Reviews & Ratings for
Skin Gang More at IMDbPro »

12 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Skinheads are victims of their misdirected guilt., 26 September 2000
Author: weimingwang2 from Taiwan

Opening with a couple of black-and-white scenes of skinheads at play (including Steve Masters and Eden Miller beating up some guy) we return to color to see Tim Vincent getting off on Hitler's "Mein Kampf." They are joined by Ralph Steel, and soon Steve Masters gets off with Eden Miller on a British flag.

Later, Jens Hammer has dinner with Bastian, a Brit Black. LaBruce establishes them as "guppies" by showing them eating sushi and equipping their room with books on Robert Mapplethorpe.

The story culminates in the gang's decision to break into the guppies' apartment, vandalize it and terrorize the two occupants. They sexually overpower Bastian, noting "I've never f**ked a 'monkey' before." We're aware of the racism of this remark, which is emphasized as the gang chants "F**k the monkey" repeatedly. However, the violence looks so fake that the whole thing seems rather surreal.

Finally one of the guppies kills Eden Miller and turn the tables, forcing Steve Masters at gunpoint to undergo his own humiliation. The film interestingly ends as Bastian checks out one skinhead on a sidewalk.

LaBruce's point appears to be that the skinheads are victims of their misdirected guilt. He declines to go the traditional route of fetishizing fascist thugs through S&M games. Instead, he depicts his gang as exuberant in their homosexual enjoyment but disdainful of homosexuality.

LaBruce explores some of the contradictions of the skinhead lifestyle in interviews with the characters. One of them tries to hide the fact he's Jewish. Another sings the Austrian national anthem. While this film is not supposed to be taken too seriously, it provides something to think about afterwards.

10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Deeply disturbing., 31 July 2000

Author: David Atfield (bits@alphalink.com.au) from Canberra, Australia

This is a very confronting film - not because of the sex, you can see a lot more in any porn film, but because of the disturbing way in which the sex turns you on. These guys are skinheads - violent "queer-bashers", but they love to have sex with each other. And watching them do it - and rape and be raped - with such an exhilarating energy becomes erotic. It freaked me out a little to be turned on by this film - and I think that's the point - human sexuality is very complex and labelling it never works.

9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
La Skinhead, 20 January 2006
Author: Zen Bones from USA

This is a hard film to comfortably be pegged into a neat little category. It's a raunchy porn film, but it's got an underlying theme that is simultaneously frightening and amusing. Like another reviewer here, I was turned on by these guys even though I'm disgusted by everything they stand for. But I was overall amused because the way in which the film is shot is like a typical porn film. There's even some typical disco-type music playing in the background of the conventional porn-type scenes, like the one between a man and the plumber who comes to his home (how many times have we seen that scenario in porn films?). LaBruce's film is a satire on porn, fantasy, and fetish. We're not meant to take it seriously. I was cracking up in a scene where a skinhead is getting raped at gunpoint and he actually sucks off the gun that's pointing in his face, with his rapist's finger firmly clenching the trigger! Would anyone really do that? I don't think so! But fetish and fantasy are strange and often contradictory things; what repels us in real life can often be a turn-on in fantasy. It doesn't mean that one would really want ever to cross that line, or that one should turn their fear of their attraction into violence against what it is they are attracted to.

The best way to take down skinheads is to depict them as the hypocrites they really are. I don't think most of these guys really get it on with each other, but their physical presence is a form of machismo that reflects an obsession with self-image. They're extremely fashion conscious, and obviously spend a great deal of time building up their muscles. One has to wonder what level of denial is lying beneath the surface of this physical narcissism. LaBruce shows what homophobia is really about; not the act of sex, but the fear of being anything less than manly. The one skinhead who doesn't engage in sex with the others is quite willing to fight anybody, but he's not willing to f**k the other guys, which in this convoluted world, makes him a "pussy boy". LaBruce tosses in a guppy couple to show what it is that homophobes are really scared of, but he ultimately establishes that the 'fey' guys are tough where it counts: on the inside. Even the racism depicted in the film is done with tongue-in-cheek humor. If one is watching the background of the shots, they won't miss a photograph on a wall of a black man who is extremely well endowed, and one can also notice that the straight porn film the guys are watching features black actors. In the world of these skinheads, attraction and repulsion are both sides of the same coin. The film's final shot is a beauty: the black guppy walking down a crowded street and one of the skinheads walking toward him innocently and somewhat ambiguously. The guppy holds his breath in baited anticipation (fear and attraction?) but the skinhead passes by, averting his eyes in shame.

