Fantasia 2024: BLACK EYED SUSAN Red Band Trailer, Scooter McCrae Returns After 25 Years

J Hurtado, Editor, U.S. ; Dallas, Texas (@HatefulJosh)

August 2 2024, 4:30 PM

CW: Domestic abuse, realistic violence

Exploitation icon Scooter McCrae is back behind the camera with Black Eyed Susan, his first feature film since 1999's Sixteen Tongues. After having directed a few shorts and doing a bit of acting in the intervening years, McCrae's latest shows that he hasn't lost his taste for challenging cinema with a film that is sure to start some very lively conversation.

Premiering tonight at Fantasia 2024, Black Eyed Susan is the story Derek (Damian Maffei) and an advanced AI sex doll, called Susan, played by newcomer Yvonne Emilie Thälker. A machine designed specifically to take abuse, Derek is hired to put Susan to the test, leading to not only some pretty brutal and very unsettling violence, but also a lot of soul searching. Black Eyed Susan is certainly not a film for the squeamish, and the very real feeling violence in this trailer definitely deserves a content warning.

Black Eyed Susan is not going to be for everyone. Realistic portrayals of abuse and abusive relationships and other very confrontational issues are certainly intentional, but will definitely be triggering to those with sensitivities to such things. We would definitely warn viewers to steer clear if this sounds even remotely triggering, so consider yourself warned. If you're still game, check out the trailer below.

Here's a little bit about the film from the creators:

Legendary underground filmmaker Scooter McCrae (SHATTER DEAD, SIXTEEN TONGUES) returns after a 21-year absence from feature filmmaking with the bold, vulgar, and deeply thought-provoking BLACK EYED SUSAN. Simultaneously brutally challenging and deeply vulnerable, the latest from the New York-based provocateur appropriates bleeding-edge science fiction concepts to address the seemingly-endless lengths that men will go to satisfy their darkest impulses without questioning the consequences of their actions.

In the film, down-on-his-luck Derek (Damien Maffei, THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT) is hired by a shady tech industrialist to "test" Susan (Yvonne Emilie Thälker, in a striking feature debut), a lifelike robot built for the purpose of receiving and "enjoying" sexual abuse. Initially hesitant to take part, Derek accepts, but quickly finds himself drawn to Susan's developing personality and inquisitive nature. As the robot's expanding humanity chips away at him and he learns more about his own secret desires, he questions if what he's been tasked to do - even to a robot - should ever be condoned.