A chestburster-replica toy was the practical effect in an erotic sci-fi short that just premiered at a Berlin film festival. That should not work as well as it does on paper, and yet here we are.
AltStar Award winner Michelle Masque wrote, directed and produced “Michalien,” a riff on Ridley Scott‘s “Alien,” and it premiered at the 21st Pornfilmfestival Berlin, which ran Oct. 20-25. The creature is Hankey’s Toys‘ Alien Breeder (do not ask how the casting call went). Masque says the idea hit when she saw a Hankey’s flyer for the chestburster replica at the AltStar Awards in Las Vegas, which is the most alt-industry origin story possible: a sculptor’s horror homage turns into a performer’s directing project turns into an arthouse screening for an audience that has probably never heard of either.
Berlin was the right room for it, honestly. The festival treats explicit film as cinema, and Masque has been open about wanting to move from performance into production and distribution, and to help other creators get their films seen.
She was not alone in the horror lane, either. AORTA Films‘ “Haunted,” written by Carmen Maria Machado, screened on Oct. 21, 23 and 24, with Machado taking part in the closing panel as well. Between a DIY creature feature and a ghost-story feature, horror looked like the strongest alt thread in this year’s program.
Hankey’s has made horror and sci-fi homage sculpts a signature, and the Alien Breeder is one of its most recognizable pieces. If a toy catalog can double as a props department, that is the part that will still be interesting in a year.
SexyFandom also has a Bazowie Magazine review of Hankey’s Alien Breeder toy, in case you’d like to do some exploration of your own.
Follow: @MichelleMasque @hankeystoys
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