Under the Skin

If you liked this

Arrival2016

Denis Villeneuve's alien-contact film shares Under the Skin's hush and dread, using sound and structure instead of exposition to make first contact feel genuinely strange, anchored by Amy Adams doing more with silence than most actors do with dialogue.

But Its emotional payoff is warmer and more conventional than anything Glazer would allow — this one wants to move you, not unsettle you.

Ex Machina2015

Alex Garland's chamber piece flips the gender dynamic — a woman-shaped intelligence studying a man who thinks he's in control — with the same cool, clinical eye on what a body can be used for.

But It's talkier and more plotted, building to a twist ending that Under the Skin would consider beneath it.

Annihilation2018

Garland again, this time genuinely alien — a shimmering zone that rewrites bodies from the inside, scored with the same dread-drone aesthetic and just as uninterested in explaining itself.

But More action and monster-movie machinery than Glazer's stillness; the ending swings for awe rather than unease.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Under the Skin

Cast

• 
  Scarlett Johansson
• 
  Jeremy McWilliams
• 
  Lynsey Taylor Mackay
• D
  Dougie McConnell
• K
  Kevin McAlinden
• D
  D. Meade
• A
  Andrew Gorman
• J
  Joe Szula
• 
  Kryštof Hádek
• R
  Roy Armstrong
• A
  Alison Chand
• B
  Ben Mills

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