The Reflecting Skin

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The Reflecting Skin ★★ 1991

In a 1950s prairie town a small boy sees insanity, child-murder, and radiation sickness, leading him to fantasize that the tormented young widow next door is a vampire. The pretentious drama/freak show rationalizes its ghastly events as symbolizing the hero's loss of youthful innocence. But the Hound knows the score; this is “Faces of Death” for the arts crowd, a grotesque menagerie that dares you to watch. The exploding-frog opener is already notorious. Beautiful photography, with vistas inspired by the painting of Andrew Wyeth. 116m/C VHS . GB Viggo Mortensen, Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Cooper, Duncan Fraser, Shiela Moore, David Longworth, Robert Koons, David Bloom, Evan Hall; D: Philip Ridley; W: Philip Ridley; C: Dick Pope; M: Nick Bicat.