As Pride Month gets started, Dekkoo Films’ latest queer horror film is celebrating a big milestone. Scorch Marks, a new apocalyptic survival film, just wrapped post-production, and announced its September release window with some brand new images littered with blood, guts, and lust.
Written and directed by Brendan Haley — the Chainsaw Awards’ production designer and Backstage Butcher — Scorch Marks stars Brandon Shypkowski, Chris Salvatore, Tiffany Shepis, Peter Stickles, and Vander Von Odd, the first winner of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula. Produced by Brandon Kirby, Dr. Emily Zarka, and Chainsaw Awards writer Michael Varrati, the film’s synopsis is as follows:
Waking to find scorched skies and apocalyptic dread looming on the horizon, Beckett now grapples with the chilling reality that he could be the lone survivor of a global catastrophe. Isolated to a coastal rental, Beckett’s grip on his surroundings begins to unravel, leaving him vulnerable to a vicious haunting at the hands of his abusive ex-husband, Joel. Together, the couple must navigate their toxic past in high-society in order to survive the imminent dangers of their present, spectral omens, and the arrival of a primordial force from somewhere beyond the scorch marks.
Scorch Marks will also feature a soundtrack with tracks from Thomas Dekker, who lends his song “Kicks” to the film, and Sean Doherty, who wrote and performed “Deus Ex Machina,” penned exclusively for Haley’s upcoming film.
“At its core, Scorch Marks is a meditation on the destructive nature of heteronormative culture, and how those who find themselves incompatible with it can often become lost in the storm,” Haley previously said of the film. “As a filmmaker, Scorch Marks is my love letter to the lofty and impactful works of Clive Barker and Samuel Beckett, while on a personal note, the film harbors many of my frustrations with the state of LGBTQ+ representation in entertainment and how authentic queer stories, and challenging queer stories in particular, rarely get their proper bells and whistles.
“With our basic human rights once again under attack, I find it imperative to make art that has the power to lift up the community as well as confront its deep scars, especially when those scars are at the hands of a society that deems us unnatural, terrorists, and/or second-hand citizens. I am thrilled to bring this project to life after many years, and that I get to mark it as my directorial debut. I owe my gratitude to Brian, Derek, and the entire Dekkoo team for running with this unique vision, one of grief and nihilism, but also one of great hope.”
Scorch Marks will premiere in September 2026. Check out the rest of the new images below.
