Alice Maio Mackay has quickly made a name for herself in genre cinema. At just nineteen years old, Mackay has been steadily pumping out several modern queer horror classics since 2020. Her first two films, So Vam and Bad Girl Boogey, are currently available on Shudder. Joining her work available on VOD this month is her third film, T-Blockers, a trans take on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The film was created during and is directly calling out the ongoing rampant transphobia that has, sadly, only become more vitriolic. Queer Fear blogger Red Broadwell caught up with Mackay to discuss everything T-Blockers, trans genre cinema, and Mackay’s very packed schedule over the last few years.
Queer Fear: Safe to say like 2023 was a pretty big year for you. How have you been since?
Alice Maio Mackay: Yeah I’ve been good, I’m staying busy. I moved to a new state as well so that’s been new.
QF: So you’ve built quite a diverse portfolio over the last couple years; how do you keep coming up with so many different twists on genre films?
AMM: I think it’s just about what interests me as a filmmaker. I don’t think I want to keep working within the same subgenre. Also, So Vam and Bad Girl Boogey are both set in high school and I didn’t want to keep doing that, especially since I dropped out. T-Blockers is just coming from what I wanted to center; I wanted to center the trans experience and have more of a trans hang-out film and then throw in some horror elements as well. I think the worms and that kind of stuff spoke to bigotry and toxic masculinity and that whole culture.
QF: That actually leads into my next question: what inspired the sci-fi or parasitic twist at the center of the film?
AMM: I’m not really a big sci-fi fan but I felt that, you know, it fits literal “brain worms” and those kinds of statements. I wanted to also do something that you could visually see passed from man to man and it’s this kind of disgusting disease. When they’re passing worms and kind of sharing mouth-to-mouth stuff, I wanted to show that toxic masculinity is so intense that it veers into this homoeroticism and mocking how “masculine” they think they are.
QF: How much goop was used for the parasitic infections; this definitely felt like your grimiest and bloodiest film to date?
AMM: I mean, so much. I remember someone rocking up with a big vat of green goo. There was so much.
QF: Earlier you mentioned you wanted to pivot away from high school. How much did your own other experiences kind of influence Sophie and her relationship with the other characters and in T-Blockers in general?
AMM: I think I always bring a little bit of my own experience to every film. I really wanted to showcase [Sophie (Lauren Last) and Spencer (Lewi Dawson)’s] friendship rather than romance or anything else. Their friendship is the heart and centers the film. I think even with horror films and other genre films, it’s rare to see a trans character with another trans or non-binary friend. Those relationships are really special and they mean a lot to me, so I wanted to see that reflected.
QF: How did developing the general relationships of the film pan out? It was super interesting having Sophie’s relationship with her found family while also having that moment with her brother about two-thirds of the way through the film? I’m curious how that dichotomy developed?
AMM: I didn’t want the film to be a trans trauma film, specifically with family stuff; I think families and relationships in general are a lot more nuanced than that. It would’ve been a lot easier for me to go “Oh this is her brother, he’s really bad”. I think everyone is going through their own personal thing which is why he has that whole monologue. I didn’t want him to not show up for her and I wanted him to be better than that. It was just the natural evolution of the story.
QF: I thought that made T-Blockers super special where you have the found family but she’s still close with her blood family which is pretty novel and cool. So T-Blockers is this month and then there’s just kind of a string of trans genre films throughout the year. How do you feel about this very special year in trans cinema?
AMM: I’m very excited! I’ve been dying to see I Saw the TV Glow for a while and I think the trailer came out the other day and I’m very obsessed and it looks very beautiful. Vera [Drew]’s film is coming out which I saw at OutFest and I’m so excited it’s getting a wide release. Hopefully it keeps continuing!
QF: So between Satranic Panic and the Christmas film…is that coming out this year?
AMM: Yep, this year.
QF: How do you keep balancing all of these very quick productions that are all super high quality?
AMM: With great difficulty. After Carnage [for Christmas] I’m done with those low-budget, intense kinds of films. There’s only so long that you can kind of keep going, and I think I’m definitely going to get more for the next film. I was lucky with Carnage for Christmas because we had about twelve days–which isn’t a lot but it’s more compared to the seven-day and eight-day shoots I’ve had for every other film, so it’s a welcome change. It’s been very hectic.
QF: So with regards to the last act, because when I watched it last year for the Salem Horror premiere I remember the last act being so well-choreographed. How was coordinating everything for the final stand against the toxic masculinity worms?
AMM: I’m glad you thought it was well-done. That was the most technical part of the shoot, especially the whole rallying bit. That was our second-to-last full shoot day of the seven-day shoot, and Lauren–who was playing Sophie–was only in town for that week. I had a few actors have to pull out because of COVID which was tricky since we didn’t have the money to fly her back down and reschedule, and there were only so many male actors that were friendly and available on short notice. It was a pretty hectic shoot, and I’m glad it all pulled together.
QF: So my last question: Logan [Kisner, writer of Old Wounds (2024)] and I were talking about this when the film first came out. Is T-Blockers the first film to call J.K. Rowling, you know, what she should be called on camera?
AMM: I think I remember someone saying that I am. I’ll say it again.
QF: Hell yeah! I think that’s pretty much everything I have with T-Blockers, it’s really stuck with me since it came out. Thank you so much for your time, have a great rest of your day!
AMM: Thanks!
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