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The Serpent’s Skin Is Everything We’ve Been Asking Queer Horror For

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1 month ago

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We need to talk about Alexandra McVicker.

I came into The Serpent’s Skin ready to watch Alice Maio Mackay do her thing. And she does, we’ll get there. But McVicker as Anna stopped me cold within the first ten minutes and didn’t let go. She’s playing timid in a way I haven’t seen done right in a long time. There’s this quality to her where you can feel how carefully she’s holding herself, like she’s protecting something she knows is fragile but real, and every time the camera goes in close you catch it. Mackay leans into those close-ups hard, Obsession-style. The kind of framing where a face becomes its own landscape, and McVicker rewards it every single time. The hope sitting underneath all that timidity is quiet enough that you might miss it if you’re not paying attention. Don’t miss it. It’s the whole movie.

Okay. Mackay. Six features, twenty-one years old, and The Serpent’s Skin is where she lands on the version of herself she’s been moving toward since So Vam. The trans experience isn’t the plot here so much as it’s the weather. It’s in how Anna walks into rooms, in what she’s leaving behind before we even meet her, in what the stakes actually are when the supernatural stuff kicks in. You don’t get a monologue explaining any of it. If you live inside it, you’ll feel the whole shape. If you don’t, you’ll still have a good time, which is the harder trick and the one she pulls off. Her trajectory across these films has been toward exactly this. Trans characters moved from background to center, and now center to core. The Serpent’s Skin is where that project feels complete.

There’s a scene with Danny, where he hits on Anna, and the sexual tension in that scene seeps through the screen in a way that I was not expecting from a Tuesday afternoon screener. The chemistry is real, and it’s uncomfortable, and it’s good. And then Danny transforms, and the makeup team gave him something right out of the Buffyverse practical effects playbook. That same textured ridge work, monsters that feel like they share actual air with the people they’re threatening. The whole sequence recontextualizes everything that came before it. It’s a good piece of filmmaking. The setup earns the scare.

One note, offered with love: there is an intimate scene where someone spits on their hand. I understand the intention. A woman this competent in every other area of her life would carry lube. She should carry lube. This is my only complaint about The Serpent’s Skin and I recognize how good that is.

The whole visual world is neon-soaked in a way that feels deliberate at every level rather than just aesthetic. Every color is a reference or a warning. The festival circuit noticed. They were right.

Here’s what I can’t stop thinking about, though. The Serpent’s Skin is a very good movie that is also, structurally, a pilot. The mythology has room in it. Anna and Gen and the world they’re building has room in it. I want eight seasons of twenty-two episodes. I want monster of the week. I want to watch this relationship grow across years in the same way we got to watch the Winchesters figure their lives out, except this time nobody’s queerness is subtext, nobody’s trans identity is a twist, and the story belongs to them from the start. Give us that show. Someone give us that show now.

But until then we have this, and this is worth your time and your money and the drive to wherever it’s playing near you. Horror has been asking for a film that centers queer women without making the queerness the tragedy, that uses the supernatural as something other than a metaphor for shame, that trusts its audience enough to just tell the story and let us feel it. The Serpent’s Skin is that film. Alice Maio Mackay made it at twenty-one. We should probably all be embarrassed about that, in the best possible way.

Where to see it:

Now playing New York, NY — March 27 | Los Angeles, CA — April 3

Upcoming screenings

  • 4/10, 4/11 — Denver, CO — Sie FilmCenter
  • 4/11 — Boston, MA — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Boston Seaport
  • 4/11 — Chicago, IL — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Wrigleyville
  • 4/11 — Dallas, TX — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Cedars
  • 4/11 — Denton, TX — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Denton
  • 4/11 — New York, NY — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lower Manhattan
  • 4/11 — Yonkers, NY — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Yonkers
  • 4/11 — Raleigh, NC — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Raleigh
  • 4/11 — San Antonio, TX — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Park North
  • 4/11 — San Francisco, CA — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema New Mission
  • 4/11 — Santa Clara, CA — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Valley Fair
  • 4/11 — Woodbury, MN — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Woodbury
  • 4/11 — Naples, FL — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Naples
  • 4/11, 4/13 — Denver, CO — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Sloans Lake
  • 4/11, 4/14 — Austin, TX — Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
  • 4/25 — Sacramento, CA — The Dreamland Cinema
  • 5/14 — Sebastopol, CA — Rialto Cinema
  • 6/8 — Portland, OR — Clinton Street Theater
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Indie Horror

Panic Fest 2026 Review: ‘Frogman Returns’ Is A Thrilling Sequel That Goes For The Croak!

