Day: 30 Film: Skinjacker
Type: Creature
Country: UK Year: 2023
Writer & Director: David Izatt
Rating: 3.5 / 10
Skinjacker follows a variety of groups when their lives collide after all of their vehicles break down on an unsuspecting road on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. As they try and resolve the issue with their cars/bikes they start to realise there is something more sinister at play.
The first pair you are introduced to are a grandpa and his daughter, on their way to drop her back to Inverness. They come across a biker on the side of the road, who flags them down for assistance, but as they near the area where his bike broke down, their car also stops working, as do their phones. Confused, but not yet unnerved they start trying to think of solutions – possibly biking back to the house or flagging down another car if one arrives. They then realise that they aren’t the only ones who have suffered this fate – there is also a caravan of four tourists, and a car with three angry, impatient passengers also.
As the individuals try and figure out the problem, rather than uniting, they begin colliding with eachother, the group of three are quick-tempered and violent, quickly insulting each group and making enemies straight off the bat, literally at one point, when they smash one of the caravan group in the head with a baseball bat. In all of the commotion, they somehow don’t realise that 2 of the 10 people have gone missing – but when they do, don’t seem too bothered by it, and quickly move on to their next plan – heading up to the farmhouse on the hill to try and get help.
The issue with introducing ten characters right at the start of the film, is that it’s hard for the audience to engage with any of them. There isn’t really a sole protagonist that the audience can attach to as the central point of the story, so it instead is a bit of a messy jumble with everyone getting immediate equal airtime. There is no real backstory for anyone, and there are too many people to attempt to get to know with very little to go off other than their interactions with eachother, which without understanding the characters themselves initially comes off as confusing and frustrating. Midway through the film, there is one flashback that helps to explain the behaviour of the trio – by revealing they are criminals on the run, but prior to this their reactions and personas are a bit too over the top.
When they arrive at the farmhouse, we are introduced to six more characters – two mechanics, the couple that own the house, and their parents, who have seemingly been possessed by the mysterious entity that has affected all of their cars. It is only at this point that it fully goes beyond just a mechanical issue – and we start to discover the powers and impact that it has had up until now. Prior to this, although we saw people disappearing and oil like smudges mixed with blood there wasn’t really anything else that pushed past just a ‘Bermuda triangle’ style anomaly on the road. As they try and escape the possessed parents and the mysterious entity, they stumble across a steaming container in the middle of the field – so naturally, decide to climb straight in and investigate.
Once inside, they discover that they are possibly in the middle of a spaceship and start to rediscover the missing friends that they had lost (but had barely batted an eyelid about!). We finally see who or what is behind all of the activity – a shapeshifter style entity that seemingly can take on the identity of anyone it chooses. This is a great antagonist, and a really creepy, interesting character, so it would have been great to have introduced them earlier on in the story to really allow the concept to take hold.
It’s a good concept, with a lot of potential but needs a bit more tightening up for it to feel fully completed. There are too many plot ideas and too many characters thrown into the mix, making it appear lost and messy – and it only starts to feel like it knows the type of film it wants to be closer to the end rather than throughout. By either strengthening the characters or implementing a few more plot reveals earlier in the narrative rather than later it would help to engage the audience a bit further.
The aim of the film isn’t to encourage tourism for Isle of Skye, but the gorgeous location shots throughout make it hard not to fall in love with the beautiful area. The roaming hills and vast landscape shots are well integrated into the film and are an ideal setting for a plot like this. The sheer emptiness, although stunning, also adds the element of creepiness – the feeling that nobody might find you if faced in a similar predicament as the characters. This feeling of being alone, is also explored by the unwelcoming nature of many of the interactions – the police are unfriendly and suspicious of tourists in the area, as are each of the characters of each other.
The incredible Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival is now in it’s 8th year – a brilliant festival for scary movie fans with a curated collection of some of the best independent horror features, shorts & web series. The screenings take place mainly at the wonderful Hen & Chickens Theatre, with a selection of shorts also being shown at Screen on the Green.
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