Can terrifying be sexy?  Uh, have you seen Christian Bale in American Psycho?!  Ryan Reynolds in the Amityville Horror remake? Luke Evans in Dracula Untold? Clearly, gratuitous sexiness in horror entertainment is not just for adolescent straight boys.

Which brings me to my next (largely rhetorical) question: is there a place for terror in homoerotic wrestling? As major fan of both genres, my knee jerk reaction is to say “of course.” But reflecting deeper on the question, I suspect that the issue may likely be yet another us/them divide in gay wrestling. Dabbling in the crossover, however, BG East’s Ring Release 4 tests precisely those waters.

In the trope of a slasher flick, Drake “Don’t Call Me Jobber” Marcos is the virginal (uh, yeah) victim who doesn’t realize the terror he’s about to face.  He’s irked in the ring, having been stood up for a match. Just when he decides to walk away and pound out a frustrated solo (okay, I added that last bit), the lights in the ring room go out. “What the fuck!?” the Cheshire Cat whines. “Are you kidding me with this shit?” There are ominous sounds of chains clinking, the squeak of the jostled ring ropes, the sudden, still silence of impending doom.

When the lights come on, heel pup Kayden Keller is suddenly standing right next to him, wearing sensationally sexy, slick, black square cuts and a hungry grin. What follows is a barrage of rage, fueled by bitter rivalry and some private grudge. The virgin (uh-huh, sure) Drake is quickly suffering hard, caught off guard and at a distinct size disadvantage. There’s an atypical edge to the attack. Kayden’s big hands wrap around Drake’s throat early and often, throttling him, pinching off his carotid, severely restricting air to the lungs. “You’re starting to piss me off,” Drake croaks with false bravado. “You’d better shut your mouth,” Kayden advises with a chilly calm that signals his certainty that there’s just one outcome fated for this match, with the only question being the degree to which Drake will be tortured.

The bitterness between them almost makes this feel like a tag team match. Just when you think there’s got to be an ebb to the intensity, a coming up for air, instead there’s a fresh boil of rage bubbling up. Kayden’s long, lovely, strong legs shackle his victim into helplessness. Putting on a brave face, Drake tries to punch free of bodyscissors. Suddenly, Kayden flexes his gorgeous quads, and his victim goes rigid with agony. Drake climbs to his knees, determined to pry his tormentor’s knees apart. Again, Kayden’s quads turn to granite, and Drake arches backward, screaming in a mixture of terror and disbelief of the debilitating power crushing him.

If the comparison of Ring Release 4 to a horror movie holds, think in terms of Scream, where the serial killer takes a beating along the way. Drake uses his sultry, sexy legs to break another potentially crippling hold, and suddenly the Cheshire Cat is grinning on top of a schoolboy pin. “What is that Michael Myers shit, sneaking up like that?!” he shouts into the villain’s face with fury.

I’m particularly a fan of Drake’s legwork, having felt the bruising power in his scissors myself. With Kayden’s right arm locked up high and tight between Drake’s lightly hairy thighs, the Cheshire Cat viciously hyperextend’s his attacker’s elbow. Momentarily, Kayden’s red-eyed rage disappears behind squinting agony of his own. “Come on, bitch!!!,” Drake roars with frustration, latched on tight to a thin hope of defying fate. “All that black gear, who do you think you’re fooling? Fucking give up, bitch! You’re mine!!!”

I always love it when Drake crows and struts, riding a wave of offense, even though you and I know (and I think, deep down, so does he) that every effort he makes to grab for the ring, every taunt, every small act of mercilessness, is just digging his own grave deeper and deeper. Although Kayden may not be invulnerable, fuck me, he’s so damn long and strong! When he methodically works his way free from his victim’s clutches, the soul-grinding brutality is awesome. He rips his victim’s gear off (thank the homoerotic wrestling gods for that!). He plants Drake naked and dripping with sweat across the middle turnbuckle, prying the Cheshire Cat wide in a sweetly vulnerable spread eagle. The heel pup salaciously and sadistically tortures his victim with deep, digging claws and tormenting punches designed for the delivery of exquisite agony rather than strictly for submission. Only half conscious, Drake instinctively sucks at Kayden’s nipple shoved in his face.

Drake probably thinks that his total submission will earn him reprieve. He can be adorably naive like that. Kayden demands that his victim unzip his overpacked pouch with his teeth. On his knees, Drake obeys, gasping just a bit when Kayden’s big, fully erect cock comes bouncing out in his face. Savoring the moment free of corporal punishment, Drake sucks down a mouthful of meat, silently pleading, bargaining, promising that he can sate his tormentor’s hunger willingly.

The explicitly erotic elements that unfold in Ring Release 4 are loveless and every bit as bitter as every act of open faced aggression in this match. I think the iconic moment in the whole scenario is when Kayden takes his prey to the mat with another lush, sweaty, naked bodyscissors. Drake writhes and screams on his back, signaling with crystal clarity the possibility that Kayden’s crushing quads might just inflict mortal damage on one or more internal organs, if not snap the Cheshire Cat cleanly in half. Drake’s mouth gapes open, focusing on nothing but surviving the agony. And then Kayden reaches down with his left hand and starts to pump on Drake’s fully erect cock. I love that look on Drake’s face, as his eyebrows screw upward, looking like his head is about to explode with the combustible mix of too much pain and too much sexual pleasure bearing down on his mortal body. Kayden eagerly leans in and plants a wide open kiss, as if sucking down the soul of his gaping victim. The ecstatic bounce and quiver of Kayden’s power tool communicate just how satisfying it can be for a bloodthirsty sadist, when a plan comes together.

For the record, Drake submits last then cums first. Kayden then cranks out what looks like about a pint and half of heel juice all over the wrestling mat.  I bet Drake thinks, right about then, that he’s survived this near death experience. That chain suddenly wrapped around his throat, dragging his wasted, naked body from the ring, suggests Drake’s nightmare has only begun.

So, I love the raw edges and full-on commitment in Ring Release 4. As has been pointed out by others, both Kayden and Drake are perennial favorites of mine, anyway, but I really enjoy the scorching heat and desperate edge of terror that they toy with successfully throughout this match. I count just a couple of dings to the content, including Drake’s gear, which I frankly hate, and perhaps a tad too much vulnerability from Kayden to completely sell this sense of fated horror that I was hoping for. If ever there was a genre in which a squash made perfect sense, I think this would be it.

Physically, my infatuation with both pairs of gorgeous, strong, long legs in this match is just that much more intense. My growing crush on Kayden’s beautiful ass also gets a big boost in and out of his gear in the match. Hot, long held, relentless wrestling action, magnificent sell, and a compelling narrative make this a pleasing hit for me.