Welcome to Boring, California. Population-declining.
We're given a cold opening that tells us that more than 150 young men across the US have drowned under mysterious circumstances. Remember this, it's important. Because, by the US, we mean California.
Well, anyway, we're introduced to our MC. He shows a lot of skin, so I'm just going to call him Skin. Seems every one of Skin's friends is an amateur psychologist and loves to diagnose him. Their most popular diagnosis is "unstable" because actually giving it a name would mean we could nitpick the symptoms. And while I'm no amateur psychologist, to me it seems more like he suffers more from a general malaise than anything else...at least in the beginning. As the movie progresses his status does seem to decline from malaise to depression to outright fugue and dementia/psychosis-like states. But even before that, his friends attempts to help him are very questionable for the amateur psychologists that they are. As many depression sufferers will tell you, being dragged out and manhandled into participating in group events is often detrimental to their mental states. Showing them all the "shiny, happy people" as something they are not-but should be, puts undue pressure on them and often leads to setbacks.
But enough psycho-babble. Skin is being stalked, you see. Strange people follow him around, break into his apartment, mess with his stuff, and leave creepy things laying around for him to find. Of course these bizarre happenings do little for Skin's mental state and start leading him to paranoia and stress. Not that any of his friends care. Nope, he's just having another one of his moments. Naturally, being the pill-popping generation, they encourage him to take his meds. But even when he does, the ongoing interference of his unseen stalkers hampers any improvement. Not that his friends believe him. Nope, just Skin being Skin. It's really beneficial for people that are paranoid to have their worries mocked and ridiculed. Well, things to heck when Skin starts to think his GF is cheating with her ex boyfriend. Of course, still talking to the guy and having him send pictures of them when they were together doesn't help. There's also the fact that the Stalkers are texting Skin strange messages and disturbing images...though he could easily block them...not sure why he doesn't.
So, on and on we go with Skin's issues until finally the movie decides to punch it into gear and the Stalkers make their move. They kidnap Skin...and he makes it oh so hard by standing two feet from the open door of the car that was just running him down minutes earlier. They strip Skin naked and then immediately cover his groin with duct tape. Cause, you know...that's the first thing you do when you take someone's clothes off...cover them back up so you don't get an X-Rating. Of course, had this been a woman and the move were called I Spit on your Grave, I doubt they would have bothered, but we can't have too much skin from "MR." Skin.
So here's where the movie goes wild. Skin manages to escape but the stalkers are in pursuit and go from completely passive to Death Wish levels of carnage. They reacquire Skin, (the Director would like to assure you a really cool scene happened to explain how they did this, they just chose not to film it) kill some bystanders and eventually kill Skin. When asked why...they say its because he's Galiel? Ooooookay. You know, if you're going to bring it up and make it a function of the plot, the least you could do is explain it. So, they toss Skin's corpse in the ocean, paint a smiley face, and move on to their next target. We're given some last minute BS where all of Skin's friends suddenly do a 180 from mostly supporting him to labeling him demented and dangerous. The end.
Analysis: Meh. I really think showing the killer's faces was a misstep. When they were just passive, almost invisible threats, it kept the tension going better. To reveal them...humanizes them. Yes, humans can be crazy killers, but humans can also be stopped. To give them faces and identities kind of ruins the talismanic quality of the unknowable threat. And again, if you're going to give killers a basis for their madness, you should probably explain it. To leave the audience going, "I don't know what that is," isn't a good thing. Also, having the killers go from passive to out-of-control action is jarring. It really begs the question of how they've managed to remain hidden when they cause this much collateral damage. Here's a news flash: Gas stations have cameras. Or did they take the tape/digital recordings with them? Traffic lights also have cameras...I'm pretty sure that guy might have tripped a few in his efforts to escape. Also, there's the question of: How do they manage to kill so many guys when they invest so much time in each one? Remember that cold opening? THIS IS NOT A DROWNING!!! We're not in the 1600's anymore where we can't establish the cause of death. Wanna know a big tip-off about it not being a drowning? There would be no water in his lungs! Know why? He was dead before he went in! You don't breath when you're dead! Not for nothing, but a pathologist would also be able to tell he was exsanguinated as well. And there's little to no chance they're going to mistake all those knife cuts/stab wounds for shark bites. There's also the abrasions that would have been caused by him struggling against the handcuffs...in short, no pathologist anywhere is going to rule this a drowning. And as far as his GF's assertions that he might have killed himself? Suicides rarely strip naked and then duct tape their privates (while their hands are bound) before stabbing themselves in the neck.
Final Thoughts: It's fairly boring. The tension in the beginning form the stalkers (pre-reveal) works okay, but Skin's life is pretty dull. The constant fixation on his mental state is listless and serves no point beyond the interviews at the end. Boy, it's a good thing those stalkers chose a guy like that at complete random, huh? Imagine if they'd chosen a "stable" happy guy? Surely one of those 150 pokem-guys must have been well-balanced. The mental issues "could" have been more viable "if" there were some question whether these things were really happening, or if he was just delusional as his friends claim. But we, as the audience, know the stalkers are real, therefore it's a moot point. The early pacing could have been a lot better. Again, to go from 0 to 100 is pretty jarring and lacks any real build-up that slowly increases the terror. Unless you're a sucker for guy-candy and male objectification I'd recommend avoiding it. It's not the "worst" movie ever, but it's not quite "Run-of-the-mill" either.
