Skinner

"Skinner", directed by the fairly unknown soft-core porn director Ivan Nagy, is one strange…STRANGE film, to say the least. I honestly can't quite label what it is exactly, but it's some sort of odd mixture between horror, revenge-exploitation and an unusual serial-killer portrait. Even stranger than the mix of themes is the choice of cast members. Ted Raimi, who usually only just makes cameo appearances in films produced and/or directed by his more successful brother Sam, takes on the lead role of the introvert psychopath Dennis Skinner, talk show hostess Ricky Lake (also known from John Waters' movies) plays his landlady and former porn star Traci Lords stars as one of Raimi's previous victims out for vengeance. The plot remains vague and unclear regarding Dennis' awkward personality and motivations, but I can only presume he's another fictional character inspired by real-life killer Ed Gein, who also formed the base for successful genre milestones like "Psycho" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Raimi's character slowly but surely develops into a tormented persona haunted by traumas from his childhood, yet a proper explanation is never given. Another truly peculiar aspect of "Skinner" is the dosing of the blood and gore. The film is overall tame, with a strict emphasis on atmosphere and character drawing, yet suddenly comes a sequence that is almost indescribably gross and sick-spirited. It's like the scene was added after filming all the rest, following negative screening results, or something, yet I didn't notice any differences or interruptions in the editing. Maybe Ivan Nagy preferred spending his entire make-up effects budget on one ultra-sadistic moment? "Skinner" is an obscure and atypical piece of 90's horror, but it's definitely worth a peep if you like cinematic oddities that can't possibly be categorized.

Skinner feels like someone put a Hitchcockian thriller, a trashy Euro giallo, an 80's slasher movie, and a John Waters movie into a blender and served it up. There are inspired moments and Ted Raimi's performance is interesting and committed, but the film as a whole feels a little wonky like a woman trying to walk with only one stiletto on a rainy evening. One thing is for sure - a scene where Raimi murders a black man and wears his face while taunting another victim with a Fat Albert-esque voice is genuinely unforgettable.

A serial killer rents a room with a nice young couple and continues his killing spree as one of his surviving victims tracks him down to kill him once and for all.

Skinner has enough style to pull you through some rough patches, but with a cast as game and diverse as Ted Raimi, Ricki Lake, and Traci Lords, it's hard to not have a good time with it. I'd expected it to be gorier than it actually was, but the sheer bizarre quality of the story and some of the performances were enough to keep my interest.

SKINNER stars Ted Raimi as Dennis Skinner, a man who just happens to enjoy removing the dermis and epidermis of unsuspecting females. One such female, named Heidi (Traci Lords!), has escaped his clutches, and lives only to see him die. Meanwhile, Dennis moves into a room rented to him by Kerri Tate (Ricki Lake!!). Hitting it off swimmingly, Kerri is unaware of her new boarder's perilous proclivities.

Raimi's character is the seemingly harmless nebbish, springing into lethal action upon getting his victims alone. There is a notorious skinning scene in gruesome detail. This all has to do with Dennis' master plan (hint: think Buffalo Bill from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS).

Disgusting and absurd, this movie will offend just about everyone, especially after Dennis "embodies" one of his male co-workers. Yikes! Shockingly, one of the most sickening scenes involves a raw chicken and a knife from the kitchen floor! Mmm-Mmm!

Ms. Lake is good in her role, dealing with her swine of a husband, as well as her timid, yet terrifying tenant. However, what sets this movie apart from typical gore / horror / schlock is Traci Lords. Her portrayal of "the one that got away", takes us into revenge film territory, and she pulls it off with aplomb! The final conflict could have been better, but this is certainly a bizarre, twisted, early-1990's artifact...

If there's one thing I've learnt from Skinner, it's not to accept a dinner invitation from Ricki Lake: 20 minutes to prepare and cook an entire chicken?!?! That sounds like a recipe for some serious E.coli to me. And while we're at it, Ted Raimi isn't so hot on kitchen hygiene either: he fails to wash his hands after manhandling the chicken and proceeds to spread bacteria all over the place.

Of course, a bout of serious food poisoning is still preferable to being killed and flayed, which is what Raimi's character, Dennis Skinner, likes to to do hookers, using their skin to create a suit in which he can prance around in the moonlight (a man's got to have a hobby). When Skinner's landlady, Kerry Tate (Lake), becomes close to her loony lodger, the psycho decides that the time is right to reveal his secret to the lucky lass, much to her horror. Meanwhile, Heidi (Traci Lords), morphine-addicted survivor of one of Skinner's earlier attacks, hunts the psycho looking for revenge.

Skinner is by no means a great movie, suffering from an erratic narrative and plot details that are left frustratingly unexplained (what is up with Dennis's fascination with water?); it is, however, an entertainingly piece of trash, a sick little psycho flick with a wonderfully over-the-top performance from Ted Raimi, and solid support from Lake and Lords, the latter channelling Meiko Kaji and Christina Lindberg for her role as a vengeful junkie on a mission.

The film also features an impressive moment of graphic flaying (courtesy of KNB effects group) that is guaranteed to please gore fans: Skinner slices open his victim's back, works the skin loose, rolls the body over and yanks the skin down off the face (be sure to watch the uncut version of the film: there's an iffy copy on YouTube that is missing this splattery scene).

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for the delectable Ms. Lords, who doesn't get nekkid (for a change), but is still very hot (it takes more than a few scars and a lack of hair to stop her from being sexy).