Under the Skin just arrived on Netflix, bringing Jonathan Glazer’s unsettling sci-fi drama to a wider audience. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as an extraterrestrial being disguised as a human, hunting lonely men across the Scottish landscape in one of the most visually haunting films of the past two decades.
Key Takeaways
- Under the Skin stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien predator disguised as human
- Director Jonathan Glazer also helmed Oscar-nominated The Zone of Interest
- The film uses hidden-camera footage and Scottish locations for authentic, grounded atmosphere
- Ranked among the best films of the 21st century by critics
- Now streaming on Netflix as of May 8-10, 2026 weekend
Why Under the Skin Stands Apart from Typical Sci-Fi
Under the Skin defies conventional narrative structure. Unlike most science-fiction films that explain their premise clearly, Glazer’s film forces viewers to piece together meaning from fragmented scenes, mysterious visuals, and Johansson’s deliberately enigmatic performance. The story follows an extraterrestrial entity driving through Scotland, luring vulnerable men into her vehicle under false pretenses. What happens next remains deliberately ambiguous, leaving audiences to grapple with the film’s unsettling implications rather than providing easy answers.
The film’s visual language is its greatest strength. Glazer employs hidden-camera footage filmed on actual Scottish streets, creating an uncanny tension between the mundane and the alien. This grounded approach makes the science-fiction premise feel disturbingly plausible. The cinematography is visually marvellous yet deeply unnerving, crafting an atmosphere more chilling than most films marketed as horror. Johansson’s performance anchors this strangeness—she moves through the world with an immaculate precision that suggests something fundamentally inhuman wearing a human mask.
Adam Pearson, known for his role in A Different Man, appears alongside Johansson in a scene that shifts the film’s perspective in unexpected ways. His casting adds another layer of intrigue to a narrative already dense with subtext and hidden meaning.
How Under the Skin Compares to Other Recent Netflix Additions
Netflix’s May 8-10 weekend slate includes feel-good drama Remarkably Bright Creatures, a film designed to warm the heart and deliver comfort. Under the Skin exists at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum. Where Remarkably Bright Creatures embraces sentimentality and hope, Under the Skin alienates and unsettles. It’s a film that demands patience, rewards repeated viewing, and refuses to provide the cathartic emotional release audiences typically expect from streaming entertainment.
The contrast highlights Netflix’s attempt to balance crowd-pleasing content with challenging cinema. Under the Skin ranked at number 17 on Tom’s Guide’s list of the best A24 films, a distinction that reflects both its artistic merit and its niche appeal. A24, the distributor behind the film, has built a reputation for championing unconventional cinema—and Under the Skin exemplifies why that reputation matters. The studio’s willingness to greenlight and distribute such an uncompromising vision is rare in mainstream cinema.
Jonathan Glazer’s Vision and Career Trajectory
Director Jonathan Glazer has spent his career pursuing bold, visually distinctive projects. Before Under the Skin, he had already established himself as a filmmaker unafraid of abstraction and ambiguity. His more recent work, The Zone of Interest, earned an Oscar nomination and demonstrated his continued commitment to challenging audiences with difficult subject matter presented through unconventional cinematic language. Under the Skin, made over a decade earlier, shows Glazer in full command of his artistic vision—a filmmaker willing to trust viewers to find meaning in silence, in gesture, in the spaces between dialogue.
The film’s appearance on Netflix represents a significant moment for streaming platforms. For years, Netflix has been criticized for favoring accessible, easily digestible content. Adding Under the Skin signals a willingness to curate challenging, critically acclaimed cinema alongside mainstream fare. This is a film that will not appeal to everyone—and that’s precisely the point.
Is Under the Skin worth watching?
If you approach Under the Skin expecting conventional narrative satisfaction, you will be disappointed. If you seek a visually stunning, intellectually demanding film that lingers long after the credits roll, this is essential viewing. The film rewards active engagement and tolerates ambiguity in ways most streaming content does not. Fair warning: it’s bleak, slow-paced, and deliberately enigmatic.
Where else can you watch Under the Skin?
Under the Skin is available on Max in addition to Netflix. The film’s presence across multiple platforms ensures accessibility for viewers with different streaming subscriptions, though Netflix’s May arrival makes it the most immediately relevant destination for new audiences discovering the film.
What makes Scarlett Johansson’s performance so effective in the film?
Johansson’s brilliance lies in her refusal to make the character sympathetic or relatable. She moves through scenes with mechanical precision, her dialogue sparse and often naturalistic—drawn from conversations with real people on Scottish streets. This restraint creates profound unease. We are watching an intelligence fundamentally alien attempting to mimic humanity, and the gaps between her performance and authentic human behavior become the film’s central tension. It’s a role that demands subtlety rather than theatrical display.
Under the Skin is now streaming on Netflix. It’s a film that refuses easy answers, demands intellectual engagement, and rewards viewers willing to sit with discomfort and ambiguity. In an era of algorithmic recommendations and content designed to maximize completion rates, Glazer’s masterpiece stands as a reminder that cinema can still challenge, unsettle, and fascinate without sacrificing artistic integrity.
Edited by the All Things Geek team.
Source: Tom's Guide
