Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2024 Review II

Another film screening at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival this year that we was able to watch is Black Eyed Susan. Directed by Scooter McCrae who returned to feature filmmaking after 21 years and starring Damien Maffei (Strangers: Prey At Night) and Yvonne Emile Thalker (feature debut), Black Eyed Susan is probably one of the most disturbing science fiction horror films you'll ever see. The graphic nudity is not what make the film but the nature we see characters go to obtain what they desire in the film. Black Eyed Susan is about fantasy yet desire. Here is the statement from the director and crew:

BLACK EYED SUSAN is purposely difficult. Audiences at its World Premiere were disgusted - and even nervously snickering - at its graphic nudity and coarse, vulgar language typically only found in pornography. It is the opposite of safe filmmaking, and features fearlessly exposed performances from its committed stars, Damien Maffei and Yvonne Emilie Thälker.

BLACK EYED SUSAN is a film that exists to challenge - and forces its audience into very dark places. It shows the lengths that men will go to satisfy their dark desires... and the questions that the film asks demand dialogue.

The filmmakers hope that BLACK EYED SUSAN will stay with you long after viewing it.

After that statement we started thinking how scary that this be? Black Eye Susan is one of the most scary movies of 2024 you will see. The final 15 minutes of the movie is the most disturbing minutes in cinema. Here is the synopsis that we can share with you: Derek who is struggling financially is hired by a shady tech industrialist to "test" Susan, a lifelike robot built for the purpose of receiving and enjoying sexual abuse. Once Derek accepts, he finds himself drown to Susan's developing personality and inquisitive nature. As time goes Susan's expanding humanity chips away at him and he learns more about himself, his desires and questions if his tasks that he is hired is even condoned regardless of doing them to a robot. Scooter McCrae also wrote the script and you can tell he went to the depths of humanity to tell a brilliant deviant story. The performances are so excellent especially Damien Maffei as Derek. His attitude towards Susan from beginning to end is a great way on building up a climatic finish and Marc Romero is great as Gilbert the shady industrialist who showcases no morals or boundaries on what he does with robots. Thälker's performance as Susan is great as she gets the mannerisms on a life size robot can and won't do unless provoked or ordered to so by others. The graphic nudity may be too much for some but in this movie's case it fits perfectly. As far as the brutality where Susan is punched repeatedly it is also needed because it tests the limits of Derek's morals and actions.

A movie like this is usually considered torture porn or science fiction bdsm but Black Eyed Susan is neither and it shows during the course of the film that it fits in the horror category and do so well. This is a great return for Scooter McCrae after 21 years and hopefully we do not have wait another 21 years for another one of his films. We hope you saw it at the premiere on October 21st if not be sure to see in theaters or video on demand when it is released.