Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you an action,
adventure, fantasy film from 2017, titled Cold Skin.
Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care. The year is 1914. Our nameless protagonist,
a young Englishman, has been on a boat for sixty-seven days,
traveling to a remote island in the South Atlantic where he'll work as weather observer for a year.
On the last day of the trip, while having a smoke by the railing, the Captain asks him what he's
running away from, because that's the first thing they asked him when he decided to go to the sea.
But the Englishman doesn't reply. They make it to the island, and the whole crew
helps the Englishman take his things to the cabin he'll be staying at. He notices there are no birds
around, and the Captain points out there is no weather official welcoming them either. They enter
the cabin, which looks as it's been abandoned a long time ago, and that makes the Captain think
it's not safe. He doesn't think the Englishman should stay, but the man refuses. He is staying.
Even if it isn't part of his job, the Captain helps the Englishman investigate the area.
On their way to a lighthouse they've seen from afar, they find a fountain and on it,
a message written on the rocks: "Gruner owns this fountain". The captain sends his crew back to the
boat and continues with the Englishman alone. A moment later, they make it to the lighthouse,
which is rudimentarily fortified. When nobody answers their knocking and calls, they break in
by forcing the door open and go upstairs, where they find an old man sleeping - this is Gruner,
who whispers something about going back to the water before getting off the bed. When
the Captain asks him about the previous weather observer, Aldor Vigeland, who he should be taking
back with him, Gruner says he died of typhus, that one day he just left and he never saw him again.
Since Gruner isn't helpful, the two men leave. The Englishman still wants to stay,
so before returning to his boat, the Captain tries to gift him his gun. The Englishman turns
it down and after saying his goodbyes, he goes to his cabin to start tidying it up and setting
up his weather tools. In the desk drawer, he finds a journal left by the predecessor,
so he decides to read it by the fire. The first few pages are pretty normal, the usual notes
about the plant and animal life on the island, also a photograph of a woman in a wedding dress,
the back says "Mrs. Vigeland" and "love, love, love", which makes her his predecessor's wife.
But soon things turn weird: there are notes and drawings of strange sea creatures that attack
humans plus an ominous remark: "Darwin was wrong". The next day, while doing his weather readings on
the beach, the Englishman finds circles of rocks filled with shells on the sand,
the shapes too exact to be the accidental work of the elements. Later at night, while having dinner
in the cabin, he hears some strange noises outside the house, growls and hits to the wood wall. He's
slowly approaching the door when suddenly, a monster's paw appears under it - it matches
the drawings he saw on the journals. Hearing more of them climbing all over the house,
he rushes into the basement and closes the door behind him. He spies what's going on above through
a hole in the wood and when he notices a creature looking at him through the same means, he stabs
it with a knife he manages to stick through the hole. They're still out there, though, so
the Englishman decides to tie the door handle to the stairs and spends the night in the basement.
He comes out the next morning, noticing the blood on the house floor and the strange footprints on
the sand. He rushes to the lighthouse, but is unable to open the door this time. After
calling for Gruner a couple of times, the old guy finally opens a window and throws water at him,
refusing to allow the Englishman to enter when he asks, tells him he should've stayed on the boat.
Moments later, the Englishman is getting the house ready for the night. He seals all
windows and surrounds the cabin with a circle of wood and books that he covers with lamp oil.
Once he goes inside, he also seals the door and loads a rifle. The creatures arrive soon
after that and jump on the windows and door, slowly destroying the reinforcements placed
there earlier. The Englishman manages to shoot a few at first, but there are too many of them.
So he lights a torch with a lamp and throws it on the wood and paper circle he put around the house,
starting a fire that scares the monsters away but he can't control. The cabin catches on fire
as well, so the man has no choice to leave the place, burning his hand in the process,
and spends the night behind beachrocks and under a rain that begins falling when he gets there.
He returns to the cabin the following morning, finding it destroyed.
After grabbing a handkerchief to wrap his wounded hand with, he takes the rifle and sneaks around
to follow Gruner to the fountain. When he's about to shoot him, he's jumped on by one of those sea
creatures that happens to be a female wearing a sweater. He pushes her off and points at her with
his rifle, but Gruner finds them then and points at the Englishman in return. He doesn't give up,
though, he makes Gruner put his weapon down by threatening the creature. Gruner asks him what
he wants, the Englishman says it's obvious. So Gruner finally agrees to let him stay with him in
the lighthouse after the Englishman tells him all the kinds of supplies he has to share and explains
that the creature is harmless, he proves this by calling her over as if she was a dog, and she
indeed does obey. Before leaving for the cabin, Gruner decides to name the Englishman Friend.
When they teach their cabin, they proceed to grab as many provisions as possible. Friend tells
Gruner that he thinks the previous weatherman didn't die of typhus, he was left alone in the
house and the creatures took him. He thinks that should count as a crime under Gruner's belt, but
Gruner doesn't confirm or deny it. He just tells him they need to go - nighttime is approaching.
