Feature Film / 80 min / USA, 2019
“Marks its writer/director as a talent to watch.”
— Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
“Intriguing, surprising and provocative … an example of visibility done right.”
— John Paul King, Los Angeles Blade
THE SKIN OF THE TEETH is a psychological thriller about a date gone horribly wrong. When Josef arrives at John’s apartment for dinner, things slowly move from awkward to flirtatious. But after Josef takes a pill, the evening takes a strange and sinister turn, and Josef is launched into a surreal interrogation of everything he thinks he is.
Shot entirely in only two locations under two weeks, The Skin of the Teeth is a testament to the power of innovative low-budget filmmaking. The film premiered at Newfest and Outfest to acclaim as part of a wave of “new thrillers are centering queer sex and desire in a way seldom seen before.”
“Matthew Wollin’s first feature might be a shoestring indie with only two settings — a bachelor pad and a police station interrogation room — and a single camera set-up, but it keeps us enraptured until the very end.”
— Sarah Fonseca, them
“This is what you can do with a tiny budget when you have talent. A mad and [somewhat] macabre imagination has been let loose in the feature debut by Matthew Wollin...long may it continue!”
— Anderson Cutler, CGiii
“Hilarious and oddly brilliant … showing you really don’t need a massive budget to make something incredible.”
— Andrew Eltham-Byers, Grue Monkey
“A low-budget, high-style conjuring of David Lynch that pulsates with a genuine air of the unexpected … exquisitely, yet simply, shot, giving it Hitchcock-level gravitas on a minuscule budget.”
— Matthew Rettenmund, Boy Culture
“This quirky thriller maintains a clever mix of wit and creepiness … watching this dreamlike nuttiness unfold is mesmerizing.”
— Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
“If David Lynch directed an episode of Law & Order: SVU you could imagine it turning out like The Skin of the Teeth … hypnotic and unsettling … It's worth losing yourself in - you'll definitely find it keeps a little piece if you when you, if you, make it back.”
— Jason Adams, My New Plaid Pants
Written & Directed by Matthew Wollin / Produced by Matthew Wollin & Amanda Hammett / Director of Photography & Editor: Dennis Robert Thomas
Starring Pascal Arquimedes, Donal Brophy, Chuja Seo, Tom Rizzuto, Kathryn Shasha, David Cruz, Chris Raffaele, Greg Barker