• Exclusives
  • News

Exclusive poster: Alice Maio Mackay’s Fantasia ’25 queer horror film “THE SERPENT’S SKIN”

The festival alumnus is back for the Canadian premiere of her latest feature.

THE SERPENT’S SKIN, the latest from acclaimed, genre-bending director Alice Maio Mackay (T BLOCKERS, CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS), will screen at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival tomorrow, July 23 at 9:25 p.m. and Friday, July 25 at 12 noon. Scripted by Ben Pahl Robinson and Mackay, it stars Alexandra McVicker, HONEYCOMB director Avalon Fast, Jordan Dulieu, Charlotte Chimes, Scott Major, Alyssa Peters and Lewi Dawson, with cameos by filmmakers Joe Lynch (SUITABLE FLESH) and Betsey Brown (ASSHOLES). Emmy-nominated filmmaker Vera Drew returns from CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS as the movie’s editor. According to the official synopsis, “The film follows Anna after she escapes from her small, transphobic town, and the romantic relationship she develops with another young woman, a Goth tattoo artist named Gen. After unwittingly unleashing a demon that begins feeding on their friends, the pair need to face their insecurities in order to defeat evil.”

Dark Star Pictures, which previously collaborated with Mackay on CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS, T BLOCKERS, BAD GIRL BOOGEY and SATRANIC PANIC, produced THE SERPENT’S SKIN and will release it next year. Following its Fantasia dates, SKIN will have its UK premiere on Monday, August 25 at 6:15 p.m. at FrightFest London.

Read More

Get The Grim Reader.
Rue Morgue's free newsletter.
Editor's notes.
Cultural insight.
Curated horror across film, books, music, and art.
First looks.
Select previews.
No algorithms.
Join Free

Advertisement

In Print Since 1997

Issue 231

Rue Morgue #231 Jul/Aug 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #231 – Summer Slasher Issue FEATURES Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA guts the slasher formula from the inside out, turning it into a romance about the horror of becoming who you were always meant to be. Plus! GILLIAN ANDERSON and HANNAH EINBINDER unpack Schoenbrun’s radical dismemberment of…

Issue 230

Rue Morgue #230 May/Jun 2026 – RARE

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #230 FEATURES Filmmaker Curry Barker transforms a simple wish into a spiralling nightmare of love, possession, and bloodshed in his breakout feature OBSESSION. Plus: The story of Barker’s found-footage shocker MILK & SERIAL, which turned a micro-budget experiment into a viral horror breakout. Hollywood made it a monster. History tells a different…

Issue 229

Rue Morgue #229 Mar/Apr 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #229! FEATURES A nerve-shredding found-footage thriller built around sound, UNDERTONE signals the arrival of a terrifying new voice in Canada’s booming independent horror scene. Plus! Meet the new breed of independent Canadian horror filmmakers behind DREAM EATER, SWEETNESS, HANGASHORE, THE LAND OF NOD and THE CURSE OF GHOST ISLAND. Part post-punk, part…

Issue 228

Rue Morgue #228 Jan/Feb 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #228! FEATURES He fascinated audiences in 2001 with the French period martial arts horror film BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF. Then he followed it up in 2006 by bringing the eerie world of SILENT HILL to cinematic life. Now, visionary director CHRISTOPHE GANS unleashes his latest nightmare with RETURN TO SILENT HILL. Plus!…