Bad Girl Boogey
The teen queen of horror is back with an epic queer slasher. Much like her first feature, So Vam, Bad Girl Boogey is a testament to independent filmmaking. Alice Maio Mackay has a clear appreciation for the history of horror, and her work is a perfect example of how much films can accomplish on low budgets. Mackay’s movies each tackle a different subgenre. I was so excited to see her take on my favorite subgenre, the slasher, and she knocked it out of the park. Bad Girl Boogey follows Angel, a queer outcast played by Lisa Fanto, as she tracks down the masked killer who murdered her mother years before. She learns that the mask itself has a dark history. Angel and her friend Dario (played by Iris Mcerlean) must find out the secret of the mask and stop it from harming others.
Mackay’s films always feature incredible queer representation, and Bad Girl Boogey is no different. Bad Girl Boogey tackles homophobia and mental illness. Angel has to suffer with the grief of losing a parent, as well as losing a friend. It’s a relevant and important depiction of teen mental illness and the impacts of trauma on their lives. Lisa Fanto beautifully balances pain and anger in her performance as Angel. She feels like a real teen and her friendship with Mcerlean feels genuine. Mackay portrays queer found-family relationships so well; they feel incredibly heartfelt and authentic.
The ignorant often like to hide behind masks to oppress marginalized communities. These masks are often metaphorical, like hiding behind religion or conspiracy. They can also be literal, with groups like the Proud Boys and the KKK hiding their faces. Mackay illustrates this cowardice with a magical mask. The mask travels from person to person, poisoning that person with hatred and violence. This mask brilliantly illustrates the way that bigotry, specifically homophobia, harms all of us. Homophobic rhetoric spreads fear and hate much like the mask ; it’s a wonderful tool to showcase the cycle of queerphobic abuse. Homophobia, even when not inherently violent, is incredibly dangerous. The mask unleashes its wearer’s hatred, even if the wearer is not a violent person.
Mackay’s love for the subgenre is clear when she makes fear the real killer in this story. The fear of queerness is at the very heart of the slasher. Ed Gein, the killer that inspired Norman Bates and Leatherface (and a slew of other fictional killers), was reported as queer (specifically transgender) back in 1957. There was no actual evidence that Ed Gein was queer at all and it is often refuted now that we know more about queer identity. Slashers themselves are rooted in a lack of understanding of the queer community. The idea that queer people were inherently violent and scary is at the very origin of the slasher film. Bad Girl Boogey zeroes in on this history and turns it on its head, which is what makes it such a relevant and smart addition to the genre.
Bad Girl Boogey is available to watch on VOD July 4th.
