Swallowed 2022 | Body Horror and Something Else

Swallowed is a film title that is fairly descriptive in its effort to tell you what the movie is about. Two close friends team up to do a drug run for some extra cash. Dom wants to help his best friend Benjamin get some easy money before he leaves for the bright lights of the city ready to embark on a journey in adult movies. Before we know it a problem at the drop-off and pick-up causes both men into a situation they didn’t expect.

Dom’s cousin is the connection between the provider Alice and the drugs. However, he quickly realizes there is something amiss. His cousin is almost unconscious soon after they arrive. Knowing the drug run might be more dangerous than he was led to believe, Dom tries to back out only to find a gun to his head and demands from Alice that he go through with the mission. He swallows some packets under duress but when his cousin begins convulsing and he runs to check on her, Alice turns her attention to Benjamin in the passenger seat and demands he too, swallow some drugs.

Uncomfortable Queer Body Horror

Then the Swallowed movie takes a sharp and dramatic turn. In the middle of nowhere, Dom begins to think the packages he swallowed might be exiting his body. They stop at a rest stop at the same time as a burly trucker man we are to assume is every bit a redneck as he looks.

Now call me baffled, but if I had just swallowed half a dozen packets containing something that might kill me, picking a fight in any way shape, or form would be the last thing on my list of things to do. But that doesn’t stop Dom from doing exactly that. And after he has received his generous thumps to the stomach the man follows on after his vicious act by slashing their tires. It’s also around this time we are shown that the drugs they are carrying aren’t drugs at all.

With a simple setup and a dark and uncomfortable plot, Swallowed does its best to keep everything on a razor’s edge. For at least the first act, I was completely invested in what the future had in store for Dom and Benjamin. The relationship between the friends is a pivotal anchor and I liked that the narrative chose to invest in the love between a gay man and a straight man as its fuel going along. But that’s where the nice feelings end.

The Swallowed movie is disconcerting. If the filmmakers aimed to put forward a distressing production, they succeeded. I have to admit I found one particularly long (and I mean long) scene of Benjamin having to forcefully retrieve the packages from his friend hard to watch. In subsequent scenes, the King Pin of the operation continues to fling some nasty behavior toward a now traumatized Benjamin.

The Swallowed Movie 2022

Overall, Swallowed is not a film that will leave you in a feel-good way. There are the lightest touches of specifically horror-themed events by way of what’s being trafficked by the unsuspecting leads. However, the general momentum of the narrative is filled with torture and abuse. So if you’re ready for that, add the title to your watch list.

Momentum Pictures released Swallowed to VOD and Digital platforms on February 14th, 2023. For more ways to watch Swallowed, check out the link below. Swallowed was obtained as a screener from the Fantasia Film Festival 2022.

The Swallowed movie is rated

2 Less torture and more body horror please, out of 5

Is Swallowed a Good Movie? Watch it and Find Out for Yourself