UNDER THE SKIN is very much an atmospheric sci-fi film where you are left to interpret what is happening as it is a film which is dependent on visuals with very little dialogue as the cast is a combination of actors and non-actors.  Director Jonathan Grazer decided to film the movie with hidden cameras to give it more of a raw feeling.   From what I can determine from UNDER THE SKIN’s plot, an alien in the skin of a human woman (as played by Scarlett Johansson) is driving around and luring men into a remote house where the black stuff swallows them up after they undress and she undresses.   The alien sometimes gets help from a mysterious alien motorcycle rider, but she soon abandons her quest to provide victims for the black stuff and decides to find out what it is to be human.   UNDER THE SKIN is for those who want an art sci-fi movie and not expecting a sci-fi action flick or a sci-fi horror with tons of action.   You have to be patient with this movie.  Also those expecting hot and sexy scenes with Scarlett Johansson, this isn’t the movie for you.  Each scene involving sex leads to horror or frustration.  It is interesting to see Scotland through the eyes of an alien as I feel it is like a dark fairy tale in the fashion of the Brothers Grimm.   Scarlett’s alien is like Pinocchio who wants to experience being human mixed in the context of an abstract sci-fi horror art film.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Ten behind-the-scenes featurettes which gives much insight through interviews and stills on the making of UNDER THE SKIN:

CAMERA focuses on the shooting technique and the hidden cameras

CASTING is all about the actors and non-actors used for the movie

EDITING made the director discover a story after shooting what appeared to be a series of not very well connected vignettes

LOCATIONS is a featurette that goes into detail on what type of locations they used and were looking for

MUSIC has the composer discusses how she came up with the music for UNDER THE SKIN

POSTER DESIGN shows all of the various designs for the poster art done very quickly based on one photo.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

SCRIPT brings up the fact that the script was very loose in fact and they crafted some fo the story out of the filming and performances of the non-actors

SOUND

VFX mostly focuses on a 15 second VFX shot seen near the end of the movie

Previews for other releases form LIONSGATE including ENEMY and LOCKE

Digital HD Ultraviolet copy

FINAL ANALYSIS: UNDER THE SKIN is an interesting sci-fi film which leaves room for interpretation and it is for those who like sci-fi art films.

This review is ©7-18-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments-to feedback@enterline-media.com

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