Peter L.
Australian filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay is one of the most prolific low-budget writer-directors in the world of horror. In just one year, she’s had her debut feature So Vam land on Shudder as an exclusive, hit the festival circuit with her slasher Bad Girl Boogey, and announced two more features delivered in her signature colorful and campy style—the sci-fi queer parasite horror T Blockers and the cult-based road movie Satranic Panic.
Horror Obsessive has spoken to Mackay before, and late last year we managed to catch up with her once again to chat trans horror, inspirations, and landing Bill Moseley cameos.
(This interview has been edited for clarity and length.)
Peter: In the time since Horror Obsessive last spoke to you, you’ve had a lot of things happen in your career—can you give us the short version, and how overwhelming has it been for you?
Alice: For sure, it’s been super overwhelming in the best possible way. I’ve been super grateful for all the opportunities that have presented themselves in the last year. My first feature, ‘So Vam,’ which I shot last year in Jan when I was 16 got picked up as a Shudder exclusive, which is a literal dream come true, and also led to me being featured in Fangoria, another “pinch me” moment. Words can’t express how grateful I am. I’ve also shot a short based off an Ed Wood story, which is super campy and fun. Hopefully, I’ll have some screening announcements about it soon. I also shot my second feature, Bad Girl Boogey, which is currently on the festival circuit. I’ve also been working on some other projects which haven’t been announced yet!
What were the storytelling and stylistic inspirations behind Bad Girl Boogey?
The main stylistic inspiration for me was to combine the styles of Gregg Araki and Rob Zombie, to blend it all into a coming-of-age queer slasher drama. To have those colorful, gory, and depraved moments, but for the film also to be vulnerable character-driven, and just focusing on these queer teens and the turmoils they go through.
You’ve developed a recognizable, campy, color-saturated style through your work. Where do you find inspiration in creating those visuals, and how do those bright colors play into the themes of your stories?
I think I’ve always been drawn to those colorful campy kinds of films, like growing up with John Waters, Gregg Araki, Wachowski Sisters, Rob Zombie, Party Monster—all those kinds of filmmakers have really stylized work that have beautiful visuals. Especially Araki, who started out with no budget work but still had a real colorful essence. These filmmakers all had a major effect on me growing up.
I think those colors play into the themes of my stories because I really strive to create a world where these characters have their own dreamland/world. For example, for Kurt in So Vam, their vampire life, drag life, and friendship stuff was super colorful and candy-colored, but their school and home life were more drab and dull in colors (although not too much, ha) to really show the contrast with their experiences and queerness.
I’ve seen a lot of talk about how impressive it is you’re able to create with such a memorable style on such a low budget. How do you translate the ideas in your head to the screen with limited resources?
I think I’m able to translate the ideas in my head into that style on screen because of the team I surround myself with and coming into the project with a clear idea of what I want things to look and feel like. Aaron Schuppan, my DOP & editor, has a shared love of campy films and really understands a lot of my references, so we’re able to communicate and work efficiently to translate those ideas from page to screen with our essentially no budget.
You mentioned that you play the piano last time we spoke—how important is music to the stories you tell, and what’ve you been listening to lately?
Music is super important to the stories I tell. For example, in Bad Girl Boogey, I really wanted to immerse the audience in the clubs and punky-type scenes, which we were able to hopefully do by using real trans noise/punk scene artists, as well as mixing in with what Alex did with the score, in order to recreate that world on screen. Lately, I’ve been listening to a real mix of things, I think the main artists at the moment are Jesse Jo Stark, Conan Grey, Ethel Cain, Lana Del Rey, Yungblud, Beyoncé, Garbage, Jedet, Robert Palmer, Amyl & The Sniffers, Lenny Kravtiz, Zheani, and of course Rob Zombie.
How did you land the Bill Moseley cameo in Bad Girl Boogey?
I still can’t believe this happened! But I reached out to his agent, sent him the script, some background on what I do, and of course this film, and he liked it and then after some back and forth, we recorded the cameo! Some of the loveliest people I’ve encountered and worked with!
There have been a variety of responses to So Vam since its release on Shudder. How does it feel to see other queer horror fans reacting to and seeing themselves in your work?
It feels super unreal and humbling and really quite wild that my work is reaching people. For audiences to feel seen in my work and share some really beautiful and moving stories with me, just means the world more than words can express. Really why I keep making films and doing what I do.
Do you think the landscape of queer horror has shifted since wrapping on So Vam? Has there been any recent work you’ve been enjoying?
I don’t think it’s changed drastically! I mean, we’ve had some great horror films and queer horror films in 2022. I’ve really enjoyed Bodies Bodies Bodies, Scream, Nope, X, The Scary of Sixty-First, and the re-release of Peaches Christ’s All About Evil (one of my all-time faves). I’m really excited for the Boulet Brothers’ upcoming work, as well as indie creators like Michael Varrati, Brendan Haley, and Karlee Boon. Oh, and Monstrous Femme’s Baby Fever is absolutely incredible.
Finally, speaking as a fan of both the show and the movie—how do you think your So Vam squad of vampires would get on with the protagonists of What We Do in the Shadows?
I think they’d get on really well! I can definitely see Kurt & April going to Nadja’s Vampire Night Club! Maybe Landon & Laszlo might hit it off too.
Alice Maio Mackay’s debut feature, So Vam, is currently available as a Shudder exclusive, and her second feature Bad Girl Boogey is currently showing at festivals. Her upcoming features T Blockers and Satranic Panic are currently in post-production. She’s on Twitter at @alicemaiomackay.