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8 hours ago

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May 6, 2026

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Horror as a genre has a greater propensity for sequels than almost anything else in the world of cinema. There have been scores of slasher sequels from the likes of Friday The 13th to A Nightmare on Elm Street to even sequels to seemingly stand-alone affairs like The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project. While some may be seen as cash grabs or of diminishing returns, it cannot be argued that there have been some phenomenal sequels to horror films such as Aliens and Evil Dead 2 among many others. So imagine my pleasant surprise to see that 2023’s Frogman is back in the aptly named Frogman Returns!

The sequel picks up not too long after the original’s cryptid catastrophe. The Loveland, Ohio Frogman and surrounding cult that was exposed by amateur filmmaker Dallas (Nathan Tymoshuk) has since disappeared and the terror of the magic wand wielding amphibian seemingly ended. Having lost his friend Scotty (Benny Barrett) and a falling out with Amy (Chelsey Grant), Dallas has found a new life heading a cryptid reality web show. But when strange forces call him and his team back to Loveland, will he have to face the Frogman for a final battle?

I was a big fan of the original Frogman upon release, and was interested in seeing where director Anthony Cousins was going to take the story. I’m happy to report that he did the best kind of thing you can do for a sequel like this: made it weirder and wilder! Not only is there Frogman, but a number of classic cryptids have encounters as the genie is out of the bottle and Dallas irrevocably proved that there are truly monsters among us. There is a pretty memorable scene involving a run-in with the living pants-like Fresno Nightcrawler creature that establishes what a brave and bizarre new world things have become since the previous film. Monsters are basically a fact of life now. So, of course, people are finding ways to profit from it.

Dallas’ arc continues from the first film and I do like how he carries the weight and guilt of Scotty’s disappearance and his disconnection with Amy. There are real consequences to the ways things went wrong previously and Dallas is haunted by the consequences of his obsession. Now he attempts to make things right in some form as his adventures bring him back to where it all began. And for those here for Frogman… without spoiling too much, everyone’s favorite amphibious cryptid does make a triumphant return. With a neon explosive finale that left me craving even more.

Frogman Returns does a fine job of documenting the new adventure in the traditional found footage format, with the foundation of Dallas’ new reality web show keeping the cameras rolling. Combining that with ample and memorable practical fx for all manner of beasts and gore to see. Exploding heads, zapped limbs, and so much more get captured on camera in all their visceral glory.

Overall, if you were a fan of the first Frogman, then Frogman Returns is a more than worthwhile follow up to digest.

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Indie Horror

Panic Fest 2026 Review: ‘Creature Of The Pines’ Is An Interesting Found Footage Horror That Walks A Beaten Path

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1 day ago

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May 5, 2026

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There are certain parts of the world that have an inherent evil or cursed nature to them. The Bermuda Triangle, where so many ships have vanished in its waters. Death Valley, where many have met their end in the unforgiving desert. And then there’s The Pine Barrens of New Jersey. A woodland infamous for the cryptid named The Jersey Devil.

While The Jersey Devil may be the mascot or face of sorts for the area, there are other dangers within those woods. Specifically, an area known as Pine Hollow. Infamous for numerous disappearances of local and hikers. While some attribute it to natural hazards, others say the source of these incidents may be tied to folklore. An ancient mimic of indigenous legend that targets those wandering its woods. After a trio of hikers disappear and leaves only one shell shocked survivor and witness wandering the wilderness, a documentary crew attempts to clarify between fact and fiction… only to find themselves subject to their own torments.

Creature Of The Pines is a decent found footage/mockumentary endeavor, and I’m always a sucker for that kind of framing. I will also give points for taking an original approach on the region rather than using a more well known cryptid or monster. Instead, crafting their own beast with the shapeshifting demon of indigenous lore. It did make it more interesting than relying on a more infamous antagonist, allowing the movie to make up its own rules and history behind the titular creature.

Unfortunately, the story does fall into a lot of the cliches of the sub-genre as well. Lots of scenes building up strange sounds coming form the woods leading to some shaky cam segments as a character is dragged off by an unseen force and such. The talking heads portions of the mockumentary featured some decent actors and subjects that kept things fairly fresh. Especially the former forest ranger who discussed the dark and terrible history of Pine Hollow.

