Review: Cold Skin

Based on the 2002 novel by Albert Sánchez Piñol, Cold Skin begins as a man arrives on a remote island, ready to take his year-long duty of being the resident weather attendant. A respite from civilisation may be exactly what he seeks, given that the time is 1914 and the first World War is about to embroil most of the Western nations.

The man, soon to be nicknamed Friend (David Oakes), is not the only inhabitant on the island. The other is the lighthouse keeper named Gruner (Ray Stevenson), decidedly unfriendly and dismissively evasive about the whereabouts of the previous meteorologist, and who has armoured the lighthouse with wooden spikes all the way to the top. Friend discovers the reason for this soon enough when, on his first night, his cabin is attacked by numerous sea creatures. He barely survives the night; the cabin, which he fortifies, becomes uninhabitable after its assault on the second night. Left with no other choice, Friend moves into the lighthouse with Gruner.

Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse as Friend's life soon turns into a monotonous cycle of fending off the sea creatures by night and carrying out relatively menial tasks during the day. During his time with Gruner, he discovers that the lighthouse keeper has taken on a female sea creature named Aneris (Aura Garrido), who is part servant, part sex slave, all-around outlet for his temper, and the alarm system for when the toads, as Gruner has named them, emerge and set upon the lighthouse. The dynamic between the three is intermittently fascinating as it conveys the tale's subject of colonialism and conquest, with Gruner the brutal coloniser, Aneris the colonised (both as country and as a woman), and Friend the person who sees her as something more than an animal to be domesticated. Related to this triangle is the somewhat more intriguing notion that these nightly battles between the humans and the creatures might be avoided if both sides took the time to understand one another.

Director Xavier Gens certainly takes the material very seriously - perhaps too seriously at times - and does what he can to imbue the philosophical into a monster movie. The pacing could have been tightened, especially during the slack middle section. The film is technically strong - Daniel Aranyó's widescreen cinematography, Gil Parrondo's production design, and Óscar Sempere's art direction, and Mani Martinez's set decoration all contribute to the dark and desolate storybook quality of the film. Performances from the three leads are also solid.

Cold Skin

Directed by: Xavier Gens

Written by: Jesús Olmo, Eron Sheean; based on the novel by Albert Sánchez Piñol

Starring: David Oakes, Ray Stevenson, Aura Garrido, John Benfield