Franco). Inspired by Corrigan's success, Joe starts producing videos starring Harlow. The move makes them enough money for Joe to put the down payment on a coveted Dodge Viper (their video company is even called Viper Boyz) for his star, but not the kind of cash they want or, as it's later revealed, need. What would really put them on the map--making them millions!-- is a video featuring Harlow and Brent Corrigan. Fortunately for them, Corrigan is just as greedy, and after an acrimonious split from Cobra Video, gay porn's latest "It" boy is soon spinning into Harlow and Joe's orbit. But it's Harlow and Joe who spin out of control.

"King Cobra" has several effective moments, most belonging to Slater and Allen. As the owner of Cobra Video, Slater's Stephen is is more sad than sleazy. He reveals that he turned to making gay porn after living so many years in the closet, and yet he still hasn't come out to his family. (His sister--played by an unnecessarily cast Molly Ringwald--still tries to set him up with women.) When Stephen finally badgers Brent into having sex with him he's in heaven, but is clearly heartbroken when Brent rebuffs his attempts to cuddle afterwards. Allen's eager-to-please Harlow is equally sad, his relationship with Joe--not to mention his involvement in the sex trade--only deepening the psychic wounds caused by child sexual abuse, not healing them.

And then there's James Franco.

That Franco is in this movie is not much of a surprise: Franco worked with director Justin Kelly before ("I Am Michael"), and "King Cobra" caters to Franco's dual fascinations with homosexuality and pornography. (It's only a matter of time before Franco just gives in to temptation and asks the Falcon Studio Group to put him in one of its videos.) Unfortunately for Kelly, he didn't get Oscar Nominated James Franco. Instead, he got Slumming Soap Opera Guest Star James Franco. Whatever potential "King Cobra" had at being taken seriously is dashed the moment Franco's on screen, the actor apparently thinking Kelly was making a porn parody. To be fair, it's not always clear whether Kelly was trying to make a gay(er)-themed equivalent of "Foxcatcher" or a satire a la "To Die For," but Franco's over-the-top performance is completely wrong in either case.

After Brent reveals he made a few of his early videos before his 18th birthday, a porn producer for a bigger company tells the performer to lay low for a while, mentioning that Traci Lords was able to bounce back from a similar scandal. The Lords reference is fitting for Brent. Like Lords, Brent Corrigan can be a divisive figure in the porn world, viewed as either a kid who persevered despite unfortunate circumstances or a scheming little b--ch. As played by Clayton (much cuter than the real Corrigan, IMO), he's a little bit of both, but mostly he's a quick learner who's not quite as clever as he thinks he is, just lucky.

Likewise, "King Cobra" is not as clever as it thinks it is, but it's not as lucky. Like a lot of movies set in the world of porn ("Rated X," "Lovelace"), it shows some skin but it doesn't have enough meat to satisfy its lurid story. Franco, however, provides plenty of ham.

'King Cobra' continues what appears to be co-producer James Franco's fascination with gay pornography (see also 'Interior. Leather Bar' and, to a certain extent, 'Kink'). I don't know why he doesn't just appear in a gay porn film himself and get it out of his system...

... actually, Franco does play a porn actor in this, but anyone hoping for a display of Franco flesh is going to be disappointed: for a film set in the gay porn industry this is remarkably coy about male nudity: there are plenty of shirtless scenes, but only a few quick shots of bare backsides (none of them Franco's). So, having got that out of the way, what about the story?

The film is based on the early career of porn star Brent Corrigan. He is hired by porn producer Stephen (the 'King Cobra' of the title, played - or rather shouted - by Christian Slater, looking more than ever like a bad-tempered monkey) and he soon has a large fan-base, but his contract with Stephen does not allow him to fully exploit his new-found fame. This frustrates not only Brent, but other, more dangerous folk as well.

It is hard to comment on the quality of the acting when the actors are portraying members of a community that seems to attract larger-than-life personalities. For instance, Franco portrays his rival porn producer with sleazy relish - but is that merely a one-note performance, or was the real-life man like that? As Corrigan, Garrett Clayton queens his way through the film in a manner that could be offensive - but is that how the real Corrigan behaved? The only rounded performance seems to come from Keegan Allen as an abused performer.

Ultimately, this is a dull film: for instance (SUPER SPOILER ALERT!), a scene where Corrigan tricks a confession from the murderers is a wasted opportunity to build up some tension: it is a dangerous situation; will he be able to get the information the police need; will the criminals suspect him - and if so, what will they do? Instead the scene has even less edge-of-your-seat tension than a reconstruction on the 'Yesterday' channel (admittedly, Yesterday would not include the swearing and possibly not the hot tub, either). In more than one way, this is disappointment, I'm afraid.

