Mico Montes’ directorial debut Bare Skin sets itself up with a psychologically intriguing premise: a group of people carrying severe trauma are invited to a closed therapy session, promised safety, anonymity, and healing. Phones are confiscated, identities are softened, and participants are encouraged to work together. But as each story unfolds, it becomes clear their pain may not be random – an unnerving thread seems to connect them all.
The film gathers an intentionally eclectic group: a man quietly pocketing complimentary snacks, a mute participant who communicates through handwritten notes, a reserved white man, a mysterious girl with a single braid, an obsessively clean and equally enigmatic man, and a therapist whose slow, overly serene voice guides the session with long, elaborate visualisation exercises. On paper, it’s a strong chamber-piece setup – limited space, character-driven tension, buried secrets. In execution, though, much of the dialogue feels overly constructed. Instead of natural conversation, exchanges often sound staged and theatrical, which undercuts the emotional realism the story depends on.
A notable exception is Ariana Livingston as Claire. Her performance lands with genuine emotional weight, and her portrayal of trauma feels grounded and believable. In a film that sometimes struggles with tonal authenticity, she provides one of its few consistently compelling anchors.
The most controversial element comes in a brutal sexual assault sequence involving a masked, BDSM-coded female figure attacking a male victim. While it subverts the more commonly depicted gender dynamic, the scene is still extremely distressing and graphic in impact. Rather than deepening the psychological horror, it feels included for shock value, and the narrative doesn’t fully justify its presence. That said, the visual of this gimp-styled antagonist is unusual for the genre and does stand out as imagery not often explored in horror, even if it echoes aesthetics reminiscent of American Horror Story.
Stylistically and structurally, Bare Skin often feels closer to a low-budget streaming series or an extended YouTube production than a feature film. With a runtime of 2 hours and 20 minutes, pacing becomes a major issue. The confined setting and heavy dialogue demand tight writing and escalating tension, but instead the film drifts, leading to stretches that feel slow and repetitive rather than suspenseful.
Ultimately, Bare Skin has the bones of an effective psychological horror – a strong central concept, a contained setting, and a standout performance from Ariana Livingston – but uneven writing, overlong runtime, and reliance on shock over substance keep it from fully delivering on its promise.
★★
On UK digital from February 23rd / Rachel Alig, Torrey B Lawrence, Ariana Livingston, Ryan Wayne, Gabrielle Salinger/ Dir: Mico Montes / Miracle Media / TBC
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