WINTERSKIN [2018]

 THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE SNOW . . .   

You've gotta love Charlie Steeds.  Ok, maybe you don't.  He does make a lot of crappy films.  However, once in a while he makes a good one.  THE BARGE PEOPLE was one - - WINTERSKIN is another.  Set in a snowbound isolated cabin, this here's got some tension and a nice creepy atmosphere.  Billy Cavanaugh and his father are tracking through the snowy forest hunting deer.  Billy sees something in the distance and breaks away from Dad to go investigate.  Turns out it's what looks like an old abandoned cabin.  Just as he approaches, Billy gets shot in the leg and blacks out.  He wakes up to find himself inside the cabin of Old Agnes who accidentally shot him because she thought he was one of 'them'.  Seems like her cabin is being besieged by what she calls "the red men"; terrifying skinless monsters that leave red bloody footprints in the snow.  Agnes tends to Billy's wounded leg and tells him they've got to stick together and protect each other from these red horrors which seem determined to break in.  

Not quite a two-hander (if you count Agnes' dog King and other characters which appear throughout the film) but about 75% of the film is carried by David Lenik as Billy and Rowena Bentley as Agnes taking place inside the cabin set.  This gives a nice sense of claustrophobia and, what with all the crazy stuff that happens (which I ain't tellin' you about), the suspense and tension is actually quite nicely ramped up.  I've seen some talk about bad acting which I don't think is true for our two leads; Lenik is quite fine as Billy and Bentley is marvelously OTT as dotty ole Agnes. Both leads are British and do occasionally let their American accents slip during particularly strenuous scenes but all in all they do a great job. 

Also in the cast is future horror movie legend and Steeds regular Barrington De La Roche as Old Thin Ruth (yep, you read that right and no, he's not in drag) as the guy Billy's father enlists to help him organize a search party for his son Billy.  De La Roche has a face made for horror movie icon status and Charlie Steeds uses him every chance he gets.  Here, Barrington is on the side of the angels for once.  The blood and gore is quite well done and the appearance of "The Red Man" is also terrific.  Besides all this, there's an actor who plays a character named Chuck who has the best name I've ever seen in the credits of any movie EVER:  Swainley Whipps Eden-Entwhistle!!!  I think that him in that picture up there along with our buddy Barrington on the right. 

The film also has a pretty good script and quite a few twists and turns which will keep you guessing exactly what the hell is going on.  The film opens with a prologue involving the Carver family being attacked by "The Red Man" and just when you think they're not gonna 'go there', they GO THERE!  This nicely places the Red Man in the viewer's mind as a real, dangerous threat not to be taken lightly.  Along with THE BARGE PEOPLE, I think WINTERSKIN is probably Charlie Steeds' strongest film (that I've seen, anyway . . . . and I've seen a few).