A hook-up goes wildly off the rails in the mind-bending thriller ‘The Skin of the Teeth’

The Skin of the Teeth, a sinister drama-thriller from writer-director Matthew Wollin, evokes the feel of a contemporary film noir.

When Josef (Pascal Arquimedes) arrives for a date at the apartment of John (Donal Brophy), their prickly energy slowly gives way to an unusual and genuine chemistry. But after Josef swallows a pill with unclear effects, the night starts to take a shocking turn.

Josef is suddenly plunged into a surreal world where he encounters two mysterious detectives. He’s soon forced into a literal and figurative interrogation of just who – or what – he is.

While evoking the surreal work of David Lynch, this wild film examines race, sex, love and identity in a mind-bending way.

The Skin of the Teeth aims to keep you guessing – and the lead performance from talented up-and-coming actor Pascal Arquimedes will have you holding your breath from beginning to end.

Watch a short trailer for The Skin of the Teeth below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

The controversial horror-comedy ‘Ticked Off Trannies with Knives’ comes to Dekkoo

Controversial even before it first screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010, where GLAAD condemned the film for what it perceived as a negative portrayal of transgender people, director Israel Luna’s Ticked Off Trannies with Knives has garnered a wild reputation befitting of its exploitation roots.

Fashioned in the style of a sleazy 1970s pulp film, this uproarious slasher/revenge saga features some seriously not-to-be-fucked with characters, finger-snapping one-liners, vicious straight male villains and enough beatings, stabbings and kung-fu style ass-kicking to satisfy even the sickest of viewers.

It all begins in a small Dallas nightclub where a group of performers and friends are assaulted and left for dead. Following these traumatic events, a trio of surviving trans women come together to exact revenge on the men who brutally attacked them.

Inspired by the exploitation genre as a whole, particularly I Spit on Your Grave and the 1984 Linda Blair vehicle Savage Streets, Ticked Off Trannies with Knives is not for the faint of heart and certainly not without its shocks and provocations, but we invite you to judge the film on its own merits.

Ticked Off Trannies with Knives is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Alan Cumming is exceptional in the thought-provoking generational drama ‘After Louie’

An award-winning gay drama featuring a knockout lead performance by Alan Cumming, After Louie explores the contradictions of modern gay life and history through Sam, a man desperate to understand how he and his community got to where they are today.

As an AIDS activist and member of ACT UP in the ’80s and ’90s, Sam witnessed the deaths of far too many close friends and lovers. Battle-wounded and struggling with survivor’s guilt, Sam now resents the complacency of his former comrades and derides what he sees as the younger generation’s indifference to the politics of sex and death.

When he meets Braeden, a seductive young man played by Zachary Booth, during a late-night outing at the bar, he quickly is able to lower Sam’s guard. As the pair become increasingly intimate, an intergenerational relationship blossoms between them – one capable of reawakening Sam’s artistic soul and reviving his wilted heart.

Through this unconventional romance, Sam is finally forced to deal with the trauma that informs his past, his present and the pair’s unknown future.

Watch the trailer for After Louie below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A hustler falls prey to a sinister psycho in the tense Dekkoo-original thriller ‘The Prodigy’

From the producers behind House of the Devil and The Innkeepers comes a bone-chilling new descent into queer psychosexual horror.

Beau Swartz stars in The Prodigy as Adam, a street hustler who has just about given up on life. At the start of the film, he’s picked up by a mysterious trick whose seemingly sinister intentions go largely unnoticed. Adam can’t even muster up the energy to care about his own fate. He accompanies this man to his isolated home in the desert and soon finds himself held captive – stuck at the mercy of a psychopath whose dark history prevents him from understanding the difference between reality and his own murderous fantasies.

As Adam sits locked away in confinement, he finally begins searching his soul… and finds himself faced with an important decision. Should he give up on life completely… or fight like hell to keep it?

Directed by prolific filmmaker Omar Salas Zamora and co-written by frequent collaborator Calvin Picou (who delivers a truly menacing performance), The Prodigy is an unexpected, genre-bending follow-up to their gritty 2020 drama Adam in Fragments. While that film followed Adam during his earlier days on the streets, you don’t need to have seen it to enjoy or understand this one. Both movies function as stand-alone pieces of work that happen to follow the same character.

The Prodigy finds the versatile filmmaking duo sharpening their horror skills – and ‘sharp’ is the right word. This film is not for the squeamish. If you’re looking for lighter fare, we highly recommend the Dekkoo-originals Here Comes Your Man and Nothing But Flowers, two projects from Zamora and Picou that feature far less bloodshed and a whole lot more gay romance! For those who aren’t afraid to get a little twisted, we can’t recommend The Prodigy more highly.

Watch the trailer for The Prodigy below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Rift’ is a haunting relationship thriller from Icelandic director Erlingur Thoroddsen

Months after they broke up, Gunnar (Björn Stefánsson) receives a strange phone call from his distraught ex-boyfriend, Einar (Sigurður Þór Óskarsson). He drives up to the secluded cabin where Einar is holed up and soon discovers that there’s more going on than he imagined.

As the two former lovers begin coming to terms with their broken relationship, some other person seems to be lurking outside the cabin, wanting to get in. In the most marvelous of Icelandic landscapes, the stage is set for a dense psychological thriller, where something strange and possibly sinister is growing from the ashes of a failed romance.