I have to say that this movie was much better than I expected it to be. I suppose I went to see if Garrett Clayton could pull off (no pun intended) playing Brent Corrigan and I felt that he really nailed it (no pun intended). I actually would have been satisfied just to see him in the flesh, as Steven (Christian Slater) remarks at the beginning (was there a pun intended?) and I would have been disappointed if there wasn't enough of his fabulous self on display. In this respect I suspect that many the targeted audience share my hopeful expectations and I would assure them that I wasn't disappointed, though obviously this was a film about porn films and not actually a porn film. However I was pleasantly surprised that I found the movie generally entertaining and that the people I saw it with...... really I should say gay men I saw it with.... found that there was plenty to discuss after we saw it.

I have no idea how accurate it was and I know nothing about the director, couldn't care less about Franco's sexuality. Reviewers here have complained that it wasn't sordid enough but I think one could assume that at least two of the totally unhinged characters were 'perhaps' using controlled substances so I'm not sure we needed to actually see them ingested. The two characters I refer to were very nearly played for laughs, until the very, very real violence that, considering that this was based on a true story, did not come as a complete surprise. And then the cheesy faux Schubert that accompanied their denouement sort of put a black comic cherry on top. Others have complained that it doesn't portray the full spectrum of gay life. Well.....duh?

I have just seen eight films at NewFest (The LGBTQ film festival here in NYC) and I wouldn't rank this at the top of them, but then again I wouldn't rank it at the bottom either. And last week I saw "Moonlight" and , though I expect I will be dodging pitchforks for saying this, I don't think it was all that much better than King Cobra.

For those of you expecting thrilling action I should warn that this story played more like "In Cold Blood" than "Boogie Nights". I was surprised that the story wasn't sensationalized more, though perhaps it was and I'm just too jaded to see it. It certainly wasn't a movie to take your mother to, however. Finally, I want to say that, although the entire cast did an excellent job, Clayton really stole the show.... and it was a lot of fun hearing him shout out the last line!

Writer/director Justin Kelly created this script with co-author D. Madison Savage based on an article about a porn star and murder. The film has merit but slides into tedium by resorting to gay stereotypes despite the character roles being portrayed by a fine set of actors.

The tale is the career of Sean Paul Lockhart (aka Brent Corrigan and Fox Ryder) played by the talented Garrett Clayton who at age 17 began making gay pornography with Los Angeles filmmaker Stephen/aka Bryan Kocis (Christian Slater) using the name Brent Corrigan. The films were very successful financially and "Brent' (claiming he was 18 years old) became lovers with Stephen, the owner and director of Cobra Video. Brent became famous, wanted more money, left Stephen who had an exclusive contract with Brent, only to discover he could not perform using the name Brent Corrigan as that name was the property of Cobra Video. Brent reveals he was only 17 years old when working and filming with Stephen. This news threatened Stephen's livelihood and presented Brent with the opportunity to join another set of filmmakers - Joe/Joseph Kerekes (James Franco) and his other star Harlow/Harlow Cuadra (Keegan Allen). Stephen's attempt to halt Brent's making films with Joe and Harlow ended in a murder that became famous in the California courts. To say more would be a spoiler.

In addition to Christian Slater, James Franco, Garrett Clayton and Keegan Allen, the cast includes small but key roles by Alicia Silverstone and Molly Ringwald. The filming of the porn scenes is convincing without excessive exposure and the manner in which the director moves between the two lover couples balances the story well. Little is written about the porn video market and this film opens some insights into that industry.

First, Christian Slater seems to be the death of any film he makes. I'd avoid signing him on if you want a hit.

Second, is Franco using film to work out some kind of gay aversion therapy? His films are all eerily about the sleeze factor in gay life--porno, murder, closet cases, mafia run bars and film companies! One could say it is almost a parody of the Hollywood industry--star/would be streetwalker sleeps way to top and then wants respect, fame and riches! All the characters in Franco films (barring the dominatrix/producer in 'Kink' who was wonderful) are snide, lifeless, limp personas, one dimensional, ultimately boring and superficial paper dolls. Nobody has an ounce of humanity. If you identify with any of them you'd better find a shrink and support group very fast! In order to even view the whole thing you have to fast forward through some scenes. With a tweak here and there, Franco's films could all be converted into great cult Zombie flicks! He must have money to burn! I'd get another hobby like collecting old magazines if I were him or making antique Revell models. Poor man--to be so obsessed by his own torturous soul's longings that he can only describe his yearnings in bizarre films! Almost all the Hispanic or Mediterranean macho cultures (with heavy doses of familia and the ole Mama) are bedeviled and doomed by their histories which they can never seem to break. It's sad. I stopped dating those types long ago for that reason--they never ever embrace or come to terms with being gay and they try to drag everyone around them down with them just like addicts!

Get a good book on Kindle and read or get Netflix and watch ONLY foreign films!! American films are passe. Hollywood is passe, American celebs are passe and even clownish, award shows are things to open a vein to and if you're desperate for self torture watch the Today show, the evening news or follow any politician around! Leave healthy and sane gay people alone!

