Exclusive ‘Knives and Skin’ Trailer Reveals the Neon-Soaked Semi-Musical Noir You Didn’t Know You Needed

You’ve never seen a small-town mystery movie quite like this one. The buzzy festival hit Knives and Skin finally has a trailer so you can get a glimpse at the beautiful, bonkers movie. Of all the films I”ve been lucky enough to catch at the festival circuit in 2019, Knives and Skin is without a doubt the hardest to describe. But I’ll try. It’s the avant-garde, sing-a-long, John Waters-meets-David Lynch, fashion-forward, queer teen neon-noir you didn’t know you needed. It’s a one-of-a-kind film, I absolutely adore it, and I’m thrilled to have collider bring y’all the exclusive trailer debut.

Knives and Skin comes from writer/director Jennifer Reeder, who brings a strong, singular vision to the oddball tale of a small town torn apart in the wake of a teenage girl’s disappearance. When Carolyn Harper (Raven Whitley) goes missing, her entire Midwestern town absolutely loses it in their individual, oh-so-unique ways. Gorgeously shot with wicked, wry wit, Knives and Skin is a wild, sometimes confounding movie that’s also somehow a crowd-pleaser. It’s a favorite of the year.

The film also stars Marika Engelhardt, Audrey Francis, Tim Hopper, and Kate Arrington, FC Midnight will release Knives and Skin in theaters and available on VOD and Digital HD on December 6, 2019.

Here’s the official synopsis for Knives and Skin, followed by the theatrical poster debut.

What happened to Carolyn Harper? Part suburban nightmare, part neon-soaked teenage fever dream, this tantalizing mystery traces the wave of fear and distrust that spreads across a small Midwestern town in the wake of a high school girl’s mysterious disappearance. As the loneliness and darkness lurking beneath the veneer of everyday life gradually comes to light, a collective awakening seems to overcome the town’s teenage girls—gathering in force until it can no longer be contained. Unfolding in a hallucinatory haze of lushly surreal images, Knives and Skin is a one-of-a-kind coming-of-age noir that haunts like a half-remembered dream.

For more on Knives and Skin, be sure to listen to our live-recorded North Bend Film Festival episode of The Witching Hour with director Jennifer Reeder.