THE SERPENT’S SKIN movie poster | ©2026 Dark Star Pictures

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Alexandra McVicker, Avalon Fast, Scott Major, Charlotte Chimes, Jordan Dulieu
Writers: Alice Maio Mackay & Ben Pahl Robinson
Director: Alice Maio Mackay
Distributor: Dark Star Pictures
Release Date: March 27, 2026

Writer/director Alice Maio Mackay, who opens all her movies with the onscreen credit “A Transgender Film,” has so far told stories with often psychic trans and queer protagonists fighting human bigotry and otherworldly menaces.

In THE SERPENT’S SKIN, co-written by Mackay & Ben Pahl Robinson, we still get a young trans lead – Alexandra McVicker as Anna – dealing with a monster. However, the transphobia is confined to a notice tacked to an outhouse door.

When we meet Anna, she is in her room at home, miserable and cutting herself, while she hears her stepfather calling her lazy and possibly mentally unwell to her mother.

Anna’s slightly older sister Dakota (Charlotte Chimes) comes to the rescue, literally driving in and taking her sibling to safety in the city.

Dakota has a relatively nice apartment, which she offers to share indefinitely with Anna. Anna almost immediately hooks up for a one-night stand with cute neighbor Danny (Jordan Dulieu), a local rocker who lives upstairs.

It likewise doesn’t take Anna too long to find an agreeable job at a vinyl record store run by the laidback Buz (Scott Major). When a knife-wielding thug attempts to rob the shop, Anna’s eyes glow and she causes the would-be thief to bleed from his eyes and run away.

Anna isn’t sure how she did this. She also doesn’t realize that she’s been haunting the dreams of tattoo artist Jen (Avalon Fast). Jen finds Anna, reveals that they are both what used to be called “witches,” and in no time, the two are a loving couple.

Anna isn’t sure of the extent of her powers. For her part, Jen doesn’t think she’s as magically potent as Anna. However, when Jen tattoos an Ouroboros (snake swallowing its own tail) symbol on the back of someone’s neck, trouble follows.

It’s heartening to see a transgender individual take center stage in a tale that is not about gender definition. Anna could be any other young woman on a supernatural journey, a la Buffy or Harry Potter.

The big problem with THE SERPENT’S SKIN is that the journey is so smooth. Once Anna gets over her self-injuring phase, she easily comes into her abilities. She has moments of self-doubt, but both Jen and the movie approve of Anna’s actions.

For her part, Jen talks about having devastating inner darkness, but we never see signs of it and wouldn’t know it was there if she didn’t talk about it.

McVicker is beguilingly ardent and Fast does a fine job of treading the line between seductive confidence and agonizing internal condemnation. Dulieu skillfully navigates the diverse aspects of Danny’s personality and Major is sweetness personified as Anna’s gentle boss.

THE SERPENT’S SKIN may evoke nostalgia (or even empathy) in teens and adults who used to tell themselves very straightforward stories in which they were the heroes. On the other hand, since distributed motion pictures are theoretically aimed at a wider audience, many viewers may wish for more character and narrative complexity.

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