• Reviews
    • Watch This
    • VODepths
  • Humor
  • On the Marquee
  • Looking Back
    • Classic Corner
    • Anniversary
  • Film Fests
Crooked Marquee
  • Reviews
    • Watch This
    • VODepths
  • Humor
  • On the Marquee
  • Looking Back
    • Classic Corner
    • Anniversary
  • Film Fests
Home
Reviews

REVIEW: Cold Skin a High-Brow Look at Fish-Monsters

Sep 6th, 2018 Eric D. Snider
REVIEW: Cold Skin a High-Brow Look at Fish-Monsters

Cold Skin starts with the Nietzsche quote about how monster-hunters must beware lest they become monsters themselves, staring into the abyss may result in the abyss staring back at you, yada yada. It’s pretty on-the-nose for the story that ensues, which is based on a novel by Albert Sánchez Piñol and directed by Xavier Gens (Hitman), but this chilly, restrained horror drama has a few surprises amid its familiar tropes.

It’s 1914 and war has just broken out, but that’s of little import to the residents of the small, barren island in the south Atlantic where the entire movie is set. There are exactly two residents: Friend (David Oakes), a disillusioned young man who has just arrived for a 12-month stint recording weather patterns for the British government; and Gruner (Ray Stevenson), a woolly misanthrope who runs the lighthouse a few hundred yards away from Friend’s cabin.

Actually, as Friend discovers his first night on the island, it may not be accurate to say that he and Gruner are the only inhabitants. There’s also a race of amphibious humanoid monsters who only come out at night, who besiege the cabin almost immediately, seemingly bent on eviscerating any flesh-based organism they encounter. (What happened to the last meteorologist stationed here, anyway…?) Gruner has obviously learned how to coexist with these things, insofar as he has not been eaten by them, but he’s not interested in sharing that knowledge with Friend until it becomes imperative. (Gruner is the type of person who should probably live in isolation from other humans.)

While Friend and Gruner spend most nights defending themselves from the monsters (which they call “frogs” but which more closely resemble the fish-man in The Shape of Water), during the day they get another view of the species thanks to the specimen Gruner has domesticated (played by Aura Garrido) who lives in the lighthouse with him like a pet. He never bothered to give her a name, but Friend — alarmed by the danger the creatures pose but cognizant of their intelligence — calls her Aneris and tries to balance his fear with compassion. Gruner points out that, after all, the “frogs” were here first — but Gruner’s stated intention is also to exterminate them, and he’s the one who treats Aneris like an animal. So don’t go by him.

With Aneris being a female member of the species and eerily beautiful in her way, living in isolation with two men, you wonder: Does the movie go there? It does, though perhaps not the way you’d expect. And truth be told, it would be a better film if it had gone further. As it is, it’s almost too reserved, too literary, playing footsie with the many horror/sex/madness possibilities of the scenario without fully exploiting them. But it’s an interesting, almost high-brow take on B-movie material, beautifully photographed, that isn’t too pretentious when it asks the perennial question “Who are the real monsters?”

Grade: B

1 hr., 46 min.; not rated, but it’s in the moderate R range

Join our mailing list! Follow us on Twitter! Like us on Facebook! Write for us!
Facebook Twitter Google+
Eric D. Snider

Eric D. Snider

Eric D. Snider has been a film critic since 1999, first for newspapers (when those were a thing) and then for the internet. He was born and raised in Southern California, lived in Utah in his 20s, then Portland, now Utah again. He is glad to meet you, probably.

Trending
Jun 28th 9:00 AM
Looking Back

The Elvis Before Elvis

Dec 3rd 11:00 AM
Reviews

Review: Nomadland

Feb 26th 9:00 AM
Classic Corner

Classic Corner: The Red Shoes

Apr 7th 9:00 AM
Movies

“These Are Not Very Bright Guys”: The Lessons of All the President’s Men, 45 Years Later

Jun 4th 9:00 AM
Looking Back

Classic Corner: A Bridge Too Far

Dec 2nd 9:00 AM
Reviews

Review: Wolf

Apr 15th 9:00 AM
Looking Back

The Unexpectedly Timely Satire of Citizen Ruth

Nov 19th 6:34 AM
Looking Back

Sleepy Hollow and the Rise of Gothic Noir

Aug 21st 11:00 AM
Looking Back

Pump Up the Volume at 30: A Middle Finger to America’s Suburban Monotony

Oct 1st 9:00 AM
Reviews

Review: The Glorias

blank
cmpopcorn_white3.svg
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Writers Guidelines
  • Members
    • Login
    • SignUp
    • Forums
telephone icon [email protected]
envelope icon [email protected]
© 2014-2022 Crooked™ Publishing
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
blankblank
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}