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.

"Skinned Alive" is a low-budget "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" rip-off about cannibalistic family of Crawldaddy that hunts people,kills them and turns their skins into leather that they sell.When their van breaks down the mechanic invites the family to stay with him while their van is being fixed.Soon the bloodbath ensues and only local war veteran can stop trio of ruthless killers...Cheap and dumb copy of Tobe Hooper's seminal terror classic with plenty of cheesy gore and laughable acting.The plot twists are ridiculous and often irritating.If you are fan of Troma works this little slice of low-budget Ohio gore should be in your collection.6 leather coats out of 10.

The title in itself is genius: "Skinned Alive." When I picked this movie up at the video store it was collecting dust in the horror section. I looked on the back of the box and immediately knew that it was a no-budget movie, and most avid horror-viewers know exactly what comes with THAT territory: Bad acting, shotty camerawork, almost inaudible dialogue, annoying keyboard music, and no plot.

This particular movie possessed an exception to almost every expectation that I first had of it. "Skinned Alive" is a movie that should be viewed by any filmmaker, young or old, that is interested in making a horror movie on an extremely low budget, because it is a prime example of how amateur directors can make the best of what they have. It was funny, gory, suspenseful, somewhat provocative, and well-edited. While frequently I find myself fast-forwarding these types of movies so as not to bore myself silly, with "Skinned Alive" I always found myself in eager anticipation of what would happen next. Who would be the next person to get insulted, or kicked in the face? Would the hero end up getting his house back? Surprisingly, not many of the great horror directors have the type of sense that Jon Killough had in his directorial debut when it comes to plot structure. He sets up his characters extremely well.

In conclusion, I was far from disappointed after viewing this random horror rent. It's an entertaining and hilarious presentation that will leave you laughing out loud, and inspired to go out and make your own 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.

A traveling family of sickos, an inept brother/ sister team and their wheelchair-bound mother, Crawldaddy (Mary Jackson of "The Waltons" fame), have their car brake down after they kill a guy. So they stay at the neighbors of an alcoholic ex-cop and continue nonchalantly killing people. Will the cop exorcise his demons long enough to put an end to Crawdady and families reign of terror? Due to the ultimately jaw-dropping awfulness, Will we even care? To be fair the first 10 minutes hold a little promise and the last 20 are OK by me. It's just the endless minutes of stupid slapstick 'comedy' in the middle where the movie becomes a chore to sit through. and what a painful chore it is. The film would have been a good short film. But as it is now, it's not even passable entertainment.

My Grade: D

DVD Extras: Commentary with JR. Bookwalter and David Lange; Isolated music score audio track; 35 minute Making-of; Behind the scenes; camera and wardrobe tests; About the Remastering; Artwork and Stills Galleries; an episode of 'Roomates"; Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "Ozone", "Eddie Presley", "Dead and Rotting", and "Hell Asylum"