“The Boogie Nights of gay porn” sounds like a high bar to live up to, but, judging from the trailer, it looks like King Cobra will do just that. It’s a true crime drama about a man breaking onto the gay internet porn scene in the mid-2000s, full of sex, intrigue, manipulation, betrayal, Christian Slater, James Franco, and, really, what more could you want?

King Cobra is based on Peter A. Conway and Andrew E. Stoner’s book Cobra Killer: Gay Porn, Murder, and the Manhunt to Bring the Killers to Justice, a title which should tell you right now that this movie is essential viewing. The psychosexual turmoil dazzled audiences at Tribeca earlier this year, and now the film is finally heading to theaters. Here’s the full synopsis:

Based on a stranger-than-fiction true story, King Cobra is a deliciously dark, twisted plunge into the behind-the-scenes world of the pornography industry. It’s 2006, YouTube is in its infancy, and internet porn is still behind a paywall. Taking the stage name Brent Corrigan, a fresh-faced, wannabe adult video performer (Garrett Clayton) is molded into a star by Stephen (Christian Slater), a closeted gay porn mogul who runs the skin flick empire Cobra Video from his seemingly ordinary suburban home. But as Brent’s rise and demands for more money put him at odds with his boss, he also attracts the attention of a rival producer (James Franco) and his unstable lover (Keegan Allen) who will stop at nothing to squash Cobra Video and steal its number one star. Co-starring Alicia Silverstone and Molly Ringwald, King Cobra is part delirious, tabloid-shocker satire, part American tragedy.

King Cobra is directed by Justin Kelly (I Am Michael), and opens on demand and in theaters on October 21.

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