Skinned Deep

I had myself pretty much prepared for Skinned Deep given the fact that I've rented several Fangoria released films in the past, and generally know what to expect. Usually there's no plot, bad dialog, no scares, in fact just about everything is bad with a Fangoria release except for the gore.

And I suppose that's why I keep coming back to these flicks.

Skinned Deep does deliver on the gore quite early in the film, but pretty much leaves you hungry for more and the only thing there to chew on is one terrible line, plot point, or general stupid place in the movie. This thing just plods along after the initial kills, forcing you to watch weird scene after weird scene that made little or no sense.

People have pointed out the relations to Basket Case, TCM, and Troma a few times already in other reviews... That doesn't matter. They can give props to anyone they want, it's not going to make this strange flick any better.

1.5/5 corpses... Avoid, unless you want to see the Napoleon Dynamite of horror movies.

I still remember the General... Nice Jaw, nice overall look. That, and that it was stupid. Very stupid. Bad acting (not as bad as in movies like "Abscent of Light" or "Goth", but stupid), bad music, bad story, lots of gore and goofy characters.

Seriously, the movie is meant to be comedic, or how else could you interpret a wrestling match between a senior citizen and a midget? A plate-throwing dwarf? The grannies and grandpas getting ready for war? The colorful comic - like look? This one never wanted to be taken serious, and as long as you don't, you might enjoy it. If you are indeed looking for a deeper sense or some kind of message, you're completely lost.

Then again, if you dislike cheap splatter movies, why did you even rent it?

Skinned deep, this is a masterpiece of bad movie making. To most people, saying that this movie is terrible would be an instant turn off but for me that just sounds like a dare. Enough, about this movie. Its sorta like Rob Zombie's house of 1,000 corpses... well, strike that, its exactly like house of a 1,000 corpses except they had a budget of like 8$. That's slightly unfair, because this did have the star power of Warwick davies. That may sound sarcastic but its not meant to be, Warwick rocks. It also has a guy called Surgeon General who happens to have the coolest mask i've ever seen and some headless guy wearing a belt that proclaims his crotch to be "Dyno-mite". Assuming your still reading this, which may be a mistake on my part, the movie is about a girl whose family is killed in the first 15 minutes of the movie, including her kid brother. Bravo to Skinned deep for breaking rules of killing kids in a monster movie. You should know, in case your mourning the deaths of these imaginary people already, each one of them had it coming. Seeing them die is the first of many oh so rewarding moments in this movie. that moment is in line with a naked man with a gigantic head runningdown a street and a fight between old people and the hick/monsterfamily who really just steal every scene they are in. No part of this movie is a let down, even up to the very end where the best song ever plays through the credits, by song, i mean a girl screaming for like five minutes. I can't urge you to see this any harder, seriously.

Gabriel Bartalos, his name only ring a bell as make up and special effects for the great movie Brain Dead by Kevin Tenney. You can find his name easily on movies in the genre but this was his first and last attempt of directing one. What a failure. It all could have been great but I guess he wanted to make a movie about a weird family like in Texas Chainsaw Massacre but what's this. A man with a head as big as whatever. Bad acting and sometimes it is really bad that it almost becomes a spoof. The use of the camera was always the same. Used a thousand times before. Completily zoomed out and then getting close to the action. Gives a weird effect but don't do it the whole time. And using smoke, nothing against it but if you see where it comes from, no no no. The best part is the slashing itself. The killing of the visiting family is well done but the rest of the movie, no acting. For example, when the girl is being tied together, she never screams. It's sad to see but it is also a fact to stay in your own territory.

Sweet Jesus...

While watching Skinned Deep I thought I was watching a bad movie from the mid 90's - but nope! This 2004 indie flick is so messed up in all departments, I actually couldn't even enjoy it as a so-bad-its-good movie!!

While listed as a comedy horror in its synopsis, I honestly don't think it had the smallest bit of comedy in it during production. Only since its release and ratings do I believe that the word comedy was added to make it seem that all the terrible bits were on purpose.

Taking more than its fair share of inspiration from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; House Of A 1000 Corpses; and Jeepers Creepers - Skinned Deep does have moments where it could have been something sweet, although had it been from a better director, editor and stronger cast! The acting is among the worst I have ever seen - I mean,dreadful - especially the mother of the maniacs, and how the they got Warwick Davis to do this I'll never know!!

The camerawork is also dreadful with many dirty lenses and awful shots, marred once again by the bad editing. Is there anything good? Well, the FX work is very well done, with a great character in the Surgeon General - although they never really know how to use him properly, and Warwick Davis gets to play a mental ADHD fuelled crazed ninja-of-sorts who uses plates for weapons - it has to be seen to be believed.

Skinned Deep is something else! Its confused, its messy, its funny for all the wrong reasons, and for me - its a hard watch because it seems like such a wasted opportunity. And I haven't even got to the biker pensioners yet or that bizarre twisted ending...

This makes Godfrey Ho look like Kubrick!