Writer and director Jennifer Reeder is a filmmaker who has appeared in this column before. Back in February 2024, I wrote about her film Perpetrator and how it brilliantly turned empathy into a superpower. This time, we’re taking a look at one of her earlier films, Knives and Skin. Released in 2019, Knives and Skin is a thrilling drama with Reeder’s signature surrealistic flare. It highlights how one event impacts the citizens of a small town, especially three young women still figuring out who they are.
As the film begins, the audience is introduced to Carolyn Harper (Raven Whitley), a seemingly soft-spoken band geek. She sneaks off after the school football game to have a secret rendezvous with popular football player, Andy (Ty Olwin). Despite how she first seems, Carolyn is surprisingly assertive during her encounter with Andy. She is in control and not afraid to say what she wants, or doesn’t want. She even cuts a “C” into Andy’s forehead with her nail, essentially branding him, claiming it’s so she can find him in the dark.
At first things seem to be going fine, if not a bit awkwardly. Then, Carolyn changes her mind and no longer wants to be intimate with Andy. He reacts how you might expect a high school jock to react. He leaves Carolyn alone, in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, without her glasses to see. She even falls and badly injures her head before he pulls away, but that doesn’t stop Andy from leaving her behind. Carolyn dies there, alone in the dirt with no one to help or comfort her.
Carolyn’s mother, Lisa (Marika Engelhardt), reports her daughter missing the next day. Naturally, Andy never comes forward about what happened. As the days go by and the search for Carolyn continues, her disappearance creates a ripple effect throughout the community. It forces everyone in the town to take a hard look at their lives. While the film invites the audience into the town’s pain, Knives and Skin focuses on three teenage girls: Laurel (Kayla Carter), Joanna (J.G. Smith), and Charlotte (Ireon Roach). These young women are all quite different and do not run in the same circles, but were previously much closer. Before high school, Carolyn, Laurel, Joanna, and Charlotte were best friends. The aftermath of Carolyn’s disappearance forces her three former friends to confront their past, present, and future.
Of the three high school students, Laurel undergoes the biggest transformation. At first, Laurel seems to be a very typical high school cheerleader. She’s popular, kind of a bitch, and dates Andy. Despite all this, the cracks begin to show almost immediately. The first time Laurel and Andy are shown making out in his car, Laurel pulls away. She even tells Andy she doesn’t like when he touches her. This is the first sign her outward persona might not match how she feels on the inside.
It only escalates from there. Soon, it becomes clear Laurel really has her eyes on a different jock at school, Colleen (Emma Ladji). What begins as longing glances and simple flirtation quickly turns into something more. The filmmakers soon create a bizarre, yet strangely romantic, way for the two young women to continue their affair in secret. Each day, they put a small object inside themselves (yes, inside themselves) and sneak into the bathroom stalls at school to exchange those items. These things range from folded pieces of paper to porcelain figures (and sometimes more). It culminates in Laurel confronting Andy, repeatedly saying, “you treat girls like shit,” before dumping him to finally be with Colleen.
Joanna, who happens to be Andy’s sister, is someone who starts out already fairly sure of herself. She’s very matter-of-fact, says what’s on her mind, and seems to have taken on the role of parent in her household. Joanna also has quite the enterprising spirit. Helping her family make ends meet, and saving money to get out of her small town, Joanna sells items under the table. She wants to leave her home behind, perhaps go to school at Sarah Lawrence, and begin a new life. Along her journey, Joanna is pursued by the hot new substitute teacher, Aaron (Alex Moss). She even agrees to meet up with him one night, thinking maybe this is a step toward adulthood and freedom, but quickly realizes it isn’t and leaves. Yet, that doesn’t stop Aaron from sending unwanted texts and photos.
Joanna’s journey might not be quite as dramatic as the other girls, but she still learns a valuable lesson. At first, she keeps her interactions with unsavory men a secret. By the end of the film, she realizes the real power is in her having proof of who these men really are, which she can use against them at any point in time. It’s a far more lucrative business that will surely be her ticket out of there.
Last, but certainly not least, we have Charlotte. Charlotte is a bit different than the other teens because she is the only one who still has a relationship with Carolyn – they’re in a band together. Charlotte is the definition of counterculture. She’s very artistic and expresses herself through unique hair, makeup, and clothing. Despite all this, Charlotte still has a crush on a popular football player she tutors, Jason (Jalen Gilbert). Throughout the film, it’s clear these two have an attraction, yet everyone around them is against the match. Charlotte ends up being bullied on both sides – the other jocks bully her for being “weird,” and her best friends bully her for doing or saying anything too “normal.” She even feels like she can’t wear her favorite color, pink, because her friends will judge her for not being edgy enough. It isn’t until the end of the film that Charlotte finally realizes she has the confidence to truly be herself, showing up to Homecoming with a pink dress and dancing with Jason.
Whether it be finding their confidence, finding their power, or finding their sexuality, all three of these young women owe their self-discovery to Carolyn. In fact, the more surreal and whimsical elements of Knives and Skin seem to imply Carolyn was helping her old friends from beyond the grave. Not long after Carolyn’s death, the body mysteriously moves to a more hidden spot. In fact, the body moves a few times to avoid being found. Even as a corpse, she watches her friends, trying to help them reach their full potential. Once the time is right, her body is back in a place where it’s easily discovered so Carolyn’s friends and family can finally grieve.
At one point, Charlotte, Laurel, and Joanna all receive a text from Carolyn that reads “girls just wanna have fun.” This same phrase comes up soon after. During the volunteer search party for Carolyn, everyone is told a list of code phrases for various situations. “Girls just wanna have fun” is the phrase to shout if you need help. After Carolyn’s body is finally discovered, the phrase pops up again. The three friends go to visit Carolyn’s mom, and as they sit with her, they sing Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” This moment feels like they’re admitting they needed help, as well as trying to help Carolyn’s mom at a time when she clearly needs it.
Reeder’s decision to use what is generally known as an upbeat, joyous, and even frivolous song in such a way is rather brilliant. It acknowledges the friends really do want to have fun, lighthearted lives. Yet they are drowning in their rural town, weighed down by societal expectations, gender roles, and predatory men. Carolyn became a victim of that small town trap, but she made sure her old friends escaped.
Between Knives and Skin and Perpetrator, it's clear Reeder is a powerful storyteller. Knives and Skin is a strange, thought-provoking film. It takes the audience on a dark, fantastical journey grounded in real-life issues. While Carolyn’s journey was sadly cut short, the film still highlights three compelling, complicated young women on very different Uterus Horror journeys.
Whether it’s finding your sexuality, confidence, or power, becoming a woman is often a complex process. This is even more true for young women growing up in rural areas where views are old-fashioned and it’s difficult to escape. Thanks to Carolyn’s sacrifice, she made sure Joanna, Charlotte, and Laurel found their true selves. All three teens go on vastly different journeys, learning very different things about themselves, allowing more viewers to find a storyline they can really relate to. Through it all, each individual journey was only made possible with the sisterhood of four friends. It’s a reminder the best way for girls to really have fun is to rely on each other and lift each other up.
About this series: in a genre typically considered “for the guys,” it’s time to give a nod to the ladies. Uterus Horror is a subgenre of horror films that focuses on the uniquely female experience of puberty and the act of coming into your sexuality, using horror elements to emphasize and/or act as a metaphor for that experience. These films are often ignored in theaters but quickly develop cult followings. Columnist Molly Henery, who named and defined the subgenre, tackles a new film each month and analyzes how it fits into this bloody new corner of horror.
