Do you ever wish you could smolder a hapless sexual rival with a single searing look from your red-glowing eyes?
On Here TV’s new series Dante’s Cove, which “follows the lives of a group of gay and lesbian twentysomethings living in an apartment complex on the beach”, actress Tracy Scoggins not only does this twice, but gets to shackle a man in a dungeon while she’s decked out in full dominatrix splendor. She also gets to deliver uber-diva lines in an ever-shifting accent that is unpredictable parts Aussie, British and simple affectation.
Scoggins plays Grace, an 1840s society lady whose advances are fended off by her fiancé, Ambrosius (William Gregory Lee), in the name of not spoiling their wedding night. When she soon thereafter catches him bending over for the butler, her witchy powers bubble to the surface. She disintegrates the full-frontally nude, um, manservant into a small pile of smoking debris, then transforms Ambrosius from a dashing lad into a scraggly old man.
“Consider our wedding night spoiled!” she cackles, then curses him to eternal captivity. His improbable and only chance for freedom is to win the kiss of a young man.
If this sort of schlockiness amuses you, Dante’s Cove, is sure to deliver-with all the grace of a gorilla in stilettos. But it also treats viewers to plenty of eye candy, tricking them into thinking there’s any other reason to watch. And what sets it apart from similar fare is that, on this show, things just get queerer and queerer as the action unfolds.
After the opening sequence the action fast-forwards to present-day Laguna Beach, where a group of twenty-somethings live a 21st-century gothic version of free love in the haunted Dante Hotel, an apartment complex that is the former mansion of Ambrosius and current prison to his ghost. The young artists, surfers, students and slackers run the gamut from bi to straight to gay/lesbian.
Many are simply experimenting, and all of them are suspiciously good-looking and scantily clad. Together they delve into the hotel’s spooky goings-on and general creepiness that lurks in their midst.
The show’s gauzy storyline is held together by gloopy soft-core smut and patchy gothic camp. These qualities combine to make Dante’s Cove “your newest guilty pleasure,” as the official website proclaims. It’s shameless in its segue-free sexual romps, which will no doubt make it hot for many a viewer, if the b-movie special effects and porn-worthy dialogue don’t turn you off.
Dante’s Cove (its title a not-so-subliminal suggestion of Dawson’s Creek) has been compared to soap operas such as Dark Shadows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Melrose Place, and The O.C. While it lacks these shows’ production values, surely it also lacks their budgets. And while the writing quality doesn’t exactly pick up where Queer as Folk left off, Dante’s Cove steers clear of that show’s pretension while delivering an equal abundance of queer characters.
The look and feel of Dante’s Cove, as well as some of the language, is at times embarrassingly 1990s. And sometimes the hipness is forced, such as during the extended sequence featuring one the gang’s self-proclaimed “bitchin'” parties. Worse still, an early scene lazily relies on clunky dialogue [here paraphrased] to deliver crucial background information:
“Do you realize this was where we first met?” “You’re right! On this beach.” “Yeah, and I told you that you needed more sunblock.” “Uh huh. When was that?two months ago?”
The characters’ sexual adventurousness is pointed out ad nauseum and with dubious enthusiasm: Look! There’s Kevin (Gregory Michael) locking eyes with the cabbie in the rearview mirror while Toby (Charlie David) is retrieving something he apparently dropped in Kevin’s lap and is taking forever to find!
And goody?Amber (Zara Taylor) just found the studded collar she’s been searching all over for! Oh, there’s that Van (Nadine Heimann), topless on the beach…again!
But the purpose Dante’s Cove serves is simple and pointed: it’s a queer supernatural thriller that’s heavy on allure and light on substance. The actors are young, sexy and frequently in flagrante. Things at the hotel are so casual that when one resident gives a tour to a newbie, he flings open one room’s unlocked door and immediately in view is a male-female couple having sex. They don’t bother to disengage, simply greeting the newcomer and asking that the door be re-shut. On the beach there are almost as many bonfires at night as there are broad-daylight couplings.
Most of the sex we see involves a man?and usually two. Kevin and his boyfriend Toby are frequently at it: in a cab (bold), on the beach (risky), in the shower (steamy) and even on a bed (yawn).
Amber does catch the eye of Chrissy (Michaela Mann), the woman who takes over for the party’s deejay on a break. When the deejay returns Chrissy and Amber scurry off to cavort by the beachside bonfire. But it’s more frolic than fever we see them share. And when sexy Van later seduces another partygoer (Rena Riffel) into joining her on a beer run to the basement, we’re treated to lots of heavy breathing, fervent fondling, suggestive writhing and the odd bare breast or shoulder. But the camera cuts away before things go any further.
Both scenes tease the viewer then cut away before anything gets too heavy. In general, the women’s scenes are interrupted prematurely while the men’s scenes linger to the point of loitering.
The first episode of Dante’s Cove ends with a music-video-like montage of classic horror flick images, among them cracking mirrors, menacing dolls, beckoning ghouls, violent lightning and screaming children. In November, part two will air, and the show’s website tells us we can expect to find Ambrosius “doing all he can to influence Kevin and lure him to the dark side,” enlisting the help of Cory as his “minion.”
We can also look forward to Grace’s return, after her fierceness was confined to the very beginning of the first episode. Van and Toby are said to continue delving into the Cove’s mysteries and trying to break the spell that has taken a hold on Kevin. Will they be able to overpower Ambrosius before it’s too late? Watch and find out.
Learn more about the series at dantescove.com
