MANTRA
Dir. Ken Camp. 1993.
United States. 120 min.
In English.

Kenny Martinez (Mike Gonzalez) is a Los Angeles-based conceptual artist who decides to set up a confessional telephone answering machine as part of his latest project. As the constant deluge of traumatic and obscene voicemails threatens to create a rift in Kenny’s relationship with his girlfriend, Jill (Regina Oh!), a bizarre serial killer (Glen Meadmore) begins using the hotline to menace the couple.

Inspired by artist Allan Bridge’s Apology Line project, Ken Camp’s Mantra is a queer shot-on-video “sexual thriller” that’s as shockingly outrageous as it is lyrically erotic. As the original poster proclaims, it’s “precisely the kind of picture that Dan Quayle—or GLAAD, for that matter—doesn’t want you to see!” New digital preservation from videomaker Ken Camp’s personal VHS copy.