When watching this gem from last year, I couldn’t stop thinking about the Leviathans storyline from DARK SHADOWS. A lot of fans didn’t care for this storyline but I loved it. I loved *all* the storylines from DARK SHADOWS. I mean, sure, I loved some more than others, but anyway. I also couldn’t get the song “Cold Gin” by KISS out of my head, substituting the word “gin” with “skin”. Yeah, my mind operates in weird ways. Moving on.
In the early 1900s, a young man with a case of misanthropy, possibly born of great personal loss but we never find out for sure, takes a job working as a weather analyst on a craggy island near the South Pole. With the exception of an unfriendly lighthouse keeper for a neighbor, he is alone—or so he thinks. The plot gets moving quickly as the protagonist learns during his first night on the island that fish-like humanoids come creeping out of the ocean, seeking, we presume, food. And “food” in this case would be the protagonist, if they can catch him.
Featuring some gorgeous location filming, COLD SKIN is a great monster movie, offering what such films don’t always bother with: subtext. Commentary on the human condition. There’s depth amidst all the monster action. I recommend it for anyone looking for a jaunt of cerebral escapism.
The movie *did* leave me uncomfortably conflicted in one way, though, as I was viewing it. I found myself sexually attracted to a fish. (You’ll see if you watch the movie.)
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