Rare Flix: The Reflecting Skin (1990)

 Alright, so this isn't what was promised.  1990 gave us The Reflecting Skin, a pseudo-Horror Film funded/produced by Canadian and British Companies.  My source for this Film- a multi-Film Set.  One Disc has 4 Films on it, this one included.  The Theme- Vampires.  That's how you get Subspecies and From Dusk 'Til Dawn together with stuff like this.  Yeah, that's very misleading.  The Film is actually an attempt at doing what I can best describe as a Deconstructed mix of American Gothic and Horror.  Wow, even I think I sound like a douche for describing it like that.  It's accurate though.  From Director Phillip Ridley, it is a clear attempt to be arty and interesting.  It mostly works...but also depresses the hell out of me.  If you need to know anything about Ridley, enjoy this quote from him about his work- 'Although Ridley creates stories through a wide range of media, he dislikes his work being categorised by the medium in which it is told, often referring to them belonging to each other as "different peaks of the same mountain."'  Yeah.  Anyhow, let's see what this is and why it relates to The Lord of the Rings...

In 1950's Idaho, our Hero and his friends (three young kids) are introduced and then immediately forcibly-inflate a toad (by shoving a reed up its ass!)...

…and blow it up in front of this woman's face (by shooting it with a rock).

Yeah, f##k these kids, right?

...fine.  I'll keep going.

Our Hero lives at a Farm House/Gas Station (with only one client) with his unhappy Mother, depressed Father and Brother who is serving over in the Pacific.

Come home, Strider- we need you!

After being forced to apologize to the woman from earlier, our Hero is told that she's 200 years old by her (as a joke?) and that her Husband killed himself a week after they wed.

He jumps right to Vampire with her, since his Dad is reading the most convenient Book ever.

Seriously, for as subtle and understated as this tries to be, this is blatant AF!

One of the kid's friends is found dead and the Police go right to blaming the Father.  Why?

He was apparently caught making out with another guy when he was 18, so he must be the killer.

I mean, it is Homophobic even by '50s standards...but also sadly-accurate.

The depressed Dad thinks that they want to arrest him (which they do), so he commits suicide in the most dramatic way- lighting himself on fire and blowing up the Gas Pumps.

Good thing you didn't, you know, kill your Family with you!!!

His Brother comes home after this, but he's not doing great himself.

He falls for the 'Vampire' Lady and reveals to her a sad secret- he's dying of radiation poisoning (and guilt) from his work overseas.

Not making the connection, the kid thinks that he's being drained of life by the woman.

As such, when he sees her getting a ride from the guys he now knows are driving around killing people (a Plot Point that is oddly-minor here), he doesn't warn her or intercede.

She's killed and it wrecks his brother.

Realizing his mistake, the kid runs off and screams futilely at the sun.

What a *sigh* fun Film.  The End.

A bleak, depressing Film set in a bright, happy-loking place.  Oh, I get it now.  Yeah, the 'hook' of the Film is not that hard to decipher.  Alot of the Film can be vague or under-explained (like the whole 'Greasers as Serial Killers' thing), but this part isn't.  That said, the Film looks really great.  My print is not the greatest (there's apparently a Blu-Ray from recent years) either.  I can see why this might work for people.  There are people that watch Films from a purely-emotion free point-of-view.  There are Films that are 'great' like, for instance, Happiness or Requiem for a Dream.  I don't need to see them, no matter how good they may be.  If you like those kinds of Films and/or really want to examine the visual symbolism going on here, that's great.  The Reflecting Skin is a unique Film.  That said, it is depressing and bleak as all hell.  Even reliving this Plot to Review makes me need to laugh at something- anything!- to change my mood.  Look what it did to poor Viggo Mortensen...

Next up, another Vampire Film from the Disc.  Will it be as memorable and less depressing?  Stay tuned...