High school wrestling star Lee Fletcher (Jordan Doww) is a clean living, God-fearing asset to his community, respected by his peers and adored by his churchgoing family. The world Lee thought he knew is about to change as he finds himself developing a crush on openly gay classmate Kyle (Pablo Castelblanco). Fearing that the Fletcher legacy is about to be damaged forever, his family call in local New Dawn Church’s pastor Royer (David Koechner), who suspects that Lee has been possessed by a creature which must be exorcised…
Colby Holt and Sam Probst’s damning look at the suffocating politics and prejudices of small town life is designed to make the viewer increasingly angry as Lee’s parents and Royer refuse to allow Lee to work through his own feelings, focusing instead on what they perceive to be a poison within Lee which must be purged. An initial talk between the pastor and his latest salvation project soon heads down the conversion therapy route, complete with ECT sessions.
Holt’s screenplay paints a chilling picture of a town where reputation is everything and success is gained by conforming to social norms. Those norms, inevitably, are decided upon by people for whom evangelical religion is the cornerstone of their existence. Koechner, possibly better known for being a gifted comedic performer, is terrifying here, playing a fire and brimstone preacher convincing his flock they’ll be going to Hell if they don’t live the “right” way while indulging in thoroughly reprehensible practices in the name of banishing “reprobate thoughts”.
Of course, there are skeletons in the closet of all of these supposed pillars of society, most notably Lee’s mother Floy (Robyn Lively), who still keeps a box of possessions which belonged to her dead brother Neal, who took his own life some years ago for reasons which, if not obviously apparent, will have parallels with the events of the present. Lively is very good as a conflicted soul struggling to reconcile her public persona with a tolerance which is perennially squashed by psychologically domineering spouse Big Lee, played by a chillingly restrained Joe Chrest.
Care is taken not to overdo the supernatural trappings of the story. As unnerving as they are, Lee’s visions are restricted to moments which punctuate the everyday, arguably more punishing trials of his educational and home life. Ganymede doesn’t fall into the trap of having everyone be a hateful bigot, either, giving the more sympathetic characters enough time to land, specifically Anna Schlegel as Ms. Kimpton, a school counsellor a lot of viewers would love to have had, and Sofia Yepes as Kyle’s mother Kim, fiercely protective and incredibly proud of her son.
The subplot regarding Kyle’s creation of a performance piece may, on first glance, feel the least necessary in a film which is steadily turning the screws of tension, but it provides a vital contrast between a life where an open mind is key and that of someone who is constantly told that the only way they can be shielded from the ills of the world is if they reject certain feelings and behave in a way that has been deemed by others to be decent. It certainly helps that Castelblanco is smart, amusing and loveable from the get-go.
If the final act of Ganymede resolves its weighty matters a little too swiftly and neatly, it’s also something of a relief that those resolutions are not nearly as doom-laden as they could have been. That’s not to say that there isn’t the odd, bloody surprise to be found, but the main focus is on characters looking within themselves to confront deep-seated issues which have threatened to destroy the person they once were, or should be. Viewers may not get effects-laden sequences of folks being dragged in or out of Hell, but that was never the movie’s intention and the route Holt and Probst take is much more satisfying.
Closing with a “what happened next” montage, Ganymede allows the audience a welcome couple of minutes to decompress. The message that fundamental religion and bigotry are bedfellows isn’t a new one, and nor is the suggestion that some of those people are using that bigotry to cover up their own perceived, moral transgressions, but it’s the decision to treat the material in such an unsensational way that gives the piece its power. A lot of this movie made me want to shout at the screen. Mission accomplished, I’d say.
Ganymede (2024) featured as part of the SoHome Pride Festival 2024. Interested in attending Soho Horror Fest – in person or virtually – in future? Check out their site here.