Beneath the Skin (film)

Beneath the Skin
Directed by	Cecelia Condit
Written by	Cecelia Condit
Starring	Jill Sands Jennifer Dunegan Marian Condit Mary Jo Toles Stephen Vogel Robert Biederman Lisa Kohn Judith Allston
Music by	Karen Skladany, Alice Malloy
Release date	1981 (1981)
Running time	11:30
Country	United States
Language	English

Beneath the Skin is a 1981 short film created by Cecelia Condit. It follows a woman's thoughts and musings towards a recent incident in which she discovered that her boyfriend was hiding the body of his ex-girlfriend in his closet.

Background

Beneath the Skin is based on a real-life incident that occurred in Condit's life when she dated Ira Einhorn, also known as the Unicorn Killer. Ira had murdered his ex-girlfriend, Holly Maddux, and hidden her corpse in his closet. ^[1] Condit, who began dating Einhorn, never found Maddux's corpse due to being on medication that hindered her sense of smell. ^[2]

Condit considers it to be part of the "Jill Sands trilogy", which refers to three of her films which star the actress Jill Sands; Beneath the Skin, Possibly in Michigan , and Not a Jealous Bone. ^[3]

Plot

The movie follows the narration an unnamed woman recounting a series of events surrounding her four-year relationship with an unnamed man, and how the corpse of his ex-girlfriend was discovered in his apartment after other tenants began to complain of a pungent smell.

Reception

The film was noted for its humorous play with the macabre. ^{[4] [5] [6]} Its feminist approach was also commented on. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}

References

1. "Who Was the 'Unicorn Killer'? How a 1960s Activist-Turned-Murderer Evaded Extradition for 23 Years". Inside Edition. 2020-04-09.
2. Breda, Alix (2017-11-29). "Cecelia Condit's Body of Becoming: Women and the Dark Forest of Dreams". Another Gaze: A Feminist Film Journal. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
3. "Women in Horror: Cecelia Condit". Morbidly Beautiful. 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
4. Intermix (Organization), Electronic Arts (1991). Artists' Video: An International Guide. Cross River Press. ISBN   978-1-55859-357-2.
5. Renov, Michael; Suderburg, Erika (1996). Resolutions: Contemporary Video Practices. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN   978-0-8166-2330-3.
6. Higgins, Steven; N.Y.), Museum of Modern Art (New York (2006). Still Moving: The Film and Media Collections of The Museum of Modern Art. The Museum of Modern Art. ISBN   978-0-87070-326-3.
7. Ravenal, John B. (2002). Outer & Inner Space: Pipilotti Rist, Shirin Neshat, Jane & Louise Wilson, and the History of Video Art. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. ISBN   978-0-917046-61-2.
8. The Independent. Foundation for Independent Video and Film. 1985.
9. Woman's Art Journal. Woman's Art. 1982.
10. Straayer, Arny Christine (1990). Sexual Subjects: Signification, Viewership. and Pleasure in Film and Video.

External links

• Beneath the Skin on the artist's official Vimeo channel
• IMDb