Dark, grizzly thriller

The crisis in foreign film distribution in the UK means that we rarely get to see the kind of genre movies that comprise the bulk of European mainstream cinema.

Robert Schwentke's grisly thriller might not win any prizes for artistic achievement, but its play on Seven and Silence of the Lambs offers a genuine frisson of fear and dark chills.

Two cops - one a grizzled veteran, the other a former drug addict press-ganged into the force - attempt to track down the culprit responsible for an illicit trade in tattooed skins flayed from living victims.

A seriously unsettling atmosphere and good interplay between the partners keeps things lively and the image of a woman in a white dress standing in a downpour which gradually reveals what lies beneath is a small but undeniable coup de cinema.

Tattoo
Cert: cert18