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Stars: Alexandra McVicker, Avalon Fast, Charlotte Chimes, Jordan Dulieu, Scott Major | Written by Alice Maio Mackay, Benjamin Pahl Robinson | Directed by Alice Maio Mackay

Ever since the release of her first film, 2021’s So Vam, co-writer/director Alice Maio Mackay has established herself as an exciting young filmmaker. The past four years have seen her filmography build up at an impressive rate, with her sixth feature, The Serpent’s Skin, arriving as she is just twenty years old. The quantity is even more impressive considering the quality of work within, as highlighted by her latest feature.

The film opens with Anna (Alexandra McVicker) listening to a loud argument from her bedroom.

Judging by “The Serpent’s Skin,” you wouldn’t guess Alice Maio Mackay is only 20. The wunderkind filmmaker from Australia is already on her sixth feature, and it was inspired by fantasy TV shows that are almost a decade older than the director. Co-written with Benjamin Pahl Robinson, Maio Mackay’s moody new movie pays vivid homage to her favorite episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Charmed” by way of a witchy girl-on-girl love story. Think “The Craft” with more queer kissing, and surreal technicolor visuals akin to a sapphic “Mandy.” Fans of Maio Mackay’s earlier “T Blockers” will be happy to hear she’s still funny, but this story was made for Gen-z femmes who discovered Evanescence via Spotify.

Why Maio Mackay took a liking to supernatural TV shows from the ‘90s is anyone’s guess, but how she went about catching up on them is what matters most.