Alice Maio Mackay has premiered her first feature film, So Vam, a queer horror film. Aside from directing the movie, Mackay co-wrote it alongside Benjamin Pahl Robinson and served as producer. For the film’s release, Dread Central sat down with Mackay to discuss a wide range of topics, such as why stories like these are so important.

“I think queer stories like So Vam are important to both queer audiences and the horror genre because seeing yourself reflected in a film can be really powerful and meaningful. This is especially the case in the horror genre, where gender non-conforming or queer-coded characters haven’t always had the best representation.”

The plot of So Vam follows Kurt (Xai), an outcast in his conservative town who dreams of moving to the big city to be a famous drag queen. However, he gets kidnapped by a predatory old vampire and killed. Luckily for Kurt, he is rescued just in time by April (Grace Hyland) and the rest of her gang of rebellious vampires who feed on bigots and abusers. Now a vampire himself, Kurt finds empowerment and belonging but still has to deal with his killer.

“The story for So Vam came from a culmination of things. The main one being that for my first feature film, I really wanted to include all the things I’d love to see in a film myself: Vampires, drag, trans leads, and all that with a camp sensibility.”

According to Mackay, the thing that draws her to drag is that while it’s this powerful and historically important art form, it’s also a lot of fun, amazingly creative, and entertaining. Mackay thinks drag and horror go together well because both can be campy and fun but meaningful, political, and a powerful channel to get a point across to audiences simultaneously.

“Mm, [favorite drag artist we need to be following] that’s a tough one. Obviously, Xai from the film is incredible, as is BenDeLaCreme and Etcetera Etcetera. But Peaches Christ, HoSo Terra Toma, Sigourney Beaver, Kornbread, Landon Cider, Dahli, Willow Pill, and Symone are all some of my favorite. So many amazing ones!”

Who is Alice Maio Mackay?

Mackay is a 17-year-old trans filmmaker based in Adelaide, South Australia. Her work is produced under her own business, One Manner Productions. According to her, Mackay first realized she wanted to be a filmmaker after she started imagining the short stories she was writing more as films than narrative prose.

“From then onwards, I made stop motion animations, then short films with some friends, and eventually and slowly progressed to producing what I consider my first proper short, A Tale of the Laundry Game, which premiered at MonsterFest in 2019.”

In her own words, Mackay said that directing her first feature was “an amazing process but definitely super stressful.” In addition to navigating a pandemic, they were also shooting over seven days in the summer heat. She considers herself lucky to have such an amazing cast and crew, to which she is also grateful.

Besides Scooby-Doo and the Addams Family films, which she was brought up on, the first horror films Mackay ever saw were Buffy and Scream, the latter of which terrified her. In addition, Mackay also said she thinks the perfect double feature for So Vam would be Janelle Shirtcliff’s Habit or Zoe Lister Jones’ The Craft: Legacy. Both of which are underrated masterpieces, in Mackay’s opinion.

“I think the biggest piece of advice I could give to other young queer filmmakers would be to make art that means something to them and to be unapologetic about it. Not everyone will get queer films, and nor are queer films intended for every single audience member (cishet white men). So, keep that in mind. Take only the opinions of those who truly understand the work and just keep making stuff.”