Posted in: Movies | Tagged: Alice Maio Mackay, dark star pictures, Feature Film, LGBTQ, supernatural horror, The Serpent's Skin

The Serpent's Skin: Trailer for Ambitious LGBTQ Supernatural Thriller

Alice Miao McKay's acclaimed LGBTQ supernatural horror thriller The Serpent's Kiss has a trailer ahead of its US theatrical release

Dark Star Pictures has released the new theatrical trailer for The Serpent's Skin ahead of its upcoming North American theatrical release, which kicks off on March 27th in New York City and on April 3rd in Los Angeles. The sixth feature from prolific 21-year-old Indie Filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay, a Supernatural Queer Romance Thriller for lovers of Buffy, Charmed, and the early transgressive films of Gregg Araki.

The Serpent's Skin

In The Serpent's Skin, twentysomething Anna (Alexandra McVicker) leaves her small, transphobic hometown to start a new life in the city with her sister when she quickly finds herself face-to-face with Gen (Avalon Fast), a confident young woman she'd first seen in visions. Gen, Anna learns, has supernatural powers—powers that the two of them share. Their bond of magic and romance is threatened when Gen inadvertently unleashes a demon in Danny (Jordan Dulieu), Anna's one-time fling and neighbor, and the mysterious evil begins targeting—and feeding on—everyone close to them.

The Serpent's Skin is Maio Mackay's most ambitious film to date, combining her distinct filmmaking voice—known for channeling genre tropes through a trans lens, her innovative approach to aesthetics, and a unique wit—with a larger scope that leans into a darker storyline and a loving influence of 90s cult television like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed.

Alice  Miao McKay: A New Voice in LGBTQ Horror

After writing and directing a string of low-budget horror shorts in her teens, Maio Mackay—who begins every feature with the on-screen evocation of "A Transgender Film"—erupted onto the scene with her 2021 vampire horror-comedy So Vam, starring BenDeLaCreme and Etcetera Etcetera from Drag Race, which was released as a Shudder Original when she was only sixteen years old. Following her breakout, she helmed Bad Girl Boogey (2022), featuring a cameo from horror icon Bill Mosley; the explosive underground horror T Blockers (2023), which earned her the Emerging Talent Award from Outfest L.A.; musical horror-comedy Satranic Panic (2023); and queer holiday horror Carnage for Christmas (2024), with I Saw the TV Glow's Jane Schoenbrun executive producing her forthcoming feature Our Effed Up World.

Co-written with her constant collaborator Benjamin Pahl Robinson, the film stars Australian actor Jordan Dulieu (Everything in Between) alongside rising American actor and performance artist Alexandra McVicker (HBO's Vice Principals, Jack Haven's October Crow, Castration Movie) and award-winning Canadian filmmaker and actor Avalon Fast (Castration Movie), with McVicker and Fast bringing their characters—doomed lovers who unwittingly unleash a demon through their deepest insecurities—and their romance to life with a palpably intense on-screen chemistry.

Mackay has quickly cemented her position in the exciting new wave of queer filmmaking and The Serpent's Skin brings many of the trans luminaries in the scene together, with Castration Movie auteur Louise Weard as Executive Producer, The People's Joker breakout Vera Drew as Editor (after first teaming up on Carnage for Christmas), and So Pretty's Jessica Dunn Rovinelli as Colorist.

The Serpent's Kiss will open in New York at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn on March 27th and in Los Angeles at the Alamo Drafthouse DTLA on April 3rd – as part of a special Fantastic Fest Presents showcase – with Mackay and special guests in attendance for opening nights. Additional screenings with director Q&As include the Roxie Theater in San Francisco on April 2nd and Vidiots in Los Angeles on April 4th, with further cities and dates to be announced.

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