You have to dig a little deeper to find the horror in this movie but for a certain subset of viewers, it might be enough. Robert (Antonio Banderas) is a brilliant surgeon working on a prototype replacement for human skin that is impervious to insects (say goodbye to malaria and Lyme's disease) and burns. Of course, The Man calls his breakthroughs a dangerous overreach and breach of bioethics. But the woman who looks uncannily like his dead wife (Elena Anaya) he has locked in a room in his house is totally going to show all those people. As soon as she gives up trying to kill herself.
Trust me when I tell you, that's not even the horror part. You think "oh, kidnapped girl with dead wife's face, that's pretty horrific" but it gets much weirder.
Banderas is phenomenal here and I think it's because he's not just phoning it in like he has been for the last ten of his roles in American films. Anaya has that feminine fragility that so many people seem to respond to, though I personally find it a little cloying. The small cast does wonders for focusing the drama, however, and both actors are more than capable of shouldering the load.
To avoid spoilers, I'm not going to try and unpack the third act twist, though it should hopefully spark discussion amongst yourselves. Let's just say you could probably have a whole college class on examining the intersections of gender roles, sexuality, trauma, and identity presented in this film. As a warning, there are a couple of rape scenes. Neither is especially graphic but still, definitely rape.
Pumpkin rating: 4.3/5
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