Skinless

The Ballad of Skinless Pete (aka Skinless Pete) by Dustin Wayde Mills is ridiculously, jaw droppingly good..better than you'd expect any indie feature with a low budget to be. With lens flare that would make JJ Abrams weep with jealousy and solid performances from all the cast, this is stylish stuff, with every penny of the production on display.

If The Fly and The Incredible Melting Man had a son, Skinless Pete may well be him. Darkly humorous, graphic and moving in equal measure, this movie had me gripped from start to glorious finish. The effects work is some of the best I've seen in an indie production and there's genuine suspense contained in the frames.

Mills' regular actor, Brandon Salkil, is on top form here as the principal character. He's a wonderfully talented screen presence, a physical actor who delivers horror and comedy in equal measure.

Erin R. Ryan is excellent, too, as Dr. Alice Cross, and Allison (Easter Casket) Fitzgerald delivers a strong performance as Olivia. Ryan's always screen gold and her performance in the next Mills directed movie, Kill That Bitch, is unmissable.

Topped off with one of the catchiest and fun theme songs I've heard in a long while, this is the Nekromantik for the twenty-tens! The Ballad of Skinless Pete will find a place in any horror lover's heart. Simply brilliant.

Low budget which isn't a bad thing but this was just plain boring, horrible acting and bad special effects. Don't waste your time.

I foolishly thought I would be able to have this movie on in the background while I worked on another project. How mistaken I was; I couldn't stop watching. The actors and actresses went above and beyond to make this an unforgettable film. There were some very creative elements at work in this production. I can't believe this movie was shot for a mere $2000.00. The actors must have worked for free. Talk about dedication to your art! Someone give this director/production team/actors and actresses some real capital to work with and let's see what else they can come up with that I'm sure will be as entertaining as this little bit of cinematic joy. It proves that a substantial budget is not required to make a great film. I recommend this one for its sheer creativity alone!

Independent micro-budget director Dustin Mills rips off David Cronenberg's The Fly something rotten for Skinless, chucking in a smidge of The Incredible Melting Man for good measure. Working with what must be a fraction of The Fly's catering budget, Mills delivers a cheap and cheerful concoction of bargain basement gore effects and gratuitous nudity that should prove moderately entertaining if you're not averse to no-frills homemade horror.

Brandon Salkil plays the Seth Brundle character, geneticist Peter Peele, who tests his experimental cancer treatment on himself; initially successful, the treatment ultimately has unexpected side effects, Peele's flesh liquifying, the scientist turning into a hideous deranged monster. This is not good news for Dr. Alice Cross (Erin R. Ryan), the woman Peele is obsessed with...

The majority of Mills' $2,000 budget appears to have been spent on fake blood, KY jelly, and latex - the film is very goopy. I can't imagine much was left in the coffers to pay the performers, so one assumes that the cast are all friends of Mills happy to muck in for free, which would explain the less than stellar acting. Not that great performances are necessary for this type of thing: Mills aim is to deliver plenty of splattery effects and to get the women in the film to strip off, and he succeeds in both.

In the grand scheme of things, Skinless is not great -- extremely derivative (Salkil even twitches like Goldblum) and technically crude -- but considering the amount of money that the film was made for, it's a marvel that it is as entertaining as it is. A movie to crack open a few beers to...

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Kind of grotty effects, but what can expect from a flick that has been called a cross between The Fly and The Incredible Melting Man. The characters are believable and the acting is excellent. Itchy was a bit off the wall. The worst thing about it is that someone with Peter's deformation would not speak so well. Anyhow; no closer to spoiler will I go. If you liked The Fly you'll like this.