Quebec_Dragon La peau blanche, "The White Skin" is adapted from a dark fantastical (not fantasy) novel by Joel Champetier, a Quebecois writer. Two roommates pick up prostitutes in a bar, one of them being a pale skinned redhead and once in their respective rooms, one of the friends gets savagely attacked by the redhead. Months afterwards, the other friend starts becoming strangely fascinated with a red-haired female musician even though he suffers from a long-time phobia of redheads.This is a low-budget fantastical horror thriller (less than a million dollars) that relies more on story and characters than on special effects to get the viewer involved. I found the story engrossing and well told as the mystery progressively unfolds. The friendship of the roommates was credible and made them likable. I watched it in the original french so cannot comment on the English dubbing but the french dialogues sounded very true and good for modern Quebecois people. If you have stereotypes about Quebec and want to see an accurate and well-shot representation of urban Montreal in winter, rent this film. If there's one thing I found lacking, it was the chemistry between the roommate and the redhead musician. Their relationship is supposed to be not quite right, kinda weird, so it succeeds there but the fascination and "romantic" elements didn't come off strong enough. I would tend to put the blame on the actress playing the redhead musician. Emotionally-wise, especially the expression in her eyes, she was unfortunately lacking even when she wasn't supposed to be cold and distant.It's a slow build-up after the initial attack but I didn't find it boring in the least. This is a quality dramatic thriller that's more intimate and mysterious than flashy and horrific (although there are a few shocking moments). It shows you don't need a huge budget to make a good genre film provided you have good writing and a talented director. Having read the book previously, I would even say that the adaptation doesn't pale compared to the book and even that the ending of the film is better.Rating: 6 out of 10

Woodyanders Nice guy college student Thierry Richard (a solid and engaging performance by Marc Paquet) meets and immediately falls in love with mysterious, yet bewitching redhead Claire (superbly played by the lovely Marianne Farley). Despite his aversion to redheads, Thierry just can't resist Claire. However, Thierry finds himself in considerable jeopardy when he encounters Claire's oddball mother and sisters, who share a very dark and disturbing family secret. Thierry's loyal, happy-go-lucky best friend and apartment roommate Henri Dieudonne (a marvelously hearty and likable portrayal by Frederic Pierre) tries to save Thiery before it's too late. Director Daniel Roby, who also co-wrote the smart and inspired script with Joel Champetier, grounds the compelling story in a thoroughly believable everyday world which in turn makes the more horrific elements of the plot that much more chilling and upsetting. Moreover, Roby brings an intriguing air of mystery to the picture and nicely maintains a spooky tone throughout (the bleak wintry Canadian locations go a long way to enhance the overall eerie and unsettling mood). Kudos are also in order for the uniformly fine acting by the capable cast: Richard, Farley and Pierre all do sterling work in their roles while Jessica Malka likewise excels as Claire's crazed and vicious bitchy whore sister Marquise. Eric Cayla's bright, crisp cinematography and the funky, rattling score by Rene Dupere and Martin Lord are both up to speed. Best of all, there's even a potent and poignant central message about how far one is willing to go for love and a refreshing absence of any dumb obtrusive humor to diminish the severity of the horror. This movie offers proof positive that you don't need a lot of fancy special effects, excessive gore, or flashy film-making to create a strong and effective fright feature. Well worth checking out.

JoeHorror Though some may present this as a "chips & beer" type film, La Peau Blanche (USA DVD RETITLE: Cannibal) is certainly not the kind of film one might bring to a friend's home.The film touches on race, heredity, evolution and love. This was an interesting film though it did tend to jump up on a soapbox on occasion which ended up giving the film a 1st draft, film school student feel.The acting was decent but the dialogue was stiff at times.This is art-house horror at its best and worst. If you're in the U.S., don't let the retitling and silly DVD cover fool you. Lionsgate loves to play with titles and covers (i.e. Romasanta).Fans of films like Nekromantik & The Addiction may find this film to their liking.

DICK STEEL The title of this film doesn't give you a clue as to what it wants to tell. "White Skin" opens with a conversation between two friends, Thierry and Henri (yeah, those of you who know me will know that I am grinning at this - Arsenal's star player is called Thierry Henry, but no, it doesn't make any inference here), they're talking about being coloured (Henri is black, Theirry is white), and touch on racism.This film doesn't pretend that it's not preaching about this topic, but at times when they talk about it, you can't seem to help but think the filmmakers are trying, though without success, to deliver some kind of message across. Peppered throughout the show are conversations that touch upon skin colour, race, "The Original Man", etc.But looking at the theatrical poster, one might be fooled into thinking it's an out and out horror film about new vampires. It isn't.For those who dove head-on into this film, it'll be kinda confusing at first, as the narrative at times doesn't seem to lead anywhere. The first 5 minutes shows the chums engaging with hookers, and all hell breaks loose when Henri is stabbed with a knife by one of the prostitutes. It is also within this 5 minutes that we learn of Thierry's dislike for brunettes (again, not that it is a major plot point or adds to the narrative). However, he finds himself being drawn towards a brunette called Claire in his University, whom he fist laid eyes on when she was busking at the underground metro.They become bed buddies, and although Thierry wants more than sex in a relationship, Claire seemed to be satisfied with the state of things - kind of a role reversal here. She's hiding something from him, and it's not until the last third of the film that we realize what it is, and it's not cancer as originally thought. Sticking to my concept of reviewing, I shall not dwell into the plot from this point on, as it'll lead to major spoilers.This show positions itself more as a thriller and not your outright horror show with ugly monsters, musical crescendos, loud bangs at right moments and blood splattering all over. We are left with wondering what the big secret is, but the slow pace of the film makes it quite a stretch in a theatre seat. Many subplots go undeveloped, or gets lagged as a red herring. Things go full circle when the chums get figuratively haunted by the prostitute who stabbed Henri.This is recommended for one of those lazy weekends when you really got nothing else better to do. So set your expectations right, and don't expect too many memorable scenes from this movie, though it is compensated by a relatively good looking cast.