Perfect Skin review: Richard Brake gives the performance of his life in this atmospheric and oddly charming tale of artistic obsession.
Perfect Skin review by Kat Hughes.
Perfect Skin Review
In Perfect Skin, directed by Kevin Chicken, genre actor Richard Brake plays Bob Reid, an American tattoo artist living in London with a reverence for his craft. Bob has a secret desire to leave his mark on the world and, soon after meeting young Polish woman Katia (Natalia Kostrzewa), believes he has found the perfect canvas. Cue kidnapping and carnage.
Opening with a beautiful credit sequence, set to some excellent dance beats, Perfect Skin instantly captures the attention. Those beats are provided by The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett so you know already that the score to this film is going to be pretty amazing. The true star of Perfect Skin though is the acting, with Richard Brake especially strong.
Richard Brake is one of those rare actors that you can put into practically any film and he’ll excel. Best suited to films of a darker nature, with Perfect Skin Brake gives one of the best performances of his career. Despite how it may sound, Bob isn’t your typical horror villain. There is a reason, a particularly tragic one, for Bob’s bad behaviour. Brake manages to make him completely human and, despite the questionable choices, he elicits empathy from the audience. Vastly different from his previous standout role of Doom-Head in Rob Zombie’s 31, Brake’s turn here is simply superb.
Perfect Skin Review
First-time director Kevin Chicken compliments Brake’s performance with an inspired amount of atmosphere and tension. From the outset there’s a great level of unease to everything. Even in scenes where it’s just Katia living her pre-Bob life, there’s always that feeling that at any moment things are going to go wrong. When they do, it’s in the most brilliant way. One could easily think from reading the premise that this is yet another torture porn film to play at Frightfest, but you would be mistaken. Granted there are elements of torture, Bob taking ownership of Katia’s very flesh in the name of art, but her treatment is never overtly cruel. There’s a method to the madness and once you get on-board you fully understand and appreciate where Chicken is coming from.
Setting the story within the world of tattooing adds a compelling element of grungy alternative atmosphere to proceedings, backed up by the aesthetics of our lead players. Fortunately, there’s not a chav in sight for the duration as it champions underground fashions and activities.
With Perfect Skin, first-time director Kevin Chicken has crafted a thing of true beauty, complimented perfectly by Richard Brake at his absolute best.
Perfect Skin review by Kat Hughes.
Perfect Skin screened at Arrow Video Frightfest 2018.
