Under the Skin
½Skip itIs Under the Skin worth watching? (No spoilers)
Purposely vague and artsy, with almost no narrative and the same dreamlike sequence repeated over and over. Seeing the world through an outsider's eyes is an interesting idea, but plenty of films have done it better. Skip it.
⚠️ Spoiler warning: everything below the quick take, including the full review and ending explained, contains spoilers.
Under the Skin review
Under the Skin is a perfect proof that an artsy movie that is purposely ambiguous does not mean it is great.
This film lacked any real narrative, and along the way forgot to put in a theme, depth, interesting / visually stunning shots, or anything else to leave the viewer with.
Yes, seeing the world at such a simple level from an outsiders eyes is interesting. I can think of 10 films that did it better though, and in a way that actually added something to the conversation.
Instead, this film opts to have the same sex fueled dream sequence over and over and over again, leaving you with nothing to remember but black liquid, nudity, and regret at ever pressing play.
Is Under the Skin scary?
Scare level: 1/5
It's more unsettling than scary. There are no real jump scares; it's slow, cold dread, a few disturbing images (the black liquid scenes, a beach scene that's genuinely upsetting) and a lot of eerie silence and droning score.
Under the Skin ending explained
Scarlett Johansson plays an alien who drives around Scotland luring men into a black void where they're harvested. After she lets one victim go, she starts drifting away from her mission and tries to live like a human: eating, connecting, even attempting intimacy, which doesn't work because her body isn't human.
She flees into the woods, where a man tries to assault her. Her skin tears during the struggle, revealing her black, featureless alien body underneath. Terrified, the man pours petrol on her and sets her on fire. The film ends with her burning in the snow, the smoke drifting up into the falling flakes.
The point is the irony: the moment she starts to feel human empathy and vulnerability, she becomes prey herself. The hunter becomes the hunted, and the cruelty she was sent to exploit is what kills her.
My take: the idea is there, but the film is so committed to being ambiguous that it never gives you much to hold on to.
Does Under the Skin have a post-credits scene?
No. Under the Skin has no mid-credits or post-credits scene.
Movies like Under the Skin
- Annihilation (2018) ★ – slow, eerie sci-fi horror about something alien
- Possession (1981) ★ – art-house horror that's more about mood than plot
- Enemy (2013) – cold, cryptic and built around one strange idea
- The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) – an alien slowly worn down by living among humans