Before watching My Skin! I had not seen any of director Christopher Alan Broadstone's movies. This is something I now need to rectify being as though I enjoyed it so much.
My Skin! is about the murder of a lady by her husband, however, Death is none too pleased by this. She wasn't scheduled to die until much later in her life, and he is not happy about someone else doing his work for him.
The plot outline is brief as this is a short movie, running at about 13 minutes, and to say much more would spoil your enjoyment of watching this incredibly dark and twisted piece of cinema. Suffice to say that there is an incredibly mean streak to Death, his portrayal by Tony Simmons being outstanding. This isn't Death wearing a hooded cloak and carrying around a scythe, this is a much more intimidating interpretation.
Although we don't actually see the murder itself, as we don't really need too, this is still an amazingly stark film. It almost reminded me of some of David Lynch's earlier movies, without being quite as far out there, but still had a unique feel of its own. The camerawork was superb and seemed to follow the mind-frame of Death as he goes about his business from what I am guessing was his office, for want of a better description.
Accompanied by a terrific score, this was one of the most atmospheric movies I have seen in some time, even though it only utilised two locations and had a minimal cast; for the most part it revolves around the conversation between Death and the murdering husband. To me My Skin! was probably the best, and most authentic, portrayal of Death as a being that I have seen on screen; Dark, vengeful with a sick sense of humour, it was terrific.
One thing I did notice whilst watching this is that it was set on September 12th 2001, which as you know was the day after 9/11. I can only imagine that this was a conscious decision by Broadstone.
My Skin! is part of a trilogy, which includes the movies Scream For Me and Human No More, as well as this one. I for one will be checking the other two out, I recommend you definitely check this one out though, as it is dark, atmospheric and incredibly original.
Rating 3.5 stars (out of 4)
Review by Jude Felton
The entire trilogy entitled 3 Dead Girls can be picked up here http://www.blackcabproductions.com/STORE.html
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