This is sort of a real life comment type of review, as I knew both Harlow and Joe before they were both convicted.

I had an affiliate sales porn blog, and Harlow and Joe's porn company and their corresponding porn site (BoyBatter.co/) were big money-makers. They focused on military, hyper-masculine types of young men, and their fans couldn't get enough.

They focused on bareback porn, which means of course "without condoms", pioneers of the industry at the time. Now bareback porn has become almost the standard in most markets, as it seems to sell better than safe sex videos.

After arrest and before conviction, Harlow called me often always to reiterate that he wasn't guilty, and I supported him in my own naive way. (The collect telephone calls from prison/jail were outrageously expensive, and I asked him not to call me unless it was something urgent.) But my question is why is Bryan Kocis, who was the actual owner of Cobra Video, (hence the title of the movie) named and referred to in the film as Stephen? Was there a prenuptial type of agreement with Bryan's family to completely avoid using his real name?

I'm going to watch the film tonight, and will update this, if possible, after viewing it.

This movie is rated too low on IMDb. It's worth about a 7.5 It tells the true story of the murder of a gay porn producer (played by Christian Slater). There are two story lines.

The first is about this porn producer and a new star (Brent Corrigan, played by Garrett Clayton). Brent stays at his place and together they have fun making some hot movies. But then they have a falling out when Brent finds out how much is being made from his films.

The second is about two mentally unbalanced losers (Joe and Harlow) who hang around at the edges of the porn industry. They want to make a film with Brent, but decide that they have to kill the porn producer because he's not allowing Brent to use his trademarked porn name.

I loved how this film dealt so naturally and explicitly with gay sexuality and with the gay porn and escorting aspects. The sex scenes were depicted with relish, but without genitalia. (After all, this is an American movie.) The depiction of stereotypical porn situations and dialogue and was hilarious. At times the real world in the main movie seemed disturbingly too close to the porn version of reality. These characters were so immersed in porn that they were leading porn lives.

Part of me wishes that the director (Justin Kelly) had focused on creating just a feel-good movie about the gay porn industry, about gay escorting and about gay sexuality in California. This alone would have been a great film (or hell even better -- a Netflix series). He could have developed various interesting characters and just drawn the viewer into this sexy world.

Kelly partly succeed in doing that in this film. But I had problems with some of it. Where were the drugs, for example? No drugs at all?? The dysfunctionality of the characters was also a major theme. I wish there had been some normal gay men in the film, because yes we still need to show that in a film like this.

I thought the porn director and Brent parts were well played by Slater and Clayton. However, although Clayton is a stunningly handsome man, in this movie he didn't really generate the same erotic heat as a sleazy 18 year old porn star. The movie would have made more sense if they had found someone who can do that.

I liked how the porn producer was torn between desire and greed when it came to Brent. He wanted Brent's love, of course. He wanted Brent to want him. Or at least to pretend that he wanted him. He was an older porn-producing lech, but there were a few perceptive lines in there about his motivation and he came across as a sympathetic character.

The dysfunction of the Joe and Harlow characters got in the way for me. I found some of their scenes to be difficult and awkward to watch. Perhaps that was the point (because after all they were psychos). After just watching the film, I feel I still don't have a good understanding about the underlying forces that drove them to murder. Maybe the problem is with the basic plot. The murder was so senseless. Tbh, I think the movie would have been better without Franco (because...c'mon).

This is the second movie I've seen this year in which the difficult relationship between porn producer and actor was central. (The other was Tickled.) These movies also have something to say about porn itself, how it can take over people's lives and ruin them.

When you watch a movie like this, you expect it to be terrible, and it is. But on top of that, this film goes through great lengths to make Brent Corrigan look like he's an innocent lamb who had nothing to do with Stephen's death. In reality, we all know he was an integral part of the plan to murder his ex boss. Not only did he try to blackmail him by using his age, which they played down in this movie, but he thought he could get away with killing his boss by having two other guys do the dirty work and burning the place down. In the movie, he plays innocent as if he had no idea. The movie suggests that he only implied it, when in reality you know for sure it was a lot more than that.

This is a guy who used a fake ID and then tried to make himself a victim (by the way he won a lot of money in his lawsuit... bc he made porn while under age... because he used a fake ID to do so). This is a guy who had absolutely the most incentive to get rid of his boss and get out of his contract. The movie even paints his boss as quite a rapist right before his death, so you won't feel anything for him. As if these porn stars had no choice but to hang out with this rich guy. I'm not condoning how rich old men act, but you have to be stupid to think that rich old men, no matter what their orientation, don't diddle younger people. I don't like them either, so I stay away from them.

Brent is one of the worst people to walk our planet and this movie paints him as some sort of hero. He even got Alicia Silverstone to play his mom. We know the producers brought her in as bait for the gay audience. Her turn in Clueless will forever give her a gay fan base. Don't get me wrong, I love her too, but I wish she had no part in this horrible movie.