Packed with eerie atmosphere and captured with stunningly beautiful cinematography, Rift, a taut mystery from Icelandic writer-director Erlingur Thoroddsen, walks a fine line between thriller and relationship drama.

Chilling, thought-provoking, and deeply evocative, this is the kind of film that lingers with you long after the credits roll.

Watch the trailer for Rift below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘20,000 Species of Bees’ tells a heart-wrenching story about gender, sexuality and identity

In a small, sleepy village in the Basque Country, a sculptor named Ane and her three children arrive at her mother Lita’s home for summer vacation. Lita disapproves of her daughter’s frayed marriage, career as an artist and the way she parents her obstinate and mischievous children.

Chief among them is eight-year-old Aitor, nicknamed Coco, after it becomes clear that being referred to by the name Aitor elicits feelings of distress in the child. Born biologically male, neither birth name nor the genderless nickname feel quite right, and Ane’s concern for her child grows as Coco becomes more withdrawn.

The child’s only respite lies in the Basque hills, where Ane’s aunt Lourdes tends to the family’s beekeeping farm. Among the peaceful humming of bees and Lourdes’ open-minded guardianship, Coco slowly begins to confide in family and friends her discomfort in her body, eventually voicing a desire to be treated as a girl.

As Coco explores her own developing identity over the summer, Ane and the rest of her family in turn must learn to accept the child as she is.

From Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, this assured debut feature is a wonderfully sensitive work carried by the Berlinale Silver Bear-winning lead performance of newcomer Sofía Otero.

An authentic and heart-wrenching story of transition, 20,000 Species of Bees is a landmark in the cinematic discussion of gender, sexuality and identity.

Watch the trailer for 20,000 Species of Bees below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A gay filmmaker is stalked by the undead in the clever horror-comedy ‘There’s a Zombie Outside’

A clever meta blend of queer horror and comedy, There’s a Zombie Outside follows Adam (Ben Baur), a budding young gay filmmaker whose identity is intertwined with cult cinema.

During a camping trip with his hunky boyfriend Ollie (Ty Chen) and his best friends Louis and Zeke (Francisco Chacin and William Lott), Adam finds his imagination bleeding into his mundane reality.

Spotting what appears to be a decomposing zombie lurking near their cabin, he’s sent into a panic. His friends dismiss his claims as stress-induced paranoia, but when Adam returns to Los Angeles, the zombie continues to stalk him, causing chaos in every aspect of his life.

A sharp horror from writer-director Michael Varrati, one of the most compelling queer voices in contemporary genre cinema, There’s a Zombie Outside tells a clever, meta tale about one man’s struggle to stay in control of his own story… no matter how terrifying it gets.

Watch the trailer for There’s a Zombie Outside below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo – just in time for Halloween!

Short Film Spotlight: Impulses

Two very different individuals settle into one romantic unit in the sexy new short film Impulses, a visually striking work from Argentine filmmaker Juan Mirarchi.

Playing out like a dark tone poem, the film follows a writer named Joaquin, who, burdened by anxiety and self-doubt, struggles to embrace the romantic and emotional vulnerability that presents itself when he starts living with Gabriel, his seemingly perfect new boyfriend.

What, at first, seems like it may be a case of obsessive interpersonal attachment soon reveals itself as simple post-commitment jitters blown way out of proportion.

The actors bare both body and soul in this tender and thought-provoking short relationship drama.

Watch a short teaser for Impulses below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Mismatched roommates become unexpected allies in the sly British dramedy ‘Makeup’

When two people are brought together from completely different walks of life, it can make for awkward circumstances, especially when they both have their secrets.

Making his feature debut, writer-director Hugo Andre also stars in the film Makeup as Sacha, an introverted French food critic who travels to London. Moving into a rented room in a house belonging to Dan (Will Masheter), a well-respected stockbroker, they fall into a classic “Odd Couple” dynamic.

As time goes on, Dan attempts to hide his aspirations of becoming a burlesque dancer from those who perceive him as an alpha male. Despite their differences, Sacha and Dan soon become pillars of support in each other’s lives.

A winner of 15 different awards at film festivals around the globe – including ‘Directorial Debut by a Young Film Maker’ at the London International Film Festival – Makeup is a stirring drama about the unlikely friendship that forms between the hidden personalities of two distinct characters.

Watch the trailer for Makeup below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Many Happy Returns

André (Vitor Rocha) is about to turn twenty-five years old. Extremely worried about his future – and about the uncertainties of life in general – he’s not even able to celebrate.

At his birthday party, before blowing out the candles, he wishes for time to stop passing. To his great surprise, his wish comes true. The next morning – and over the next several – he finds that the day has repeated. It’s still, perhaps always, his twenty-fifth birthday once again.

Suddenly André finds that he has eternal youth, the absence of problems and the liberty to do just about anything he wants without the fear of consequences. When he learns, however, that time has stopped passing only for him, what seemed to be a dream come true morphs into a nightmare.

Now he must go back in time – one last time – and correct his past while learning how to enjoy the present without worrying too much about the future.

Taking obvious inspiration from Groundhog Day, Many Happy Returns is a clever short musical comedy about learning to appreciate the time you’re in – no matter how old you may be.

Watch the trailer for Many Happy Returns below. The short film is now available on Dekkoo.