Altered Skin – Blood in the Snow 2018

An American engineer investigates a conspiracy surrounding a viral infection in Pakistan in Altered Skin. Craig Evans (Robin Dunne) is an American man, who has been living in Pakistan with his doctor wife Insiya (Juggan Kazim), who is one of many that have been infected with a virus that eventually turns people into crazed zombies. Craig is contacted by the wife of missing journalist Shehzad (Aamir Qureshi) and asked to continue his investigation of a possible conspiracy involving the pharmaceutical company InGenec.

Altered Skin is the feature film debut of writer/director Adnan Ahmed, which can be best described as a zombie horror film mixed with a conspiracy thriller. Shot on location in Pakistan, the story focuses on American engineer Craig Evans, whose infected wife is underneath an induced coma. Retracting the research of the journalist Shehzad, Craig is lead to the researcher Dr. Imtiaz (Salman Shahid) and the cover-up of a possible cure for the viral infection plaguing Pakistan.

Even though the film does technically feature zombies, it can be hard to classify Altered Skin as a horror film. The plot of the film actually leans more on the conspiracy thriller side of things, with there not being much zombie action until the climax. Because of this, Altered Skin can seem slow paced for people expecting a straight up genre film. However, there is no denying that the film takes a unique approach to the typical zombie narrative.