Rent Deerskin (2019)

Unexpected horror film - Deerskin review by CW

We are elderly Western film fans. The title of Deer Skin and the jacket image led us to mistake this film for a Western which it definitely isnt. It could be construed as an essay on film making and the filming of horror, but the violence is extreme and we did not watch it to the end. I guess if I had googled the film, I would have been forewarned.

Enjoyable horror-comedy that horror fans should tick off their list - Deerskin review by Tommy

Essentially a film about the film making process. Which is something that can be pretentious and self indulgent. However for this, and particularly for the horror genre, it makes sense. The journey, for want of a better word, Georges goes on is very much like the making of a film. The inspiration, the desire, the problems and the solutions, plus seeing the reality, good and bad. Georges in the story decides to make a film around this jacket so it's not subtle but is a well made film with a taut script. Naturally not everyone's cup of tea. Like the jacket.

The plot and for the character, Georges is having a midlife crisis. He seems happy and passionate about a deerskin jacket but their may be more to it. Or is the jacket genuinely possessed. This jacket takes over this seemingly crazy guy who spends too much on something that doesn't really go with anything. No one could look good in it. With the jacket he gets a camera which gives him the inspiration of filming himself in the fringe piece of deerskin.

This is a film for you to interpret what it's about but crucially this is unsentimental and made without pretension. It's a fun horror with a light touch of humour. This shows the ridiculous of mostly men who buy random eccentric things they don't need, normally that are expensive. Georges makes strange self destructive decisions along the way. Decisions that escalate like his ensemble - he finds other deerskin clothing, making a whole bloody outfit. He thinks he looks great, the fool. Adele Haenel is Denise who becomes his editor, played with understated charm and determination.

This is pretty daring by the director Dupieux and Dujardin as Georges. What stands out is how this is absurdist and slasher horror, with enough gore to put it along side any other, could easily have been even more out there. "Deerskin" is a tight film in run time and in it's script. It's superbly handled by Dupieux and i'd recommend watching this after Peter Strickland's "In Fabric". There are other similar films but In Fabric is a 2018 film and comes to mind straight away, both could make a decent double feature.