The Reflecting Skin reminds me of the kid in high school who would always interrupt the teacher. He really thinks he's being clever and cutting edge, but actually looks like a moron and is making everyone cringe.
The premise of this film is a young boy named Seth, who starts to think he neighbor is a vampire. While it sounds like a lame disney channel original movie, it's actually a artsy "horror" film about the loss of innocence as a child.
There's a couple problems with this analysis that I have an issue with. First, the contrast between childhood innocence and devastating trauma is displayed very poorly. The beginning scene of Seth blowing up frogs with his friends is clearly meant to be a moment of sweet childhood fun, but in reality comes off incredibly disturbing. Seth murdering little animals with his friends in gruesome ways doesn't come off as sweet in innocent, it just makes Seth look like a little brat and possibly a psychopath. Not a great start.
Eventually Seth meets his neighbor "Dolphin Blue" (very subtle, guys) who to Seth's credit, does come off incredibly creepy, which makes Seth believe she's a vampire. This actually leads to another huge problem in this movie: Nobody in the film talks or even acts like a regular person. Everyone in the film acts incredibly robotic and it doesn't feel like bad acting, more so like director's choice. I'm not sure why he would emphasize everyone to act as inhuman as possible but it sure did make it a lot harder to relate to any of the characters.
Throughout the film, Seth's friends are kidnapped and killed one by one by a bunch of college kids who drive around in a black car (an obvious symbolism for death itself). But symbolism only works if it still makes sense in context (Animal Farm is a great example) but this movie really expects me to believe a bunch of college kids are just spending their time picking people up by the side of of road, killing them, not trying to hide it and they never get arrested?!
Eventually, the death kids pull up to Seth and Dolphin, and in an incredibly subtle moment they ask Seth if he wants a ride and he actually responds "not yet". Dolphin gets in and Seth knowing full well these people are murderers, poses no objection to her getting in anyway. She of course gets murdered and we end with Seth running into a field and screaming.
All in all, this movie is quite bad. Not a fan.
The premise of this film is a young boy named Seth, who starts to think he neighbor is a vampire. While it sounds like a lame disney channel original movie, it's actually a artsy "horror" film about the loss of innocence as a child.
There's a couple problems with this analysis that I have an issue with. First, the contrast between childhood innocence and devastating trauma is displayed very poorly. The beginning scene of Seth blowing up frogs with his friends is clearly meant to be a moment of sweet childhood fun, but in reality comes off incredibly disturbing. Seth murdering little animals with his friends in gruesome ways doesn't come off as sweet in innocent, it just makes Seth look like a little brat and possibly a psychopath. Not a great start.
Eventually Seth meets his neighbor "Dolphin Blue" (very subtle, guys) who to Seth's credit, does come off incredibly creepy, which makes Seth believe she's a vampire. This actually leads to another huge problem in this movie: Nobody in the film talks or even acts like a regular person. Everyone in the film acts incredibly robotic and it doesn't feel like bad acting, more so like director's choice. I'm not sure why he would emphasize everyone to act as inhuman as possible but it sure did make it a lot harder to relate to any of the characters.
Throughout the film, Seth's friends are kidnapped and killed one by one by a bunch of college kids who drive around in a black car (an obvious symbolism for death itself). But symbolism only works if it still makes sense in context (Animal Farm is a great example) but this movie really expects me to believe a bunch of college kids are just spending their time picking people up by the side of of road, killing them, not trying to hide it and they never get arrested?!
Eventually, the death kids pull up to Seth and Dolphin, and in an incredibly subtle moment they ask Seth if he wants a ride and he actually responds "not yet". Dolphin gets in and Seth knowing full well these people are murderers, poses no objection to her getting in anyway. She of course gets murdered and we end with Seth running into a field and screaming.
All in all, this movie is quite bad. Not a fan.