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Not your usual Bruce La Bruce film - its got skinhead sheen, 29 May 2001
Author: Mattydee74 from Sydney, Australia

The Rough Queen of Carnal Camp offers up a spoof of porn while engaging his fetish for skinheads in this film. Its not as outrageous as Super 8 1/2 or Hustler White and it lacks the queer majesty of No Skin Of My Ass - which is a superior skin(head) flick. This film retains the tacky trademark style but transplants proceedings to the UK. The sex scenes are not quite as inventive or raunchy and edgy as is usually the case but then again this is a playful take on the porn film crossed with some soapie-style kitchen sink parody. Its still got the requisite hot skinhead men to make you pant and some amusing roughplay so its not a total loss but it lacks the raw, spirited, engaging La Bruce touch. Its also pretty short. But for La Bruce fans, its still not to be missed. I hope La Bruce returns to his guerilla style, this new sheen is too generic but it suits this parody.

2 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
(snicker), 24 July 1999

Author: Spuzzlightyear from Vancouver

This is a fun, playful film, if you're not expecting too much. I really liked all the characters, all acted very well. It sure plays on the gay male skinhead fantasy (much like No skin off my ass) and while there is HARDLY a story, the film is certainly watchable.

2 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
What is this about?, 20 May 2006

Author: Gordon-11 from Hong Kong

I really do not know what this film is about. This is not porn, as there is not as much sex compared to the normal porn movie. The 'story' scenes are interspersed between the sex scenes, which makes it more like a porn movie. However, it is not a conventional film either, as it has almost no story. It appears to be a film about the life of skinheads, but it has so little substance, no character development and there is no emotion in it at all. The scenes seem fragmented and haphazard. There is no flow from one scene to the next.

I would recommend not to watch this film, as you are unlikely to get anything out of it.

By the way, I find a scene of man & woman sex a turn off in the middle of a gay movie. But that's just me.

2 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
So what?, 7 July 1999

Author: Ulrich Ch. Blortz from Cologne

Opposite to the more recent films of La Bruce, this one is simply boring. Most moves can be anticipated, acting is far too "professional", the story is nonsense, even if I will admit, that it may suggest that sex has to do with violence. But that is knowledge from the last century or even older. So what? I strongly recommend not to view "Skin Flick", especially if someone is usually a fan of Bruce La Bruce.

3 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Ugggggggggh Gross!!!!!!!!!!, 18 October 1999

Author: hammy-3 from Cork, Ireland

This is a gratuitiously shocking movie that around one-third of the audience left in disgust but which I watched until the end in the hope of finding some point which I could share with the good people of cyberspace. The best I cand do is suggest that it's trying to say that the most virulently homophbic people are latent homosexuals themselves, which isn't an original idea. In any case, the way this point is made is so shocking that it won't reach a wide audience. It's redeemed by some dark humour, but even this is of a kind that mainstream audiences will be repelled by.

4 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Bad!!!, 24 April 2000

Author: skinjack (skinjack@mail.com)

Bruce LaBruce is getting worse! This must be the worst movie he has ever made, or was that No Skin Of My Ass, or Hustler White? This must be his momentum: making a justified porn flick. Even in porn flicks the acting and story is better than in this so-called arthouse theatrical release. The plot is disgusting and so is the acting. Really a very bad movie. Couldn't he use some "better" models? "Skin Flick" (aka "SkinGang") is a total waste of time. Don't watch it!!!

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