Under The Skin - A really strange horror movie

This is one strange movie. A sci-fi/horror movie, with Scarlet Johansson as the only recognizable star, it’s a slow, quiet movie set in Scotland, in which an alien (is she/it really female?) dressed in human skin seduces men with no family connections into a strange room with what looks like a pool of black mercury. They are submerged in the strange fluid and preserved, apparently so their skin can be used as a suit by other aliens.

This works for a while, except that she begins to experience some of the feelings of the humans whose skin she is using. She starts to have empathy, which gets in the way of her “harvests”. Who are these aliens, why are the “dressing” like humans? More questions than answers.

Johansson is excellent and quite courageous in this nameless role. There’s very little speech, lots of nudity (including Scarlett) and it’s almost a silent movie. What speech there is, is so heavy on Scottish dialect that you can only grab a word here and there, but it really doesn’t matter. The movie is carried by its surreal imagery and its literally and emotionally dark, somber mood. In that regard, it reminds me of that other excellent horror movie set in the dark, the moody Swedish “Let The Right One In” and it’s remade American twin, “Let Me In”. The movie makes you ask a lot more questions than ever get answered. My recommendation is qualified. It’s really interesting, not like other horror movies AT ALL, but it’s slow moving, and only implies a plot, rarely letting you in on where it’s going. Nevertheless, I guarantee that you have not seen another movie like this one.

What interested me in the film was the style they decided to shoot it in. All those people she interacted with had no idea they were on camera, thus their reactions were genuine.

Johansson going full frontal was brave for her, she is a rising star in a big franchise (Marvel films) and to do such a thing in this stage of her career is an odd choice. She is quiet good in this and after her "performance" in Her I'm starting to see a more mature and comfortable actress on the screen. I think producers misuse her in a lot of film and people don't give her enough credit. Maybe people will start to take notice of her abilities.

Where does Under The Skin fall under? Some people will find it tedious and boring, while others will call it brilliant and important. I can't really tell you either way, you'll have to decide for yourself...

And don't go to see it for nudity, that's what the internet is for.

I recently saw Under the skin and want to know what people thought it has been getting so much claim and I heard such great things about it, but when I finally saw it I was left somewhat speechless and not in such a good way. I want to say I hated it but I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it either. Maybe there is something I am missing any way this is a film I would really like to discuss and hear peoples opinions on. No judgement just curiosity.

*****#1 Reason - a horror movie that isn't like the other 3 plot lines used in almost all scary movies; also,

Interesting, stark minimalist image composition in the cinematography;

Dark, brooding mood;

Original in its look and story, unusual in movies, courageous because it will turn off horror movie fans and might slide under the radar, lose money, etc.;

What with all the movies that are in the mainstream that are about as different as different brands of canned tuna, I like when I see a movie that does something completely different that confuses a large part of the small audience.

So the pool was literal? I thought all of that stuff was just metaphoric. I didn't realize she was supposed to be an alien until I read the tagline after having watched it.

Like much in this movie, it's specifically clear just WHAT the pool is. The English teacher in me would say that it's a metaphor for having one's consciousness subsumed by the alien. It just LOOKS like black mercury.

I just thought it was representative of her luring these guys in - these men being intoxicated by her sex appeal - and then losing themselves to it. dying/being killed. it sort of bothers me that she's actually an alien.

I guess that's the point. Even aliens realize that you can lead a sexually frustrated guy to his doom with the promise of easy sex.

I loved it. Such a strange movie. I have my own interpretation, which I'll describe below, but I will say I think Glazer chose to differ this largely from the book. I read the plot of the book and it feels nothing like the film to me. Anyway, here's my interpretation.

What I didn’t know when we saw it last, was something I saw in an article about the movie. Apparently the director, Jonathan Glazer, made the movie partly on the sly. When Scarlett drives around dark streets in Scotland, acting seductive and luring these guys into her van, the guys were not actors. They actually were picked up on the streets by ScarJo and when they looked like they might work, they were brought in on the fact that they were now in a movie. The “roles” did require that they get naked and rampant, but apparently they did not have to actually lose their skin.

Having got a bit more detail about the book it would seem that


I suppose at least the surface of the pool was reminiscent of the metamucil and black printers ink used for Armus in Star Trek: The Next Generation's Skin of Evil – my favourite episode.

I had to put the subtitles on a couple of times – I didn't do that on the first viewing but on the second. I like Scarlett Johansson's accent as well; very good.

I saw Prey (1977) recently and found a lot of similarities with Under the Skin so I think fans of the latter would appreciate it.

What I would say is that I wasn't keen on the ending.

When I reviewed this back in 2014, I didn't pay attention at the time that the studio that made it was A24. Since then, I saw Room, The Lobster, Ex Machina and The Witch, all excellent and supremely strange, coming out of A24. All of them also were off the mainstream and relatively low budget. We need more movie studios like A24!