Search - You Belong to Me on DVD

East Village Thriller

Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 05/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

""You Belong to Me"



East Village Thriller



Amos Lassen



Sam Zalutsky's "You Belong to Me" is not necessarily a gay movie--it is not really about being gay but it does have gay characters in it. This is a subtle thriller with a plot that unfolds both slowly and gradually and is intensely compelling.

Everything begins when a young gay architect named Jeffrey (Daniel Sauli) is dumped by his regular sex trick, Rene (Julien Lucas). Jeffrey then embarks on an obsessive stalking of Rene and finds out where he lives and then rents a room in the same building. The landlady of the building, Gladys, (Patti D'Arbanville) who is not exactly in possession of all of her wits becomes somewhat infatuated with Jeffrey and she has her own agenda for him. These plans include drugs, torture and kidnapping.

Somewhat reminiscent of Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby", director Zalutsky puts a gay touch on a creepy apartment building with a new kind of entrapment scenes. We get the story of a man who movies into the wrong apartment and then finds himself having to deal with the crazies that share his building.

We discover that Rene is living with a long-term lover and he is not at all happy that Jeffrey has moved into the building. Jeffrey who starts his quest as a villain becomes a victim. He is so content on obsessing over Rene that he ignores several signs that are in his path. These signs range from Gladys's over protectiveness which seems to invade his very being to the dried blood looking paint job in the hall and the fact that the man who had his apartment before he did left and in doing so took not much with him. His clothes and possessions remain in the apartment. One night the missing man's boyfriend appears one night, he demands to know where his lover has gone. Gladys tries to explain to Jeffrey what happened to the man and she gives a deliberately vague account as to why he suddenly moved out. Shortly thereafter Jeffrey begins to hear strange noises coming from the landlady's apartment. This is some scary stuff here.

"You Belong to Me" is urban gothic to the hilt. But even with that the opportunity to make this some kind of low-rate thriller is not used by Zalutsky. This is one of those movies that you will not soon forget. There is great horror here and the movie will chill even the warmest hearts.

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Excellent Thriller

D. Jackson | California USA | 07/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent indy Hitchcock-ian thriller with a shocker ending. Nicely produced and expertly directed. That the main character,Jeffery,(the charming Daniel Sauli) is gay is secondary to the plot. Jeffrey,a NYC architect, becomes infatuated with his sexy one night stand and comes upon him sometime after their encounter while out walking his dog, Max. He follows Ren back to his apartment building and there finds a notice for an empty apartment. Enter the landlady/owner, Gladys, played by the excellent and ever-so-creepy Patti D'Arbanville,she insists upon showing him the apartment, He decides to take it and thus begins the real plot. To say more would spoil the story,suffice to say this is a movie that you'll enjoy a great deal if you are fond of this genre."

Smart and Suspenseful

J. Watts | Knoxville, TN USA | 08/11/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As in Alfred Hitchcock's films, the suspense in Sam Zalusky's "You Belong to Me" stems from the psychological complexity of the characters. There are no black and white heroes and villains here but complex human beings whose motivations and emotions ring true throughout the film, thanks to both the quality of the screenplay and the quality of the cast, especially the inspired Patti D'Arbanville. The real source of horror in "You Belong to Me" is how in our increasingly alienating society, people's search for connection with each other can go horribly wrong. And in this film, when things do go wrong, we shudder not just with fear but with recognition of our own human foibles."