La peau blanche

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.

The title of this film doesn't give you a clue as to what it wants to tell. "White Skin" opens with a conversation between two friends, Thierry and Henri (yeah, those of you who know me will know that I am grinning at this - Arsenal's star player is called Thierry Henry, but no, it doesn't make any inference here), they're talking about being coloured (Henri is black, Theirry is white), and touch on racism.

This film doesn't pretend that it's not preaching about this topic, but at times when they talk about it, you can't seem to help but think the filmmakers are trying, though without success, to deliver some kind of message across. Peppered throughout the show are conversations that touch upon skin colour, race, "The Original Man", etc.

But looking at the theatrical poster, one might be fooled into thinking it's an out and out horror film about new vampires. It isn't.

For those who dove head-on into this film, it'll be kinda confusing at first, as the narrative at times doesn't seem to lead anywhere. The first 5 minutes shows the chums engaging with hookers, and all hell breaks loose when Henri is stabbed with a knife by one of the prostitutes. It is also within this 5 minutes that we learn of Thierry's dislike for brunettes (again, not that it is a major plot point or adds to the narrative). However, he finds himself being drawn towards a brunette called Claire in his University, whom he fist laid eyes on when she was busking at the underground metro.

They become bed buddies, and although Thierry wants more than sex in a relationship, Claire seemed to be satisfied with the state of things - kind of a role reversal here. She's hiding something from him, and it's not until the last third of the film that we realize what it is, and it's not cancer as originally thought. Sticking to my concept of reviewing, I shall not dwell into the plot from this point on, as it'll lead to major spoilers.

This show positions itself more as a thriller and not your outright horror show with ugly monsters, musical crescendos, loud bangs at right moments and blood splattering all over. We are left with wondering what the big secret is, but the slow pace of the film makes it quite a stretch in a theatre seat. Many subplots go undeveloped, or gets lagged as a red herring. Things go full circle when the chums get figuratively haunted by the prostitute who stabbed Henri.

This is recommended for one of those lazy weekends when you really got nothing else better to do. So set your expectations right, and don't expect too many memorable scenes from this movie, though it is compensated by a relatively good looking cast.

I saw this back at the 2005 Palm Springs International Film Festival. It was one of the few late night screenings that they show on the weekend so I like going to late night movies and choose to attend this but I really didn't know much beforehand on what it was about. Had I a better idea of it's storyline and plot I probably would have skipped it but I'm glad that I didn't because it was actually a pretty good movie and I got into and went along for the ride. The film's Director/Producer/Writer Daniel Roby was on hand to introduce the film. This is not a big film but it has a good look to it and a modern take on an old storyline that works. Good casting in this movie. I would rate it a 7.5 out of a possible 10 and recommend it but not for everyone.

Though some may present this as a "chips & beer" type film, La Peau Blanche (USA DVD RETITLE: Cannibal) is certainly not the kind of film one might bring to a friend's home.

The film touches on race, heredity, evolution and love. This was an interesting film though it did tend to jump up on a soapbox on occasion which ended up giving the film a 1st draft, film school student feel.

The acting was decent but the dialogue was stiff at times.

This is art-house horror at its best and worst. If you're in the U.S., don't let the retitling and silly DVD cover fool you. Lionsgate loves to play with titles and covers (i.e. Romasanta).

Fans of films like Nekromantik & The Addiction may find this film to their liking.

La peau blanche, "The White Skin" is adapted from a dark fantastical (not fantasy) novel by Joel Champetier, a Quebecois writer. Two roommates pick up prostitutes in a bar, one of them being a pale skinned redhead and once in their respective rooms, one of the friends gets savagely attacked by the redhead. Months afterwards, the other friend starts becoming strangely fascinated with a red-haired female musician even though he suffers from a long-time phobia of redheads.

This is a low-budget fantastical horror thriller (less than a million dollars) that relies more on story and characters than on special effects to get the viewer involved. I found the story engrossing and well told as the mystery progressively unfolds. The friendship of the roommates was credible and made them likable. I watched it in the original french so cannot comment on the English dubbing but the french dialogues sounded very true and good for modern Quebecois people. If you have stereotypes about Quebec and want to see an accurate and well-shot representation of urban Montreal in winter, rent this film. If there's one thing I found lacking, it was the chemistry between the roommate and the redhead musician. Their relationship is supposed to be not quite right, kinda weird, so it succeeds there but the fascination and "romantic" elements didn't come off strong enough. I would tend to put the blame on the actress playing the redhead musician. Emotionally-wise, especially the expression in her eyes, she was unfortunately lacking even when she wasn't supposed to be cold and distant.

It's a slow build-up after the initial attack but I didn't find it boring in the least. This is a quality dramatic thriller that's more intimate and mysterious than flashy and horrific (although there are a few shocking moments). It shows you don't need a huge budget to make a good genre film provided you have good writing and a talented director. Having read the book previously, I would even say that the adaptation doesn't pale compared to the book and even that the ending of the film is better.

Rating: 6 out of 10