ccc It’s been 21 years since Scooter McCrae (SHATTER DEAD) released a new feature film, and he’s lost none of his transgressive bite. Diving straight into a brutal, strange, and upsetting scene between a man and a woman, BLACK EYED SUSAN challenges the audience within the first few moments. It’s not long, though, that the curtain is pulled back like some twisted Wizard of the Oz story, and we find out things aren’t quite as they seem. First, Susan (Yvonne Emilie Thälker) isn’t a person but rather a BDSM sex doll programmed to receive and “enjoy” the punishment of her sadistic partners. She’s the hardware of a cutting-edge tech startup aiming to push her artificial intelligence to new heights. The company that manufactures her hires the desperate Derek (Damian Maffei) to test the limits of her technology and his desires in a low-fi sci-fi horror that delves into the dark pool of love and perversion in our new tech age. - Fantasia, Justine Smith