Bleecker Street Drops Bold Trailer for Satirical Body Horror Slanted Ahead of March 13 Release

Shirley Chen transforms in Amy Wang’s biting sci-fi satire Slanted, in theaters March 13.

Bleecker Street has released the official trailer for SLANTED, the sharp, genre-blending satire from writer-director Amy Wang, and it’s already shaping up to be one of the most provocative theatrical releases of the spring. The film opens nationwide March 13.

At first glance, SLANTED plays like a high school coming-of-age story. But underneath the prom dresses, hallway politics, and glossy teen drama beats lies something far more unsettling.

Joan Huang idolizes the popular girls at her school and dreams of being crowned prom queen. The problem? Every queen whose portrait lines the hallway walls looks the same. Joan becomes convinced that the only way to win is to look like them. Enter Ethnos — a mysterious cosmetic surgery clinic that promises to make people of color appear white. Joan undergoes the procedure and wakes up transformed into a blonde beauty seemingly destined for the crown. But as the trailer makes clear, transformation comes with consequences.

Blending satire, sci-fi, and body horror, SLANTED doesn’t just flirt with social commentary — it dives headfirst into it. The concept alone feels like a collision between teen comedy and surgical nightmare, weaponizing genre to dissect assimilation, beauty standards, and the psychological cost of chasing acceptance in systems never designed to embrace you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRYAuKuzmn0

The film stars Shirley Chen (Dìdi) as Joan, alongside Mckenna Grace (Regretting You), Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever), Vivian Wu, Amelie Zilber, Fang Du, Elaine Hendrix, and R. Keith Harris. On paper, it’s a stacked cast bridging Gen Z visibility and established screen presence, and the trailer hints at performances that balance satire with emotional weight.

Director Amy Wang’s personal statement underscores the film’s urgency.

“As an immigrant, I’ve always been aware that I looked different. As a teenager trying desperately to fit in, I used to wake up and wonder, wouldn’t life just be easier if I were white? Slanted is a satirical exploration of whiteness that challenges that question. It examines the cost of chasing acceptance, and what it means to abandon yourself in the process. Is belonging worth losing who you are for a system that was never built to value you?”

That lens gives SLANTED its bite. The film isn’t just about prom or popularity — it’s about internalized pressure, cultural erasure, and the dangerous seduction of conformity. The body horror elements teased in the trailer suggest that Wang isn’t pulling punches either. This looks less like metaphor-lite social commentary and more like a full-on genre dissection of identity politics wrapped in a glossy teen aesthetic.

Produced by Trevor Wall, Adel “Future” Nur, Cameron Boling, Amy Wang, and Mark Ankner, SLANTED arrives at a moment when horror and sci-fi continue to be powerful vehicles for reclamation storytelling. If the trailer is any indication, this one is going to spark conversation.

SLANTED opens in theaters nationwide March 13.