T Blockers (2023) User Reviews

Really solid

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 16 August 2023]

Director and co-writer Alice Maio Mackay is just eighteen years old, but across her last two films -- So Vam and Bad Girl Boogey -- she's improved from an already solid start. Now, with T-Blockers, co-written with Benjamin Pahl Robinson, there's another leap forward.

Sash VO (Joni Ayton-Kent Sash) is a young horror filmmaker with a cop dad that lives in a town that doesn't seem too open to a trans girl. Yet Adam (Stanley Browning), who she goes out on a date with, does seem unfazed, even if whatever secret he tells her is so upsetting that she runs home and drinks, smokes and does coke with her roommates to the point of sickness. And Adam? Well, he's taken into a cult of men who have been rejected and indoctrinated into their sinister ways.

The entire town is becoming contaminated by something evil in the water, something beyond just passing laws against trans kids, something supernatural. And Sophie has gained the ability to grow sick any time she's around people who are under the influence of this darkness as they transform into zombies.

There's also a movie within the movie, monologues by Australian drag performer Etcetera Etcetera and a budget of around $6,000, which blows my mind, because it's all on the screen and then some. I loved how each side of the battle has their own unique color scheme and yeah, some people are going to be put off by how stereotypical so much of this movie is, but it's a teenager making the movie she wants to make, telling it on her terms, so when you can say you've made three movies and a TV series by 18, then you can show how it's done too.

A highly enjoyable and generally effective queer horror effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 23 February 2024]

Living in a small Australian town, a trans filmmaker trying to get her latest project off the ground while juggling her work and friendships manages to stumble upon a strange parasite infecting those who are opposed to her lifestyle and sets out to stop them before it consumes the town.

Overall, this was a highly effective and likable feature. One of the best aspects here is the incredibly dynamic and evocative storyline that provides a standout connection to the current landscape of the affected communities. By building a wholly immersive ground-work for the community in the film, going through their growing pains trying to deal with coming out and being proud of their sexual states, maintaining face in the wake of rampant bullying for those choices, and dealing with traditional aspects involving work and other professional desires, the sympathetic background is well-established here for wanting to see them be successful with their plans. As the burgeoning terror involving the ravenous parasitic beings coming for them becomes apparent, this setup serves as the main starting point for that to occur as well as setting up an immensely powerful means of affirming an individual's standing up and fighting off their oppressors. With this established, the inclusion of the more traditional genre attributes becomes quite entertaining. As there's plenty to like here involving the early setup of the aggressive parasite infecting the scorned males in the community and providing a reason for the later antics, the scenes of the unaffected group turning into a sort of masked vigilante unit based on the need to protect their community from what initially presents itself as being normal people only to turn it into the ever-expanding cult of parasite-infected men trying to take over the community. With these scenes incorporating a mixture of zombie-swarming-style sequences as well as traditional mob-mentality beatdowns, there's a nice bit of action featured here that comes across even more impressively due to the rather dynamic old-school neon lighting and practical gore effects utilized here. These aspects are more than enough to give this one a wholly effective genre effort. There's not much to dislike at all in this one. Most of the film's negatives are in fact centered around a much more laid-back beginning that tends to focus far more on general relationships being established and setting up the plight of the characters rather than delving into the terror of the parasites being featured. With the few instances of the crew being indoctrinated with the parasites, there's still not much in the way of genuine action here until late in the film due to this first-half setup provided here. As this all gives the kind of build-up that endears us to the group, it's an acceptable means of getting the film going although some of the adverts, mainly the cheesy horror hostess spouting cliche inspirational quotes related to a movie which forms a major part of the finale but also to the plight taking place, could've been trimmed. As well as a few instances of the low budget creeping into play, these overall are all that hold this down.

Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, and drug use.