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Credit: Bleecker Street
We’re always looking forward to upcoming horror movies with a fresh take on the genre, and one new addition to the 2026 movie releases promises just that. It’s called Slanted, and it serves as the feature directorial debut from Amy Wang that looks like it will tackle racism with a satirical flair (oh, and a lot of gory body horror!)
The first trailer for Slanted just dropped: you can watch it above. It literally gave me chills when I watched it. It sets up the story of a high school senior named Joan Huang (played by Shirley Chen), who dreams of being prom queen, and it sounds like she’ll do anything to get the honor. I’m already so stressed about what’s going to happen to her.
As the first look shows, Joan is struggling to fit in with the popular crowd when she decides to undergo a “mysterious cosmetic” procedure called Ethnos that makes people of color appear white to everyone. And, once it’s done, Five Nights at Freddy’s scream queen Mckenna Grace takes over the role as a changed Joan. With her new look, she instantly starts to be accepted by the cool kids, and is on her way to prom queen status, but the trailer teases some troubling side effects.
Credit: Bleecker Street
And, while it’s terrifying to imagine what’s in store for Joan following the procedure, I was also laughing at things like the surgeon telling her to go enjoy a Michael Bublé concert following her transformation. It seems like it’ll be fun and scary all at once.
It’s no wonder Slanted was declared as “Mean Girls meets The Substance” by The Only Critic after seeing the first trailer for it. It’s using its wild storyline to talk about how society often sees blonde-haired, blue-eyed women as the benchmark for beauty, leaving anyone who doesn’t look like them wishing they looked like them rather than appreciating themselves.
I find it interesting how the The Substance parallels are there, but the movie was actually filmed in the summer of 2024, months before the 2025 Best Picture nominee had even been released in theaters. I’m so curious how Amy Wang’s own perspective will be similar or different from Coralie Fargeat’s gross-out masterpiece.
Apparently, Chinese-Australian writer/director Amy Wang was inspired to make Slanted based on her own experiences growing up. The movie premiered on the film festival circuit almost a year ago, where it earned positive reviews and has an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have called it things like “sharp,” “witty” and “bold” so far.
The movie also stars Never Have I Ever star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and recent Dancing With the Stars contestant Elaine Hendrix. Slanted is coming to theaters on March 13.