Scorticateli vivi

This rare Italian action adventure tells the story of a broke man called Rudy, who goes into the African jungle to join his half-brother Franz. Franz is leader of a mercenary group that fights against native rebels, but Rudy only wants some money from his next of kin (on one occasion, he says: "You know I can't stand violence"). But Franz, a racist who sees Africans merely as animals, just wants him to leave again immediately. Then, Franz gets abducted and imprisoned by the rebels. Rudy joins forces with the other mercenaries, who are as fascist as Franz and like to kill Africans and rape their wives. He does so to make a deal with Franz as soon as they have freed him, but the mercenaries get attacked on more than one occasion by the natives.

This tedious piece of sleaze is barely watchable. Not because it's too violent or so, but for a whole bunch of other reasons: It's extremely boring, the acting is ridiculously bad, there are painstakingly racist moments (even though the mercenaries themselves are portrayed to be the scum of the earth), Mario Siciliano's direction is awfully uninspired and Stelvio Cipriani's score may well be by far the worst he's ever composed. And even though the film has a high body count, almost no drops of blood are spilled. The title is a "lie", because nobody gets skinned alive or even skinned at all: There are just verbal threats of getting skinned alive, but it never happens. All in all, "Scorticateli Vivi" is a waste of time that's just not worth watching.

This is one of the few forgotten films that really don't need to be rediscovered for distribution. Rating: 1 out of 10 - and that's almost an honor for this abysmal mess.

Sleazy exploitation doesn't get any better than this. If you're one of the multitudinous sheep, weaned exclusively on Hitchcock films and easily swayed by AMC, TCM, AFI, and all the other establishment factories who claim to know the films That You Should Watch, you will absolutely hate it. On the other hand, fans of Joe D'Amato, Bruno Mattei, Andrea Bianchi, et. al., will be treated to a misanthropic delight. Bring a few bars of soap and a rosary: you'll be needing both after you view this one. If you decide to rent the DVD, you will be treated to Jose Larraz's equally sordid Black Candles, although those averse to bestiality need not apply. Enjoy!

Don't be fooled by the brilliantly lurid title of this film, which suggests images of unparallelled violence to the epidermis of a living person: no-one in Skin 'Em Alive is actually skinned alive. A couple of people are impaled on spears, loads are shot or blown up, and one gets his head banged against a wall, but there is absolutely no graphic flaying of the human body's largest organ whatsoever. A shame really, since this film sorely needs something really sensational (ie., some spectacularly graphic gore) in it order to make it worthwhile viewing for fans of Italian exploitation.

Bryan Rostron plays down-on-his-luck lothario Rudy, who decides to leave the country when he gets into trouble with some local hoods. After scrounging some cash from a buxom, blonde bimbo girlfriend, he hops on a plane for Africa, where he meets up with his half-brother Franz, the leader of a team of bloodthirsty mercenaries who are fighting a war against rebel natives. Rudy hopes to get his hands on some of the diamonds that Franz is rumoured to have sewn into the belt of his trousers, however his plans are scuppered when his half-brother is captured by the rebels. In desperation, Rudy joins the other mercenaries on a daring rescue mission...

Whilst the plot of the film isn't all that bad, having many of the elements that go to make a great exploitative adventure (thoroughly unlikeable characters totally devoid of morals, a jungle setting, savage natives, funky soundtrack), the dreary direction from Mario Siciliano means that the film never fulfils its potential. There is quite a lot of (non explicit) violence and rape (the mercs take advantage of any native women they happen upon), but Siciliano holds back on the genuine nastiness and sheer sleaziness that directors such as Ruggero Deodato, Umberto Lenzi, Joe D'amato or Bruno Mattei would have given the project (now those guys would have made sure that at least one person had been skinned alive!).

Rudy is a young man with money problems. He doesn't have any. Worse he owes the mob. After being beaten up and given 24 hours to pay, Rudy visits his girl before heading off to find his brother who is in Africa. Rudy's brother is Franz, a mercenary that Rudy thinks has a hidden stash of diamonds Rudy can use to go to America. Franz is unhappy to see his brother and tells him he's doesn't have any money either ("The only thing that I have that you don't is an accent"). Franz throws his brother out, however before Rudy can leave Franz is kidnapped by some rebels. Rudy (who hates violence) decides to go off with the mercenaries to rescue his brother.

I've seen this film and I'm struck by the twin problems of not being able to either adequately describe or discuss this movie. Trust me, if you ever see this movie you'll have the same problem. Then again I don't really think anyone really should have this problem since I don't think anyone should see this movie.

The first term that comes to mind when I think of this movie is vile. Lets face it this is a vile movie. Its a racist sleazy piece of trash that is jaw dropping in its inhumanity. I've seen a good many movies in my time and this one is ugly.

The ugliness comes from the fact that all of the people in this film, with the exception of Rudy's girlfriend, are ugly people. They all are bottom of the barrel sleaze-balls. Who can you root for? No one. You can't even cheer for the leader of the mercenary band because he's a bit ineffectual and he's also out there killing and raping.

Did I mention there is a great deal of killing and raping? Most of it is white on black, with the mercenaries mowing down everyone that gets in their way. They kill the men and rape the women. And you really can't side with the blacks because they are shown to be little better than savages with acts of violence that are equal to if not worse than their white attackers. You will hate everyone. Its very nihilistic, though I'm not sure that was the intention.

I don't know what to say. By the time half the movie had run I wanted to take a shower, by the end I wanted to be dipped in something to clean and sterilize my being (okay its not THAT bad but close) Technically the film isn't bad. The plot kind of works. The acting is okay, though most of the emotions are either "feigned indifference" or "sadistic glee" which I would think are pretty easy to fake. The explosions and action scenes aren't horrible either.

Its not a completely awful film from top to the bottom, and thats the troubling thing. Its actually an incredibly sleazy exploitation film thats just about as low as you can go, but its watchable. You may not like whats on screen but it is watchable, especially if you tend toward low brow and low grade movies. I've given the film a 3 out of 10 for that very reason. Honestly, I don't think most people are going to like it, or even want to watch it, but if you like to have your buttons pushed by sleazy racist exploitation movies this is going to be your ticket. If you don't like having to take a shower after watching a movie then stay away (The farther the better)

The action of Mario Siciliano's "Skin Them Alive" takes place somewhere in Africa.A mercenary team is raping black women and killing black men.Depraved mercenaries are led by Franz who hides a stash of diamonds.His money-hungry brother decides to steal Franz's diamonds to get himself enough dough to travel to US."Skin Them Alive" features plenty of violence and three ineptly staged rapes.The script is surprisingly racist and the cast is gleefully ugly.The cinematography is dreary and the score by Stelvio Cipriani is pretty bad."Skin Them Alive" was obviously influenced by Italian cannibal sub-genre,but there are no cannibals here.Fans of seedy Italian exploitation cinema should give this one a look,all others should stay far away.6 racists out of 10.