Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Mr_Ectoplasma "In Their Skin" follows a fairly common premise among post-millennial horror films: a family vacationing in a remote summer home find themselves trapped and preyed upon by a group of killers. Here, the family is an unsuspecting wealthy couple who has just lost one of their two children; playing counterpart is another family who yearns to live as them.While the central premise of the film is certainly straightforward and unoriginal (comparisons to "Funny Games" and "The Strangers" are inevitable), the spin here with the antagonists attempting to simulate lives of opulence and wealth is certainly different; the problem is that this central difference does not necessarily elevate the film's other shortcomings. Things start out fairly standard, and suspense is built tenaciously over the first forty-five minutes to an hour quite impressively. The problem? It disappears once the antagonists take full hold. This could partly be a scripting issue that leaves the film feeling uneven, but it's also an issue of performances— as good as James D'Arcy is, I had trouble believing him in this role, especially as the film progressed; Joshua Close's performance was slightly more believable, but even still, both of the male leads seemed miscast. Selma Blair and Rachel Miner however both work really well in the film; Miner is especially phenomenal here. The film ends with the suggestion of a family restored, but the details of the horrendous events that precede it seem undercooked by the end.Overall, "In Their Skin" is an unusual mashup of home invasion thriller conventions with vague social commentary and a problematic chemistry among the cast. The first half of the film is remarkable in building a sense of realistic suspense, but the film dovetails into mediocrity once the villains take charge. While not a bad film by any means, it still leaves a great deal to be desired in terms of scripting and casting. Worth a watch for the moody cinematography and applause-worthy buildup of tension no less. 5/10.

Martin Bradley "In Their Skin" is another movie that came and went without anyone paying too much attention to it and while it's not likely to win any Oscars it's still a pretty good genre picture, in this case 'the family menaced in their home by malevolent neighbours'. The couple are Joshua Close, (he also wrote the script), and an excellent Selma Blair and, let's just say, they aren't wanting for a penny while the vicious couple who treat them very badly indeed are Rachel Miner and a very creepy James D'Arcy. If the film has a fault it's that D'Arcy and Miner are such obvious nut-jobs from the first time we see them any self-respecting couple who meets them should run in the opposite direction as fast as possible and anyone who's seen either version of Michael Haneke's "Funny Games", (both vastly superior to this), should know what to expect. Still, this delivers the requisite frissons and chills and should make you think twice before spending your vacation in a lonely house in the middle of nowhere.

jchodyka-712-409893 This movie reminds me of many other films I had watched and they all seem like simple horror/thrillers without any special depth or meaning. But look closely. Almost in all of these flicks there are white, rich, good looking, pleasant, upstanding families (always family with those annoying cute children) against The Others. Who are those others? Poor. Degenerate, immoral, stupid, isolated from the real world and living in their own wretched places;ready to shoot without any reason... just for fun. But it is not merely about some brutal games; it is about their resentment towards successful. It's envy that motivates them because they (poor)are told by society they are idiots,lazy, brutal, prone to vice so they get nothing that "good" citizens enjoy. Brutes get none and the only joy in life seems according to all those movies is tormenting good citizens. They can't have what wealthy do so they would torture and kill out of pure jealousy. Watch when they observe the luxurious cottage. Their eyes ooze with hate mixed with envy. The only way they can get even is to terrorize good upper middle class and they do it for some time - just to give viewers necessary thrills. But fortunately goodness prevails and police is there to restore order to our relief. Happy ending is imminent(minus brother who does play minor role and can vanish without a pity).The movie shows tendency about what our world is slowly becoming: returning to Victorian times with their strict social order and moral judgement about rich, middle class,and poor - who all get what they deserve. And for wretched ... well there will be noting but misery of their own doing But wait: there are more and more of those destitute souls because of messy economy. And then what? Will Hollywood dare to continue this negative portrait of new impoverished masses? Be warn. You and me may find ourselves among them.

MrGKB ...despite a somewhat suspect plot that raises a few too many questions that aren't satisfactorily addressed, "In Their Skin" manages to transcend its flaws to deliver a reasonably creepy psycho-thriller. Primarily it's the third act where everything falls apart. Premise: a young yuppie family has retreated to a summer home to work through the grief of losing a daughter, only to be tormented by an invasive mirror family of head cases who want to usurp their identities. We get to know our protagonists in Act I, we meet the antagonists in Act II, and things play out in the closing Act III. All well and good; classic Syd Field stuff. The cast is mostly on the ball, the lensing and lighting well done, effective helming from its tyro director/co-writer; there's much to like in this film.However, as mentioned, things fall apart as what started out as a slow- burning tension builder devolves into a disappointingly routine assault on our protagonists, replete with numerous stupid moves on the part of characters who've apparently never seen movies like this one before. The most egregious failures involve a lack of explanation/willing suspension of disbelief concerning the antagonist "family." They simply don't behave like real people; they're authorial constructs only. They have no real background, no internal consistency, and it doesn't take an audience long to figure out they have no likely future, either. One can only wonder how this trio's leader subverted his followers into his dementia.Ultimately, "In Their Skin" fails to pack the punch of progenitors like "Funny Games" or "Last House on the Left." It's not a terrible watch, but it's far from essential, or even recommended. Check out one of the two I just mentioned instead.