Cold Skin (film)

In 1914, a young Englishman named Friend travels to a remote island in the South Atlantic to work for one year as a meteorologist as the previous one passed away. The only other inhabitant of the island is the caretaker of the lighthouse, Gruner, who greets Friend quite coldly. Gruner says the previous young meteorologist cannot return with the ship as he has died from typhus, possibly in the sea (there is no body).

Friend explores the island, seeing strange rock circles on the beach. When he returns to the cabin he finds the diary of the previous meteorologist which talks of strange creatures from the sea attacking; soon after reading this he is beset at night by the creatures. Friend hides in the cellar and jabs one of the creatures, which looks through the floorboards, causing them to flee. The next day he calls to Gruner to let him into the lighthouse, but to no avail. In the cabin he discovers a rifle among the baggage, and, determined to make a stand, he reinforces the cabin. At night the creatures come and he shoots at them. Eventually he has to resort to starting a fire as there are too many to take on. This causes them to flee but ruins the cabin.

The next day Friend observes Gruner leaving the lighthouse, and follows him down to the rocks where he discovers a female sea creature. Gruner prevents him from shooting her and shows that she is 'tame'. However, he says that like a dog she will not leave her master no matter how cruel he is. She licks Friend's wounded hand and it heals. Friend offers to share ammunition and other supplies with Gruner if he can stay in the lighthouse, which Gruner accepts. He wonders if the creatures keep coming for the lighthouse because they want to reclaim the female sea creature. More creatures attack that night, but Friend faints and Gruner is angry that he was no use. Gruner now tells him to do menial activities such as fetch water. The next night Gruner locks Friend outside on the balcony with his gun, leaving him to see if he can fend for himself against the creatures. In the morning Gruner discovers him covered in creature blood but alive.

The two men settle into a routine; the creatures attack many nights and they must always keep watch. Friend sees that Gruner has sex with the female creature but also hits her. Tensions arise as Friend grows to like the creature, and names her Aneris, while Gruner physically and sexually abuses her. Friend recalls why he came to the island: to find peace in nothingness. Clearly, there is no peace to be had. Later, Gruner refuses to let Friend signal to a passing ship for rescue.

One night, they come perilously close to being killed when they are overrun by creatures. They lock themselves inside the lighthouse light-room, with Gruner bitten badly on the foot as he flees upstairs. At dawn the creatures leave for the sea. Aneuris tends his wounded foot. Whilst Gruner is asleep, Friend searches his things and finds a photo of Gruner as a young man with a wife. Gruner later explains that he found the female sea creature years ago as a baby trapped in a net and he rescued her.

Friend takes to walking along the beach collecting whalebones and carving them. He shows one of a boat to Aneris and she leads him to an abandoned boat on the beach. He tells Gruner about it but Gruner says the boat is too small for an escape from the island. He knew it was there as a Portuguese man had used it to escape a shipwreck, but had been killed by the creatures. He says the ship's cargo contained dynamite but the only dynamite the Portuguese man had brought with him was water-logged.

Friend wants to explore the shipwreck but Gruner does not. However, after seeing Friend swimming in a pool with Aneris, Gruner changes his mind – perhaps being jealous of the two and hoping that Friend might die in the attempt. They use the small boat to row out to the wreck and Friend dons an old dive suit to go down and search for crated dynamite. He manages to recover the dynamite, and sees playful child-like versions of creatures. On land they open the box and the dynamite is dry enough to use.

Friend and Gruner plan to lure as many sea creatures as possible close to the lighthouse before setting off dynamite. If they think the men have bigger weapons they may stay away. Aneris is forced onto the balcony and made to 'sing' to attract them. It is wet and windy and snow is on the ground. The creatures duly make their attack, but Gruner fails to set off the first explosives, causing Friend to have to run to the top of the lighthouse to reconnect the detonator. The resulting blast kills a multitude of the creatures. Gruner then sets off the secondary explosives which are much closer to the lighthouse, knocking both Friend and himself unconscious.

In the morning, Gruner finishes off the wounded and dying creatures that are lying on the beach with a bayonet. Friend believes the creatures are more civilized than Gruner makes out after seeing one of the dead creatures is wearing a necklace. Gruner hurls the necklace into the sea. That night, the creatures do not attack, instead making a great wailing sound from the sea which Friend takes to be mourning. Aneris has disappeared.

Friend once again takes to walking along the beach and decides to leave a carved present for the creatures by the circles of stones. Later, Friend discovers a baby creature investigating his present, and Aneris arrives, appearing more confident and bold. They are interrupted by a shot, as Gruner appears. He commands Aneris to return to him. Friend tries to tell him that the creatures – more of whom have appeared behind Aneris – want a truce, but Gruner insists that 'no-one leaves Gruner'. Gruner runs back to the lighthouse and shoots a flare at the child creature, striking him in the chest and killing him. More flares follow and Friend runs after Gruner, throwing him to the ground. Gruner gains the upper hand and raises an axe to him, fights Gruner in anger but Friend calls out his real name – that of the previous meteorologist, saying he is not a murderer. Gruner stops, drops the axe and staggers outside to be killed by the sea creatures.

Sometime later, the next ship arrives to replace Friend. The captain mistakes him for the lighthouse-keeper Gruner, and Friend does not correct him. It seems he has decided to stay in the role, perhaps now finding the peace he originally sought.

• Ray Stevenson as Gruner
• David Oakes as Friend
• Aura Garrido as Aneris
• John Benfield as Captain Axel
• Iván González as Weather Official
• Winslow Iwaki as Senegalese
• Ben Temple as Ship Official
• William Frater as Fishman

Cold Skin has grossed a worldwide total of $752,552.[2] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 48%, based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 6.09/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Cold Skin exerts a strong visual pull, even if all that icy atmosphere isn't a truly satisfying substitute for a story that dares to go somewhere different."[6]

• Cold Skin at IMDb 
• Cold Skin at AllMovie
• La piel fría (Cold Skin) at Box Office Mojo