La peau blanche

Thierry Richard and his roommate Henri Dieudonné pick up a couple of hookers at a bar. Thierry hears a disturbance from Henri's room and finds him fighting with the girl. She has cut Henri's neck with a knife and jumps out of the window naked into the streets. Thierry falls in love with redhead Claire Lefrançois despite his genetic prejudice. He becomes obsessed which disturbs Henri. It's revealed that she has cancer, her sister Marquise is the one who attacked Henri, and her family consumes the life from their victims.

It's a French-Canadian indie. The anti-redhead rant is interesting. It's a fascinating start with the action in the hotel room. Then it turns into a long tease. It's a bit slow in the middle. This is all slightly different from the normal Hollywood horror genre. It's very much appreciated but it isn't all compelling.

This was somewhat of a surprise. I read the synopsis, so I had an idea, but I didn't expect any quality whatsoever. That was a huge element of the surprise; the performance and story quality. The execution was a bit choppy, and the racial theme was a bit off putting, but all in all, this was very well done.

A grad student discovers his distant, overly-white girlfriend has a few secrets. Secrets her mother will do anything to destroy.

This features some decent performances, a relatively unique story line, and a half-decent score. The dubbing is horrid, but I suppose it's difficult to sync French with English. This is a drama rather than an actioner, and is more suspense with horror elements than outright horror, so remember that if you decide to give this one a viewing.

All in all? This was very well done, considering lack of budget, and carries an innovative story I found entertaining. Perhaps you will, too.

It rates a 6.7/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Oh my God, Eric Cartman was right! I remember seeing an episode of "South Park" in which Cartman single-handedly wanted to perform some sort of genocide against red-haired kids because he proclaims them to be pure evil. With just a slight bit of lunatic imagination this low-budgeted but nonetheless artistic Canadian thriller more or less confirm the 'wicked redhead'-concept, as the red hair and titular pale skin are outward characteristics for the so-called "Succubus". These are female demons that use their sexy appearances and steaming libidos to seduce men and then subsequently feed on their flesh during the act of intercourse. For some strange reason, Succubi are regretfully underused in horror films nowadays (back in the rancid 60's and 70's they formed often recurring characters in sleazy European B-flicks) but "White Skin" is a very admirable and innovative new film with a few clever twists. Literature student Thierry has a congenital aversion – almost like a phobia – towards girls with red hair and pale skins. His sentiments even increase when his roommate and best friend Henri gets bitten in the throat by a redhead prostitute during a nightly escapade that nearly causes a racial conflict. Completely unexpected, Thierry then falls head over heels in love with the introvert and extremely pale skinned Claire. She's a strange and mysterious girl but Thierry gladly neglects his school work and social life in favor of her, much to the discontent of Henri. Thierry even guards Claire's hospital bed when she falls victim to a vicious case of skin cancer, but then he gradually discovers she and particularly her family have a much more terrifying condition than cancer. Director/Co-writer Daniel Roby is extremely sparing with clues during the first hour of the film and literally surrounds Claire's character with an aura of mystery and oddly enticing morbidity. The protagonists' vivid encounter with a blood-sucking redhead during the opening sequences somewhat gave an idea of what to expect, but still you keep having the impression they could go anywhere with the story. The pace is rather slow, but admittedly that is better to illustrate the growing bond between the two unusual lovers as well as in order to build up towards an offbeat and relatively shocking climax. "White Skin" isn't a gory movie and probably moves far too slow to impress the fans of recent horror stuff like "Saw IV" and "30 Days of Night", but it's definitely recommended to people with an interest in story –and atmosphere driven thrillers. The fairly unknown Canadian cast does a good job. Lead guy Marc Paquet looks a bit like the older sibling of Daniel Radcliffe and the younger one of Tobey Maguire, but apparently this nerdish type of appearance works splendidly. Marianne Farley, as Claire, and particularly Jessica Malka as her insatiable younger sister Marquise are bewitching in the female leads.

I've seen this mystery-thriller-drama-horror flick at the FantasyFilmFest. We meet Thierry, who doesn't like red hairy women until Claire comes into his life. He falls in love with her, but (of course) something is wrong. Something is wrong with her family. Thierry's room-mate Henri is watching how Thierry is changing. He tries to warn him, but Thierry doesn't care... LA PEAU BLANCHE is located in Montreal and has some nice shots. This is no "lets take the knife and kill someone"-thing, LPB is more silent and spooky. If you liked GINGER SNAPS 1, this movie could be right at home in front of your TV with chips and beer.

While celebrating his anniversary with his black roommate and friend Henri Dieudonné (Frédéric Pierre) in a bar, Thierry Richard (Marc Paquet) is invited by Henri to a program with two hookers. They go to a motel, and Henri is attacked by his girl, being saved by Thierry. Later, Thierry meets the red-haired musician Claire Lefrançois (Marianne Farley), they have wild sex and he falls in love for her. But she tells him that she has a disease and she breaks with him. When Thierry meets Claire again, he finds how she may be cured.

I loved this Canadian movie. I started watching the DVD without any clue about the genre, and based on the beginning of the story, I thought it was a dramatic romance. However, when the secret of Claire and her family is disclosed, I realized that it is a very well developed low paced horror movie. This genre is my favorite, and I confess that the excellent screenplay of this movie is really an extremely original story. The acting is great, but there is confusion in the concept of succubus, which is basically a female demon that drains energy from men through sexual intercourse with minor variations in the definition. I have never read or heard anything about cannibalism associated to succubus. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Carne Branca" ("White Flesh")