Former set designer Paul Etheredge-Ouzts' debut feature as writer-director is fairly competent but hardly engrossing (though one of its executive producers, Joseph Wolf, did similar duties on the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and a couple of "Halloween" sequels). The violence is not gratuitous, and there is little nudity, but it's hard to imagine audiences of any sexual orientation flocking to "Hellbent," though it's a natural for DVD. The next day, as the populace prepares for the city's world-renowned Halloween bacchanalia, young-police-officer-with-a-haunted-past Eddie (Dylan Fergus) tries to spread the word that there's a lun-atic on the loose with a grudge against gays.

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