Film implores you to lose your virginity or be sacrificed

By Connor Sadler, September 18 2014 —

Losing your virginity is usually awkward and terrible, but when your parents are planning to use you as a virgin sacrifice for their satanic cult, losing your v-card becomes a life-or-death necessity.

Teen Lust is a dark comedy about a high-school student named Neil. On top of having to avoid the typical landmines of high school and hormones, Neil’s parents are too involved with their satanic cult to pay attention to him — until they  offer him as a virgin sacrifice. Thus begins Neil’s race against time to score a one night stand before the cult gets ahold of him.

“I wanted to raise the stakes on it a little bit. Having to lose your virginity or die, that’s about as high stakes as you can get,” says director Blaine Thurier. “I just needed a way for that to fit and virgin sacrifice just seemed natural.”

Thurier says he made Neil’s parents part of a satanic cult as a tongue-in-cheek comparison to his experience of growing up with Catholic parents.

“I was raised going to church and I hated it,” Thurier says. “The discomfort of being at church, having to wear uncomfortable clothes, having to wake up early and having your parents get on your case about misbehaving.”

The humour in Teen Lust stems from the awkwardness of having sex for the first time, and many of the jokes arise from the situations Neil finds himself in. There are more than a few nervous laughs while Neil tries  to proposition many of the girls he knows.

“It’s not an easy thing to do,”  Thurier says. “When you’re a teenager it feels like you’re being burned alive because of your hormones going out of control and how badly you need to fulfil those needs.”

At its core, Teen Lust is meant to be a fun film that the audience can relate to.

“I wasn’t probing too deeply into the adolescent psyche,” Thurier says. “It’s fun to watch a movie about experiences that you’ve had. You watch them and know that other people feel the same way.”