Skinned Alive

As somebody who values and has a rather large collection of low-budget horror films, I can honestly say this is one of the most horrible movies I have ever seen! It's like a thirteen year old wrote the dialogue, and then set up the scenes to look "wicked awesome." Another thing is this movies has no actual concept of reality...I know it's a horror movie, and most stuff in horror movies isn't even slightly based on reality, but when you have people shooting and stabbing people in the middle of the day, in the front-yard nonetheless...well you can't help but feel that either you the viewer are being treated as an idiot, or the film makers themselves are idiots. Even if you were drawn to the movie for the gore, or the cover of the DVD which features a bikini girl with "Skinned Alive" carved in her stomach...JUST STAY AWAY! I have never seen gore so badly done in my life! There are scenes where the bodies being skinned are obviously made of clay! You can actually see the clay bunch up when a knife is plunged into it, and this is supposed to pass for human flesh? You would think that the director or editor would have seen how horrible some of the crap looked, and cut it out, but it's there in all it's 3rd grade glory. There is no redeeming quality to this movie at all. The acting is bad, and the special effects are the worst! Do not spend any money on this movie.

This is another sick cheapie from J.R. Bookwalter's stable of enthusiast but untalented horror directors, better known as "Tempe Productions". Apart from his own outrageously gore debut film "The Dead Next Door", Bookwalter's production studio has unleashed nothing but embarrassingly bad splatter-stuff upon horror-loving audiences that have the most absurd and grotesque plots but also the most incompetent means to work with. "Skinned Alive" is entirely Jon Killough's pride and handles about a family of traveling weirdos that turn innocent people into fashionable clothing. After killing a guy near a retarded little Ohio town, their van breaks down and the family (weelchaired mother and her incestuous son and and daughter) has to stay at the garage owner's house, where they unconcernedly continue their killing spree. This movie somewhat feels like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" meets "Mother's Day" but it's neither scary nor very funny. I appreciate the goodwill of all cast-members (Scott Spiegel in particular seems to have a lot of fun) and some of the gore-effects are effectively nauseating. Killough's sense of humor is delightfully twisted and low-budget gore king J.R. Bookwalter makes a small appearance as the Jehovah's Witness (they make such easy preys). "Skinned Alive" is overall enjoyable in a brainless sort of way. Too bad about the terrible – at times downright unendurable – acting and the completely redundant divorce sub plot.

I can't believe that people actually like this film. I suppose i was lured in by the DVD cover thinking this could be an enjoyable gory-horror-comedy type of film. Boy, was I wrong. This movie was so horrible, I barely made it to the end. The acting was terrible and the gore was lame. The sound quality and dubbing was absurd. This is the kind of movie I watch every now and then and think... why the hell am I not making movies? I can't even recommend this for a good laugh. For something in the same genre, but actually good, try Dead-Alive or Bad Taste. Hell, I would even recommend an HG Lewis film over this.

I've read a lot of other comments and I have to say that this movie does not suck and it's certainly not stupid. You just have to have an open mind and a taste for this kind of stuff. It's not a horror movie in that it will scare you but there is some gore (albeit not very authentic gore, but they were on a miniscule budget) and some seriously twisted characters in it. Admittedly, all the stuff with the former cop neighbor is very lame (I skip it usually). But, the joy of this flick is to watch Scott Spiegel and Mary Jackson together. They are an absolute riot! Spiegel really makes the film worthwhile. He pretty much did it as a favor to the director and producer and boy did he deliver! He's an innately funny man and the lines that he and Mary Jackson exchange are incredibly funny. The physical comedy is superb as well. I ordered this sucker on DVD without seeing it first and was not disappointed at all. Those of you who are familiar with the 'Fake Shemps' (Spiegel, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Rob Tapert, Ted Raimi, etc) will enjoy this flick. Trust me.

I didn't expect to like this funny and gory horror comedy as much as I did. It's certainly not for all tastes; even though it runs only about 80 minutes (including the long closing credits), the pace is extremely slow and nothing much really happens throughout. The gore effects are cheap but effective. The villains are a really twisted gang: the foul-mouthed, abusive, wheelchair-bound matriarch, the clumsy and slightly retarded son, the sadistic hottie daughter (no nudity from her, though the opportunity does come twice - what a shame!). The "hero" is an alcoholic ex-cop who has to put a stop to their activities implied by the title. All of the acting is amateurish, but at least the actors don't take themselves too seriously and seem to be in on the joke. This film will probably be appreciated only by those viewers interested in low-budget horror film-making. (**1/2)