Zoo

Bestiality with horses is the overriding topic of this problematic docudrama about a Seattle "family man" that died of a perforated colon after having sex with a horse under the supervision of a group of fellow "zoophiles." Filmmaker Robinson Devor feigns interest in local and national media coverage of the tragedy famously referred to as the "Enumclaw horse incident of 2005," while failing to provide a historical legal context for the event. Bestiality was not illegal in Washington State at the time, but Devor fails to examine how such laws there have changed. Most distressing is the treatment of the horse in question, an Arabian stallion, by horse "rescuers" who immediately castrate the animal that they claim is "innocent." This deeply disturbing film skirts its intrinsic exploitation intent by never speaking its subject’s name, or for that matter exploring realities of the man’s life beyond his circle of zoophiles. This nightmare-inducing film is as dark and lurid in tone as the mind of its maker.

Not Rated. 76 mins. (D) (One Star)