Review of Under the Skin by Michel Faber

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

Gender swap of the typical hitchhiker’s abduction fear response.
Uncouth otherworldly behavior.
Dehumanization, objectification, it’s all about perspective.
What is human?
What monsters lurk beneath our fleshy exteriors?
Two is a crowd. Who would search for you if you got into the wrong car? Anyone?
This narration may get under your skin. – where we are ‘all the same’
Do you look forward to car-ride conversations, or are they all skin-deep?
The Scottish countryside is ripe ground for seething horror.
The film trades character interaction & backstory for chilling atmosphere.
The novel is also blustery. Plenty of tense air and white knuckled heavy breathing.
Were you ever riding in a car with a stranger, say a Lyft driver for instance, and you began to serious doubt whether than person was human?
Hitchhiking was probably always a bad idea. Nowadays it is just insane.
Do we need slasher flicks to teach us how to behave?
Instead of providing a landslide of worldbuilding, the most you’ll get are breadcrumbs.
But the enticing flavor of those crumbs will stoke the inner flames of intrigue, providing a seldom definable thrill of unearthly heebie-jeebies.
I’m always on board for non-human viewpoints.
Strap in for a serious case of the niggling fantods.