Mysterious Skin is a 2004 coming-of-age drama film written, produced, and directed by Gregg Araki, adapted from Scott Heim's 1995 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who both experienced sexual abuse, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.