Some days later, we find Friend sleeping inside the lighthouse, only to be woken up by the
creature licking his burned hand - her saliva has healing properties. Gruner enters the lighthouse
then and tells him he's been sleeping for around two days, Friend even wetted his pants. They go
upstairs and while counting the bullets under their disposal, they talk about the creature.
Gruner can't truly talk to her, just order her around. She's like a dog that will always return
to her master no matter how cruel he is. Friend is amazed by her and watches her while talking about
the theory of isolated sea creatures that evolved in their own way to survive. Gruner doesn't like
this speech, so he interrupts him to take him to the balcony and explain that the creatures hate
light, be artificial or natural. Friend asks him he didn't leave with the boat that brought
him four days ago, and Gruner replies that if civilization is so nice, why did Friend leave it?
He prefers it here, where he's the master of his own destiny. Friend replies that he can stay if he
wants, but he'll shoot a sign for the first boat that comes by. Gruner finds the idea laughable
because they aren't on a commercial route: the lighthouse was only built to divert funds.
Days pass as Friend tries to restart his life for the second time. While checking
out the lighthouse, he puts up a hammock for himself and finds an old diving suit in a chest.
He even starts marking the days on the wall and getting used to interacting in a friendly way with
the creature. When night falls, Gruner tells him to grab his rifle and takes him to the balcony,
where torches have been lighted and the lighthouse's lamp is shining brightly.
Armed from head to toes, Gruner explains to Friend the creatures are coming and how to attack:
it is important to only shoot when they come close, and taking down only a couple of them
is enough because then they'll eat each other. Their own creature is on the balcony above them,
making loud sounds, and Friend wonders if they aren't being attacked because they
want to rescue her. When the monsters finally come, Gruner quickly starts attacking them,
but fear gets the best out of Friend and he steps back inside before passing out.
The next morning, Friend is woken up by a very angry Gruner, who tells him he won't accept any
dead weight living with him no matter how much food and alcohol he brings. He sends him out to
fetch water, and Friend does exactly as asked. But when he returns to the lighthouse, he discovers
Gruner has been sleeping with the creature. Later at night, Gruner gives Friend a last
chance. He takes him out to the balcony again but this time, when the creatures come, he is the one
to step back inside. He closes the door and locks Friend outside, leaving him to defend himself. The
next morning, he opens the door again and finds Friend covered in blood but alive and victorious.
Both men settle on daily routine then. Each day, Friend does menial tasks to earn his stay in the
lighthouse and at night, they defend themselves against creature attacks. Friend remembers why he
came to the island: to find peace in nothingness - but instead, he's found hell. He wonders why
the creatures don't attack every night - in fact, two entire weeks pass without any sight of them.
On his daily searches for wood, he's also started to pick up whale bones for carving.
Friend can't understand how Gruner can attack these creatures so often and sleep with one of
them at the same time, the touch of her cold skin should be unsettling. But he
also finds himself befriending the creature and even naming her: he calls her Aneris.
One night, the two men get so engrossed in a chess game that they forget to turn on the lights.
They're almost overpowered by the creatures when they attack, but they barely manage to
survive by locking themselves in the lighthouse, although Gruner's leg gets hurt in the process.
The next morning, while Aneris heals the wound, Friend points out they won't be able to survive
for much longer since they're running out of ammunition before he leaves for the beach.
There he finds a necklace on the sand and right afterward, he sees a boat in the distance.
He runs inside the lighthouse and comes back with a flare gun in hand,
but Gruner doesn't allow him to shoot him, he says he can protect himself, he has what he wants and
he doesn't want more people on the island. Since he's jumped on Friend to stop him, Aneris comes
and growls at him to make him leave Friend alone. Some days later, Friend overhears how Gruner yells
at and hits Aneris, who suddenly rushes out of the lighthouse. Friend follows her outside and,
after leaving his rifle against a rock, gently approaches her to show her the boat he's carved
out of whale bone. Aneris recognizes the shape and takes him to a hidden spot on the beach where
an abandoned boat lays on the sand. He returns to the lighthouse and tells Gruner about it,
but he already knew: he didn't tell Friend because it would be pointless. If he left on the boat,
he would die of starvation or to a creature attack. When questioned about the boat's origins,
Gruner says it had been used by a Portuguese man that escaped a shipwreck and was killed by the
monsters. That ship was trafficking dynamite, which Gruner believes to be water-logged.
Friend takes him inside and shows him the diving suit he had found, he thinks he can
use it to find the sunk dynamite which could help them exterminate the creatures. Gruner refuses,
believing it to be a mission with no return. The following day, Friend decides to work on
fixing the boat anyway, only getting distracted when he hears Aneris sing in the fountain. Friend
takes off his shirt and joins her in the water, and all this is seen by Gruner, who gets jealous.
Later on, back in the lighthouse, Gruner throws the diving suit at Friend and tells
him he's changed his mind, an obvious plan to get rid of Friend and have Aneris for himself.
