In Their Skin

Chilling and Memorable
I first saw this movie on-demand through my cable company, and rented it because I have enjoyed previous work from star Selma Blair. I wasn't totally sure what to expect and was rather surprised at how good this film is. The plot revolves around a couple named Mark and Mary Hughes, played by Joshua Close and Selma Blair, who mourning the death of their daughter and their marriage still no totally healed escape to their country cottage for some rest and to reconnect. They bring along their young son, Brendan played by Quinn Lord. One morning they awaken to a sound and look out the window to see some strangers in their yard. Eventually these strangers say they are neighbors and worm their way into the Hughes life. Over the course of time Mary starts to feel uncomfortable around the strangers, named Jane and Bobby Sakowski, and calls them on it. This opens up a can of worms and well let's just say that w/out spoiling the plot, the Sakowski's are not who they claim to be and it gets...

What did I just watch, and why did I watch it?
To cut to the chase, I have no idea what the two positive reviewers saw in this film that I didn't see. This has got to be one of the worst films I've seen in some time. It's a home invasion film, with a grieving family retreating to a remote vacation home, only to meet some "new neighbors" who are not what they seem. And what, exactly, are they? Annoying, for starters, but then again, so are the main characters. Not a likeable person in this film to be found. Anyway, these "new neighbors" get invited for dinner and there are all kind of alarm bells going off as to why it may not be a good thing that they're inside the same house with the other family, but still, they stay for dinner, only to then get tossed out but then return, in full psychotic behavior. I had a very difficult time following this, the dialog is incoherent and annoying, and overall the film is very muddled and confusing, to say the least. I used to snap up almost any IFC Film because they tended to be...

YOU'RE A WONDERFUL BUNCH
This is another home invasion film. Mark (Joshua Close), Mary (Selma Blair), and their son Brendon (Quinn Lord) get away to their summer home when their daughter is killed in a car accident. While at their retreat they meet Bobby (James D'Arcy), Jane (Rachel Miner), and their son Jared (Alex Ferris). They get together for dinner where Bobby asks all kinds of questions and exhibits a high creep factor. This aspect was done very well as you can sense the creepiness in scene and characters.

There is of course the later hostage situation and from the title and write up you know that these people want to take over the lives of the occupants. They did a lot to try to set this up, but I just didn't feel it like the creepiness. The problem with this film is that it lacked character. The characters were creepy, but were not colorful. Because the family was so bland, with Selma Blair looking gaunt, like a heroin addict, I didn't really care if they lived or died. In fact I was hoping...

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