Saturday is Horror Day #198 - In Her Skin

 In Her Skin

Rachel Barber (Kate Bell) is young and pretty and very well-liked by everyone. Lovely and slender, her passion is dancing, and she takes classes at a local school. Her parents, Michael (Guy Pearce) and Elizabeth (Miranda Otto) adore her. But one day, Rachel does not get off the tram, where her father is waiting to pick her up, and life will never be the same for the Barbers.

Realizing immediately that something is not right, the family contacts the police, but they are dismissive of their concerns, and claim that it hasn't been long enough to be considered missing. That she has probably run away. Rachel's boyfriend Manni (Khan Chittenden) says he hasn't seen her, and neither have her friends. Rachel is too dependable to simply have gone somewhere without letting someone know. But then Manni confesses that Rachel told him she was going to a job that night, one that paid a lot of money but was vey secretive, and that's all he knows. The Barbers are naturally concerned what that might mean.

In Her Skin is based on a true story that took place in Australia in 1999. The stars in the cast are rounded out by Sam Neill, who plays the father of a girl who once babysat for the family, Caroline Reid Robertson, played by Ruth Bradley. The acting is top notch, not surprisingly with such a cast, and the concern for their daughter is palpable. Anyone who has children can relate to how hopeless they must have felt, wondering where their daughter was. As we discover the identity of the killer and watch her own descent into madness, it's difficult to empathize with her, despite her difficult childhood and her feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing. At the end of the day, a young life was taken for no good reason. This is a story that will haunt you afterwards. The seeming indifference of the police is indeed maddening. I would have felt frustrated too.

I think this film is underrated and worth a watch. Just be aware that it is a difficult subject and does not have a happy ending. I'll give this film 4 Stars.