They get on the boat and reach the area of the shipwreck. Friend puts on the diving suit and
goes deep underwater, where he finds the boxes of dynamite that he connects to a rope that
Gruner pulls up onto the boat. While working on this, two child creatures swim near him
and knock him to the ground. Slowly running out of air, Friend pulls at the cord three times,
which is the sign that asks for help, but Gruner ignores it on purpose. So Friend
has no other choice but to get out of the diving suit and swim up back onto the boat. Once they're
back in the lighthouse, they open the dynamite boxes: one has been water-logged as suspected,
but the others are fine. They bury them in two lines outside the house, one very near the walls.
Winter arrives, snow starts falling. A week passes without creature attacks. One particular morning,
Friend discovers Gruner had spent the night on the balcony with his hand on the dynamite detonator,
almost freezing himself to death. Friend snaps him out of it and sends it inside,
but before following him, he disconnects the wires from the detonator.
Another three weeks pass without monster attacks. Gruner hits Aneris,
thinking she's warned her friends, and decides they need to set up a trap.
That night, Friend stays by the open door surrounded by lamps and Gruner takes Aneris
up to the balcony to oblige her to sing. When the wind accidentally blows out some of the
lamps by the door, the creatures take the chance to enter the lighthouse and attack. While Friend
makes his way upstairs, shooting them, Gruner tries to detonate the dynamite to no avail.
So he has to defend himself the best he can until Friend gets there to reconnect the wires to the
detonator. When he's done, the lever is pulled and the farthest line of dynamite explodes,
effectively destroying most of the creatures. Excited by this, Gruner pulls the lever again,
going Friend's warnings, and sets the closest line of dynamite off, knocking out both of them.
In the morning, they go out to see the damage. Gruner is finishing off any creature that may
be left alive, but Friend can't bring himself to do it when he discovers a bone necklace on one
of the creatures, a sign of intelligence. Gruner throws the necklace into the water. That night,
the creatures don't come, but the two men hear the sad sounds Aneris is making somewhere down
on the beach. Gruner explains that's how he found her as a baby, crying while trapped in a net,
he also says she always does the same thing: cries a lot but ends up coming back anyway.
Friend thinks she's mourning. The next day, while walking along the beach,
Friend notices two child creatures on the sea. Trying to be friendly, he prepares something
for them: a circle of stones on the sand and the bone boat he carved in the middle.
He returns to the lighthouse then, where Gruner is reloading their rifles with fake bullets just
so they can keep on inspiring fear. Friend ignores him and goes to the balcony where he
uses binoculars to check on his little bone boat - it's still there where he left it.
The following morning, Friend finds that Gruner has drunk himself to sleep and a deck of cards has
fallen to the floor. Inside the card box, he finds the same picture of the woman he had seen in his
cabin, but here she isn't alone, her husband is with her. The words "love, love, love" are also on
the back of this picture. Friend has a realization then: "Gruner" is a fake name and the previous
weatherman hadn't died. Gruner IS the previous weatherman, driven crazy by loss and isolation.
Upset by this discovery, Friend decides to erase the day count he's been keeping on the wall.
Later that day, while walking along the beach, Friend finds the circle of stones empty:
the creatures took the little bone boat. When noticing the child monster in the distance,
Friend leaves the torch he's carrying in the stone circle before backing away with
his hands up, showing he means no harm. The young creature approaches him then,
and soon after, many others also appear, including Aneris, who is looking much more confident.
The kid is about to give the bone boat to Friend, but Gruner interrupts the
sweet moment with a shot of his rifle. Friend tells him to back away because they were wrong,
the creatures are actually friendly. Ignoring him, Gruner orders Aneris to go back to the house,
but she doesn't obey. Gruner becomes very upset when he realizes Aneris won't return to him,
and he runs back to the lighthouse, mumbling things like "nobody leaves Gruner, Gruner leaves".
Friend tries to befriend the creatures again, but the kid falls when a shot from Gruner at
the lighthouse balcony hits him in the chest. All the creatures run back into the water,
including Aneris, who only stays back one more second to share a look with Friend.
Enraged, Friend returns to the lighthouse and attacks Gruner for he's done, but Gruner gains
the upper hand. When he's about to hit him with an axe, Friend uses his real name and tells him
"Aldor Vigeland is not a murderer". Struck by these words, Gruner repeats "love, love,
love" before opening the door and leaving the house, giving himself up to the creatures. Friend
see them attack him and closes the door, knowing by the noises he's lost Gruner and he's now alone.
Time passes, and we see three officers inside the lighthouse trying to awaken Friend, who
is sleeping on Gruner's old bed. They're here to replace Friend with the new weatherman, and they
think Friend is Gruner, but Friend doesn't correct them. In fact, he tells them the weatherman died
of typhus. The officer in charge scolds him for the state of the room and informs him that they
are at war while Friend goes out to the balcony, where he sees a bunch of ships in the distance.
The movie ends with Aneris running along the beach before jumping back into the water.