We're given a cold opening that tells us that more than 150 young men across the US have drowned under mysterious circumstances. Remember this, it's important. Because, by the US, we mean California.
Well, anyway, we're introduced to our MC. He shows a lot of skin, so I'm just going to call him Skin. Seems every one of Skin's friends is an amateur psychologist and loves to diagnose him. Their most popular diagnosis is "unstable" because actually giving it a name would mean we could nitpick the symptoms. And while I'm no amateur psychologist, to me it seems more like he suffers more from a general malaise than anything else...at least in the beginning. As the movie progresses his status does seem to decline from malaise to depression to outright fugue and dementia/psychosis-like states. But even before that, his friends attempts to help him are very questionable for the amateur psychologists that they are. As many depression sufferers will tell you, being dragged out and manhandled into participating in group events is often detrimental to their mental states. Showing them all the "shiny, happy people" as something they are not-but should be, puts undue pressure on them and often leads to setbacks.
But enough psycho-babble. Skin is being stalked, you see. Strange people follow him around, break into his apartment, mess with his stuff, and leave creepy things laying around for him to find. Of course these bizarre happenings do little for Skin's mental state and start leading him to paranoia and stress. Not that any of his friends care. Nope, he's just having another one of his moments. Naturally, being the pill-popping generation, they encourage him to take his meds. But even when he does, the ongoing interference of his unseen stalkers hampers any improvement. Not that his friends believe him. Nope, just Skin being Skin. It's really beneficial for people that are paranoid to have their worries mocked and ridiculed. Well, things to heck when Skin starts to think his GF is cheating with her ex boyfriend. Of course, still talking to the guy and having him send pictures of them when they were together doesn't help. There's also the fact that the Stalkers are texting Skin strange messages and disturbing images...though he could easily block them...not sure why he doesn't.
So, on and on we go with Skin's issues until finally the movie decides to punch it into gear and the Stalkers make their move. They kidnap Skin...and he makes it oh so hard by standing two feet from the open door of the car that was just running him down minutes earlier. They strip Skin naked and then immediately cover his groin with duct tape. Cause, you know...that's the first thing you do when you take someone's clothes off...cover them back up so you don't get an X-Rating. Of course, had this been a woman and the move were called I Spit on your Grave, I doubt they would have bothered, but we can't have too much skin from "MR." Skin.
So here's where the movie goes wild. Skin manages to escape but the stalkers are in pursuit and go from completely passive to Death Wish levels of carnage. They reacquire Skin, (the Director would like to assure you a really cool scene happened to explain how they did this, they just chose not to film it) kill some bystanders and eventually kill Skin. When asked why...they say its because he's Galiel? Ooooookay. You know, if you're going to bring it up and make it a function of the plot, the least you could do is explain it. So, they toss Skin's corpse in the ocean, paint a smiley face, and move on to their next target. We're given some last minute BS where all of Skin's friends suddenly do a 180 from mostly supporting him to labeling him demented and dangerous. The end.
Analysis: Meh. I really think showing the killer's faces was a misstep. When they were just passive, almost invisible threats, it kept the tension going better. To reveal them...humanizes them. Yes, humans can be crazy killers, but humans can also be stopped. To give them faces and identities kind of ruins the talismanic quality of the unknowable threat. And again, if you're going to give killers a basis for their madness, you should probably explain it. To leave the audience going, "I don't know what that is," isn't a good thing. Also, having the killers go from passive to out-of-control action is jarring. It really begs the question of how they've managed to remain hidden when they cause this much collateral damage. Here's a news flash: Gas stations have cameras. Or did they take the tape/digital recordings with them? Traffic lights also have cameras...I'm pretty sure that guy might have tripped a few in his efforts to escape. Also, there's the question of: How do they manage to kill so many guys when they invest so much time in each one? Remember that cold opening? THIS IS NOT A DROWNING!!! We're not in the 1600's anymore where we can't establish the cause of death. Wanna know a big tip-off about it not being a drowning? There would be no water in his lungs! Know why? He was dead before he went in! You don't breath when you're dead! Not for nothing, but a pathologist would also be able to tell he was exsanguinated as well. And there's little to no chance they're going to mistake all those knife cuts/stab wounds for shark bites. There's also the abrasions that would have been caused by him struggling against the handcuffs...in short, no pathologist anywhere is going to rule this a drowning. And as far as his GF's assertions that he might have killed himself? Suicides rarely strip naked and then duct tape their privates (while their hands are bound) before stabbing themselves in the neck.
Final Thoughts: It's fairly boring. The tension in the beginning form the stalkers (pre-reveal) works okay, but Skin's life is pretty dull. The constant fixation on his mental state is listless and serves no point beyond the interviews at the end. Boy, it's a good thing those stalkers chose a guy like that at complete random, huh? Imagine if they'd chosen a "stable" happy guy? Surely one of those 150 pokem-guys must have been well-balanced. The mental issues "could" have been more viable "if" there were some question whether these things were really happening, or if he was just delusional as his friends claim. But we, as the audience, know the stalkers are real, therefore it's a moot point. The early pacing could have been a lot better. Again, to go from 0 to 100 is pretty jarring and lacks any real build-up that slowly increases the terror. Unless you're a sucker for guy-candy and male objectification I'd recommend avoiding it. It's not the "worst" movie ever, but it's not quite "Run-of-the-mill" either.