Even still, the third act was kind of a mixed bag with the final confrontation and reveal of the horror. Ambiguity tends to work better in found footage for a reason, sometimes its better to leave the evil up to the imagination. There’s also a twist to the ending that felt a bit obvious considering the build up.

But, if you’re a big fan of found footage and mockumentary horror like I am, (especially for New England based horror) then Creature Of The Pines is worth at least a watch.

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Movie Reviews

The Vord Review: The Mythology Is Free. Everything Else Costs Something.

Published

3 days ago

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May 4, 2026

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Here is what drew me to The Vord: the premise is the kind of thing that only works if someone actually takes it seriously. An ancient Nordic entity bound to a corrupt priest, sent to claim a woman’s soul as an offering to something older and worse, while that same entity is also her spiritual guardian. I wanted this film to work.

It does not fully work. But it is trying to do something interesting, and that makes it worth watching.

Writer-director M.T. Maliha’s feature debut arrives on UK digital May 4 via Miracle Media.

What Maliha Is Going For

The setup puts Jillian between two competing forces pulling at her from opposite directions: the Catholic Church, which has colonized her spiritual life and now turns out to harbor a priest who has sold himself to something ancient, and her pagan roots, which the film treats as something alive rather than something historical.

The entity called The Vord sits above both of these, watching, bound to the priest by a deal that requires it to deliver Jillian’s soul to the Old One in exchange for its own redemption. The theological architecture here is actually interesting. Can something that exists outside human moral categories be held accountable to them? Can an entity that has survived centuries of watching humanity be moved by one woman’s particular situation?

Maliha has said the horror she was after was psychological, the confusion of faith and will rather than gore or jump scares. Midsommar works because it treats pagan tradition as something that believes in itself. The Witch works because its supernatural architecture is airtight. The Vord is reaching for that register but never sticks the landing.

Where the Film Breathes

There are moments here that find what they are looking for. The film understands that dread does not need noise to work, and in its quieter stretches, something is present in the frame that earns the atmosphere.

The mythological framework, pagan tradition framed not as superstition but as a parallel system of real spiritual authority that the Church has spent centuries trying to bury, gives the film a tension that does not depend on the effects budget to land. That part works without costing anything extra. Maliha clearly did her research and cares about this material.

The Part That Is Hard to Get Past

The cast is committed. That is what I want to say first, because it is true. The cast is fully committed to this material, and commitment matters. The problem is that the script does not always give them the footing they need to stand on, and when it does not, the gaps are visible.

The scenes that depend most heavily on dialogue to build tension are the ones that struggle the most. The Vord is a film where the horror is supposed to live in what people say to each other, in revelation and betrayal and spiritual crisis, and those scenes require a level of precision in both writing and performance that is not consistent here. Some of the more ambitious emotional confrontations in the second half land somewhere between affecting and slightly stiff. There is nothing cruel to say about that. It is a hard thing to execute, and first films do not always execute the hardest things.

The storytelling also has structural issues that make the mythology harder to follow than it needs to be. The film would benefit from a more disciplined approach to when it reveals information. The narrative shifts do not always land with the weight they are reaching for, and the audience ends up doing more work than they should to stay oriented inside the mythology.

The Budget Is a Real Factor

Psychological horror is one of the most budget-sensitive genres there is. It needs control of every element, the sound, the light, the silence, the space between what is shown and what is not. These things are expensive, and the gap between what The Vord wants to do atmospherically and what the production can fully deliver is visible throughout. This is not a criticism so much as a description. Maliha is attempting a film whose entire emotional register depends on precise atmospheric control, and she does not always have the resources that precision requires.

Working within budget constraints while making folk horror is genuinely one of the harder problems in low-budget filmmaking. Caveat pulled it off on a shoestring because it found the specific visual grammar its story needed and stayed inside it. The Vord has not fully found that grammar yet.

Worth Seeing Anyway

The Vord is not the film it wants to be. But the film it wants to be is more interesting than most of what is on offer in this corner of horror right now, and Maliha is worth watching as she figures out how to make it. The mythology she is drawing from, the premise she has built around it, the question of whether the thing guarding you and the thing hunting you can be the same entity, these are good materials. Good materials in imperfect hands are still good materials.

This is a debut. Give it the weight that deserves.

The Vord is streaming on UK digital from May 4 via Miracle Media.

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