Swallowed (film)

Swallowed is a 2022 American independent body horror film written and directed by Carter Smith. The film stars Cooper Koch, Jose Colon, Jena Malone, and Mark Patton. It follows Benjamin (Koch), an aspiring pornographic actor, and his friend Dom (Colon) as they attempt to smuggle mysterious substances by swallowing them.

The film premiered at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival, and was released in the United States on February 14, 2023. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 NewFest.

Plot

Two friends, Benjamin and Dom, are celebrating their last night together before Ben flies to Los Angeles to become a gay porn star. Dom drives them to do a drug run to Canada to make some money to help set Ben up in L.A.

Their contact, Alice, forces them to swallow five condoms holding the drugs: Dom swallows four and Ben swallows the fifth. Across the border, the pair go to a rest stop where Dom stands up to a homophobic truck driver and is punched in the stomach. He begins to experience stomach pains and passes one of his four packages. Alice meets the two men and drives them to her boss, Rich, and explains that the drug bundles are larvae with venomous bites that get people high.

Ben extracts all but one of Dom's packages, which has burst inside him. Dom overdoses from the larvae bites and dies. Rich shoots Alice and then tries to seduce Ben, who stabs him with tweezers and flees where he passes his larvae cache. Ben goes back to the cabin, where he sees and watches Rich dump Alice's body in the outhouse well. Ben has his passed larvae, which bites Rich, and Ben throws him down the outhouse well.

Over the credits, Ben is seen being interviewed on the red carpet at a pornography award show, where he is nominated for "Best Newcummer". He emotionally thanks "all the people who believed in me".

Cast

• Cooper Koch as Benjamin
• Jose Colon as Dom
• Jena Malone as Alice
• Mark Patton as Rich
• Roe Pacheco as Border Officer
• Michael Curtis as Randy Redneck
• Jonathan Spence as Thee Suburbia (themself)
• Hannah Perry as Dee

Production

Template:Quote box Writer-director Carter Smith had wanted to make a low-budget film akin to a directorial debut, in contrast to his own feature debut The Ruins (2008). Upon writing, Smith had written the role of Rich for Mark Patton, while The Ruins collaborator and friend Jena Malone was the first choice he had in mind for Alice. Additionally, Jose Colon was cast after previously starring in a photoshoot series for Smith's gay-centric All the Dead Boys banner, while Cooper Koch was cast by Smith immediately upon viewing his audition tape.

It was filmed in Maine, where Smith had lived previously; the cabin used was built by his father.

Release

Swallowed premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on July 15, 2022. It also screened at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and FrightFest on September 23–28 and October 28 that same year, respectively. In January 2023, Momentum Pictures purchased the North American distribution rights, and released the film on video-on-demand and other digital retailers on February 14, 2023.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2021	American Film Festival	US in Progress – Finishing Services Prize	Swallowed	Template:Win
2022	NewFest	Grand Jury Prize		Template:Win
	Popcorn Frights Film Festival	Scariest Feature Film Prize		Template:Win
	FilmOut San Diego	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Jena Malone	Template:Win
2023	Golden Trailer Awards	Best Horror Poster	Momentum Pictures, Champ & Pepper	Template:Win

External links

• Swallowed at All the Dead Boys
• Template:IMDb title