Fantasia Capsule Reviews: The Girls Are Not Alright in ‘The Serpent’s Skin’, ‘Foreigner’ & ‘Lucid’
Several films screening at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival explore the idea that teen girls are not alright, including The Serpent’s Skin, Foreigner, and Lucid. Read on for my capsule reviews of all three films. The Serpent’s Skin Scripted by Alice Maio Mackay and co-writer Benjamin Pahl Robinson, The Serpent’s Skin follows trans girl Anna (Alexander […]
Several films screening at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival explore the idea that teen girls are not alright, including The Serpent’s Skin, Foreigner, and Lucid.
Read on for my capsule reviews of all three films.
The Serpent’s Skin
Scripted by Alice Maio Mackay and co-writer Benjamin Pahl Robinson, The Serpent’s Skin follows trans girl Anna (Alexander McVicker) as she moves to the big city. There she meets weird, but decent Danny (Jordan Dulieu) and goth tattoo artist Gen (Avalon Fast), sleeping with and befriending both as a dark, serpentine power begins attacking people. Think The Craft meets Scanners.
Mackay’s bold colour scheme, elliptical editing, and counter culture attitude are all present in The Serpent’s Skin, but the narrative moves at a more deliberate pace than her previous films, which allows the characters time to breathe between set pieces.
Featuring genuine chemistry between McVicker and Fast, the return of The People’s Joker Vera Drew as editor, and good special effects make-up by Dom Keeley, The Serpent’s Skin is another solid entry in Mackay’s rapidly expanding filmography.
