Review: How's a Shitty Movie Going to Warn Anyone about Anything?
Alice Maio Mackay’s ‘T-Blockers’ is a Buffyesque trans-girl friendship film
The Yearning Rating: ✰✰✰
Romance: ✰✰
Sex: ✰
Storytelling: ✰✰
Performance: ✰✰
Yearning: ✰✰✰
Bad movies are bad, violets are blue. Liking this post makes us love you <3
Some ooey-gooey spoilers ahead.
Written by Meg Steinfeld-Heim
T-Blockers puts a whole new spin on the idea of brain rot. Instead of our phones being the ones at fault, 19-year-old Australian trans filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay thinks slimy, black brain worms with a penchant for prejudice are to blame. Or at the very least, they’re her latest film’s homophobic Big Bad. T-Blockers is like if everyone on Buffy were trans and had a feminist-punk attitude problem. It's a kooky and ridiculous horror comedy with a heart of gold. And it is very fog machine forward. Good clean trans fun!
T-Blockers depicts a young trans filmmaker Sophie (Lauren Last) and her nonbinary bestie Spencer (Lewi Dawson) as they figure out how to save a small town infested with brain parasites. The brain worms, complete with glowing green eyes, only seem to infect the worst kind of people in town. Sophie first discovers them while on a date with would-be nice guy Adam (Stanley Browning) who actually turns out to be a chaser. A “chaser”, or someone who fetishizes and pursues trans women, is the perfect vehicle for T-Blocker’s evil brain worms to enact their dastardly plot.
As the town grows less and less safe, and Sophie sees more of her trans community being targeted by those infected, she realizes something—that she can almost telepathically sense when the worms are near. It’s almost like she’s…the Chosen One? A meta-commentary runs throughout the film vis-a-vis a vintage movie series that Sophie and Spencer watch regularly. In them, Drag Race Down Under alum Etcetera Etcetera acts as a kind of horror hostess, reminding us at the top of T-Blockers that “it’s only a movie…but is it?”
Mackay made this movie when she was only 17 years-old, and the vibe of T-Blockers is so sparklingly young and queer. What the script and plot lacks in structure, the film makes up for with its crystal clear tone and perfect pink-and-purple aesthetic. Mackay uses a ton of really fun giallo-style lighting to honor its 80’s inspired, B-movie energy while still conveying a really important message. As extremism and far right ideology takes firmer roots in this country, many people have fallen prey to regressive and conspiratorial thinking. The brain worms in T-Blockers are strengthened by the alt-right community in this Australian town and many of the worm-infected people are those teetering on the edge of radicalization—for example, experiencing romantic rejection or internalized homophobia.
T-Blockers embodies a just go out and make the damn thing spirit that I really admire. It’s imperfect and rough around the edges, but still so confident in what it’s trying to say. The sense of community while making this film must’ve been magical; Mackay often casts a familiar group of friends and peers in her films and at the end of the day, don’t we all just want to make art with our friends? I was so inspired! I feel like this is a project she will look back on as very representative of her filmmaking journey.
Community and queer safe spaces are central to the movie. While we get lots of gory horror moments, T-Blockers also grounds itself in the characters’ found family. Sophie and Spencer spend a lot of time at their local queer bar, kiki-ing with their ferocious bartending friend Storm (Lisa Fanto) and eventually recruiting her to be a part of the worm-fighting squad as well. It was giving Scooby Gang (Buffy mention count: 2)!
Let’s talk practical special effects. If you’re not familiar, a practical special effect is one produced physically, without computer-generated imagery or other post-production techniques. I was absolutely obsessed with T-Blockers’ use of practicals to convey the oozing black brain worms. In an interview with Them, Mackay shared that the only visual effects used were to make the worms’ eyes glow green. Practical special effects have fallen out of favor in modern cinema as the rise of greenscreen and digitally rendered images has become easier (and cheaper for the big studios) to incorporate. But the practical monsters just add so much. They’re campy and comedic, but also so tangible. You can just feel the black slime oozing through Adam’s teeth. It adds such a fun and gory element to a production.
When shooting an indie or low-budget film, you likely don’t have access to a highly skilled post-production team who can render a scary creature out of digital thin air. This was the case for Mackay, who shared that practical effects was the only in-budget option for their production. But in keeping with her Goosebumpian roots, she loves them for their schlocky contributions to the film regardless. Monster design in film is a dying art—so let's all get our hands dirty making some worms!!
Coming in at only an hour and 15 minutes, T-Blockers is short and unserious and a really fun romp. Be prepared for long-haired film nerds, radical politics, and bejeweled field hockey sticks as weapons. While it may be lacking some technical finesse, is that really what you’re looking for out of a campy queer horror-comedy? Its ethos is in its trans friendship, young queer adulthood and surviving in a culture that doesn’t prioritize your well-being. It’s also about beating the sh*t out of men with evil parasites in their heads! While Spencer and Sophie are desperately trying to figure out how to rid their town of the brain worms, they turn back to Etcetera Etcetera’s horror movie series for guidance and watch a really bad movie that contains certain clues. As Spencer aptly says while slamming the laptop shut, “How is a shitty movie going to warn anyone about anything?” But, just as cringe can be iconic, sometimes we get to love and appreciate crappy things.
T-Blockers is available to rent now on VOD!
Elephant in the Werkroom
Season 16, Episode 12:
This bathroom design challenge was funny. But IMO, I’m so confused how Sapphira and Plane Jane won. I really thought their powder room was the least funny and unique. After watching the challenge I was so convinced they would not win…but I could be focusing too much on the aesthetic component (vs their chemistry)!
I also felt that Sapphira’s latex puppy suit headpiece was unfortunately giving a bit of Donnie Darko.
Plane Jane was wearing a version of what she always wears and I personally felt very validated when Michelle called her out on it!
I’m wondering if the edit is trying to prime us for a Sapphira season win based on this week and last?
Dawn’s elimination felt p-r-e-m-e-d-i-t-a-t-e-d. There was just no chance for Dawn to survive that lip sync. I like Dawn and feel like, though she wasn’t a season winner, she probably deserved at least one challenge win before being eliminated.
That being said—I am enjoying Morphine’s dark horse moment. On to Top 5!
“It’s also about beating the sh*t out of men with evil parasites in their heads!“
I’m sold.