The Retreat

The Retreat is a 2021 Canadian slasher film, directed by Pat Mills. The film stars Tommie-Amber Pirie and Sarah Allen as Renee and Valerie, a lesbian couple who book a weekend trip to a cabin in the woods, only to be abducted and tortured by a mysterious figure who livestreams gruesome killings of gay people on the Internet for profit. The film was directly inspired by a desire to subvert the "bury your gays" and "dead lesbian syndrome" tropes common in horror fiction, by telling a story in which queer characters are placed in a conventional horror film scenario but successfully use their wits to survive and fight back. The cast also includes Rossif Sutherland, Aaron Ashmore, Celina Sinden, Munro Chambers, Chad Connell, Patrick Garrow, Joey Coleman, Gavin Fox and Don Masters. The film was released to video on demand platforms in May 2021.