Mckenna Grace has been acting in horror for nearly 15 years, which is an impressively long time to be getting murdered, menaced, possessed, haunted, and otherwise terrorized on screen — especially when you remember Grace is only 20 years old. Her feature debut came in Denis Henry Hennelly’s underrated post-apocalyptic dark comedy Goodbye World (co-written with The Midnight Swim director, Sarah Adina Smith), but her horror breakthrough was in Richard Bates Jr.’s Suburban Gothic, as a psychic wunderkind.
From there, Grace just kept coming back to horror. There was Bernard Rose’s Frankenstein adaptation, Amityville: The Awakening, her trip into The Conjuring universe with Annabelle Comes Home, James Wan’s Malignant, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and, of course, her beloved turn as Phoebe Spengler in the Gil Kenan/Jason Reitman Ghostbusters sequels. Add Slanted, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, and Scream 7 to the pile, and Grace has built the kind of horror résumé that makes you wonder if she has ever actually been allowed to have a normal day on set. She’s even set to make the leap from voiceover to live-action as Daphne Blake in the upcoming Scooby-Doo: Origins series for Netflix.
As the iconic Barbara Crampton has pointed out for years, the ubiquitous label of “Scream Queen” is often used to diminish the merit of women in horror, or reduce them to an archetype that stifles their ability to work outside the genre. Mckenna Grace has certainly earned the moniker if she so chooses, and following her recent run of non-horror performances like Regretting You and the highly anticipated The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, she fortunately doesn’t seem to be getting boxed into one genre by the industry at large. And yet, unlike so many actors who make a name for themselves in horror and then shun the genre like a dirty secret better left for answers to bar trivia questions about their early career, Grace keeps coming back.
Which is to say, Mckenna Grace has given so much love to the genre that she’s ascended to the plane of existence where horror fans will show up to see a movie just because she’s in it. It’s certainly going to be one of the biggest selling points for Yoko Okumura’s fantasy slasher for Blumhouse, The Last Kiss. Grace stars as teenager Laurel Hansen, who discovers that when she kisses someone, she can see how they die. Unfortunately for Laurel and all of her friends, they’re going to be hacked to bits by a masked slasher unless she can use her kissin’ clairvoyance to solve the mystery and stop the killer before her predictions catch up to the present timeline.
Slasher hybrids have been having a serious moment in recent years, and The Last Kiss is ready to make the most of it. The film blends the deadly pleasures of the horror subgenre with classic folklore and fairy-tale ingredients usually reserved for animated musicals, all while grounding its supernatural mayhem in the uniquely hellish reality of being a teenage girl today. If you’re a fan of films like Freaky, Lisa Frankenstein, Forbidden Fruits, and Okumura’s previous outing, Unseen, this is the film for you.
Pairing Grace with director and co-writer Yoko Okumura (a Midwest horror hero in the making as far as I’m concerned) was a match made in teen horror heaven, whose consistent determination to inject some frisk and unapologetic femininity into all of her works results in stories that feel fresh and fun. Joining Grace is a delightful ensemble cast, including Arkira Chantaratananond (who I need in 500 more horror movies, immediately), Vampires vs. the Bronx star Jaden Michael, as well as Ash Lee, Kate Drummond, Riley Davis, Eve Edwards, and Cooper Levy.
While we’d love it if every horror feature got the chance at a theatrical run, the “sleepover movie” energy of The Last Kiss makes it a perfect watch for overcaffeinated groups of friends sprawled across living room furniture with bellies full of junk food. The film arrives on digital platforms September 15 through Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, but FANGORIA fans in Los Angeles can join us for a FREE advance screening of The Last Kiss before it hits VOD.
Blumhouse will send more information about the screening to those who RSVP for a spot by clicking here.
