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[Review] Richard Brake Delivers a Haunting Performance in ‘Perfect Skin’

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Perfect Skin Review

Who hasn’t thought about getting a tattoo before? The idea of permanently inking something on your body is tempting to some and revolting to others. Some may find the act horrific, while others may find it beautiful. Those opposing points of view make Kevin Chicken’s feature directorial debut, Perfect Skin, all the more fascinating for viewers as it delves into the potential horrors of body modification while simultaneously offering an allegorical take on the rape-revenge narrative.

After being kicked out of her London apartment, Polish immigrant Katia (Natalia Kostrzewa, The Cured) finds a new roommate in Lucy (Jo Woodcock). The two bond and quickly become friends. One day, Lucy takes Katia to visit a local tattoo artist named Bob (Richard Brake, 31Game of Thrones). Upon meeting Katia, Bob comments on her perfect skin, which is unmarked by tattoos and piercings. Unbeknownst to the girls, Bob’s life isn’t as happy as his calm demeanor would make it seem. After being diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s, a disease that will end his career, Bob’s marriage became strained and eventually fell apart. With the clock ticking, Bob has become obsessed with creating one final masterpiece before his body gives in to the disease. When Lucy is called back home to care for her ailing mother, Bob takes advantage of Katia’s solitude and kidnaps her, locking her in a jail cell under his tattoo shop (why he has a jail cell under his tattoo shop is anyone’s guess). Katia is then subjected to Bob’s obsession as he goes to work on her blank canvas of a body.

As Bob, Brake is absolutely terrifying, making it clear that his standout performance in Rob Zombie’s 31 wasn’t a fluke. Brake does a phenomenal job conveying Bob’s thoughts through even the subtlest of facial expressions, seamlessly moving from serenity to a fit of rage in a matter of seconds. Bob treats Katia with the utmost respect, proudly proclaiming “I just want you to be happy here. That’s all” or “I just want you to be clean. That’s all,” but the second his masterpiece is in danger of not being finished he becomes a monster. There is a fine line between being a perfect gentleman and an unhinged, albeit subdued, psychopath, and Brake walks it perfectly.

It’s a shame that the script, co-written by Chicken and Dusan Tolmac, doesn’t give us more insight into his psyche. It introduces his unhappy marriage and his medical affliction, but only gives us surface-level reasons for his obsession. Some would argue that you don’t need anything more than one scene with his wife and a few shots of his shaking hands, but one wishes that Chicken and Tolmac had dived a little deeper into what makes Bob tick. The film (sort of) tells us why Bob snapped, but it doesn’t show us.

Perfect Skin Review

Kostrzewa displays equal parts vulnerability and strength as Katia, with the strength gradually taking over as she is subjected to more of Bob’s handiwork. She doesn’t get too many layers to play other than acting scared, but she does what she can with the role. Woodcock turns in a wonderfully feisty performance as Lucy. While the role is fairly underwritten, existing solely to add to the film’s body count, Woodcock makes the character a likable spitfire.

Though not gory, Perfect Skin boasts several cringe-inducing sequences of body modification. Cinematographer Jim Marks captures Katia’s torture with extreme close-ups of needles (both from a tattoo gun and the regular piercing variety) puncturing her skin, making the reality of her situation all the more horrifying. It’s enough to make you turn away from the screen (or at least consider never getting a tattoo). This is not the body horror you’re used to. Whereas body horror like David Cronenberg’s was more of the fantastical sort with chest vaginas and humanoid fly creatures, Chicken’s body horror is very, very real. The horror lies not in what is being done to Katia’s body (as people do this sort of thing all the time), but rather that it is being done without her consent.

It’s impossible to talk about the torture that Bob submits Katia to without comparing it to rape. Though there is nothing sexual between Bob and Katia, she is being penetrated nonetheless. It wouldn’t be wrong to classify Perfect Skin as a rape-revenge film, although in this instance we must use the term’s second definition rather than its sexual counterpart: an outrageous violation. Katia’s body is repeatedly violated by Bob for the majority of the film’s runtime, with each new addition to her body making her more and more unrecognizable. She metamorphosizes from a lonely immigrant girl into Bob’s ghastly (beautiful?) creation. This metamorphosis bleeds over into Katia herself, as the Katia at the beginning of the film is not the same Katia at the end of it. Chicken gets the horror right, but something gets lost in translation on a personal level with Katia. We see her being tortured. We know she is in pain. We just don’t get anything to clue us in to who Katia is other than her suffering.

Making the most of what had to have been a limited budget, Chicken has crafted a fascinating character study of a man driven solely by his obsession. While one wishes that the script had a little more depth to it, it doesn’t prevent Perfect Skin from being an effective piece of filmmaking. The actresses are both solid, but Brake is the MVP, more than justifying a watch when Perfect Skin finally sees a release.

Perfect Skin had its world premiere at the 2018 London FrightFest Film Festival. No release date has been set.

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

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SCREAMBOX Investigates UFOs and Extraterrestrials: Several Documentaries Streaming Right Now!

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As someone who is obsessed with UFOS (or more recently known as UAPs) and the concept of extraterrestrials, I love a good documentary. Sightings have been on the rise since the 1940s, with the atomic bomb seemingly acting as a catalyst for new visitors. But what are these UFOs/UAPs? Is there an explanation or are they simply beyond our explanation? Why are they here? Who are they? How much do our governments know? The questions are endless and so are the documentaries that attempt to uncover the secrets behind decades of sightings and alleged confrontations.

Whether you’re a seasoned viewer or new to the rabbit hole, there’s always a handful of interesting documentaries to get your neurons firing and leave you with sleepless nights. SCREAMBOX is investigating with the addition of several docs, all streaming now on the Bloody Disgusting-powered service. Here’s the breakdown:

Aliens (2021): Beam into this unidentified streaming documentary for a glimpse into Extraterrestrial life. Aliens are hypothetical life forms that may occur outside Earth or that did not originate on Earth.

Aliens Uncovered: Origins (2021): Before Area 51, hidden deep in the desert, the military discovered a hidden gem that helped them create Project Bluebook.

Aliens Uncovered: ET or Man-Made (2022): The crash of Roswell wasn’t meant for New Mexico. In 1947, a neighboring state had 3 major sightings that were swept under the rug.

Aliens Uncovered: The Golden Record (2023): In the late 70s, the US government launched a message to our distant neighbors.

Roswell (2021): This high-flying documentary examines the July 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Theories claim the crash was actually that of a flying saucer, but what is the truth?

Also check out:

The British UFO Files (2004): Since the 1940’s the British Government has been investigating the Flying Saucer phenomenon. High-ranking military and government personnel, speak out for the first time, offering unique eyewitness accounts and inside information.

Alien Abductions and Paranormal Sightings (2016): Amazing Footage and stories from real people as they reveal their personal encounters of being abducted by Aliens.

And do not miss Hellier (2019): A crew of paranormal researchers find themselves in a dying coal town, where a series of strange coincidences lead them to a decades-old mystery.

These documentaries join SCREAMBOX’s growing library of unique horror content, including Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Here for Blood, Terrifier 2, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, The Outwaters, Living with Chucky, Project Wolf Hunting, and Pennywise: The Story of IT.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

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