Customer Reviews

Skinned Alive [VHS]

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Skinned Alive is a gory movie; that's all it tries to be, and it is succeeds in that endeavor. Although it wasn't quite as shocking as I expected and hoped it would be, it's still much more blood and guts than your normal, non-horror addict would want to see. I wish I could say that the title accurately reflects what happens in this movie, but I cannot-on occasion, people are killed before actually being skinned. What we have here is a truly dysfunctional family traveling the country pending their wares-they are tanners, you see, but their product is unique in the trade. Cows aren't good enough for them; they will settle for nothing less than human skin; naturally, that involves some poor unfortunate victims having to donate their skins unwillingly, but every entrepreneurial endeavor has its problems. The head of the family is "Crawldaddy," a crippled, foul-mouthed, one-eyed, twisted woman who continually berates and beats up on her two adult children and often insists on being called Daddy. Then there is her son Phink, who can actually pass for halfway normal at times, but is prone to frequent fits of annoying laughter and blunt instrument-swinging. The young lass completing the insane trio is Violet, chief skinner of the group and a woman who really enjoys her work. There's also a little incestuous thing going on between brother and sister, as if they aren't dark and twisted enough already. After killing a hitchhiker and an overweight stranded motorist, the family faces a major setback, namely the failure of their van to start. By necessity only, they come to town to get the van fixed, and the exceedingly naïve mechanic Tom puts them up in his own house for the night. The family quickly gets back to work, going on something of a major killing spree. There is an ex-cop living next door, but his perpetual state of complete inebriation is a definite handicap in terms of his discovering and trying to stop the killers. There is a weird but not wholly unexpected twist at the end, but it's nothing to get excited about.

If you like to see blood, then you may want to have a look at this schlock horror film. There's plenty of it, and the gory effects are rather well done for the most part. You've got knife wounds, stabbings, and impalements; blows to the head, body, and legs with hammers and mallets; and very satisfyingly realistic gunshot wounds. One of the guys gets his hand on a machine gun, and, let me tell you, he doesn't believe that overkill is a bad thing at all. I am pretty confident in saying that this is a movie for gore lovers only; the flimsy plot, exceedingly atrocious acting, and occasional ill-designed attempts at some sort of comedy offer nothing on their own to even the sickest of horror fans. I can sum this movie up in three words: blood, guts, cursing. That's pretty much all there is to Skinned Alive.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie. Most reviews are negative and just by looking at the box you can see that it isn't quite Oscar material, but I'm glad I took a chance on the movie. It reminds me of the Little Shop of Horrors remake. Yes, it's gory, but it is also hilarious, intentionally so in places. An odd combination of slapstick humor covered in blood and guts, this film is worth a look if that's your taste, but I would recommend previewing it yourself before deciding on whether or not to buy it outright. This is the type of movie you either love or hate with no middle ground in-between.

But if you're trying to picture what the film is like mentally take Night of the Living Dead, Texas Chainsaw Masscher (which this movie copies A LOT) and Hairspray (the movie) and blend them until you have a combination. That's scarily accurate of this movie's style.

I liked it, but I love low budget horror.

From seeing all the negative reviews right here on amazon I thought that it might be one of the worst horror films of all time and I had lowered my expectations, but the film turned out to be just O.K. If you watch this film expecting a masterpiece then forget it but if you just want to watch a cheap and very gory film then go ahead but you might want to rent this first. The film shows us a dysfunctional family of cannibals that slaughter a bunch of people, thats all you need to know, there were some really lame acting from the cast but it was enjoyable to a certain point.

This isn't for fans of B movies, it doesn't rate nearly that high. It's maybe a D movie, or even an E movie. And it's greatest accomplishment may be to prove that you can shoot 78 minutes of film on a budget of maybe $8, tops. But you know what, it's fun, the gore is silly, the dialogue unspeakable (literally and figuratively), the production values little-to-none ..... but it eventually offered lots of laughs, some intentional, some not, and I had fun watching it. So you know what? I'm throwing four stars at it. Bite me. And Mary Jackson can come to my house for dinner any time. Hubba hubba, wotta babe.

I won't go into the plot since it is well described in another review. My problem with this film is that it is just too long and directionless. Early in the film it is a half decent black comedy with over the top gore (which prevents it from becoming scary or suspenseful), and the special f/x and performances are pretty good for the very low budget. But after a while the constant bickering between the cannibalistic family members just becomes annoying and the wait for anything resembling a plot progression becomes unbearable. It seems the scriptwriter's main goal was to showcase his skill at penning insults. Read Peter Milligan's graphic novel "Eaters" instead for a black comedy about a family of cannibals that has actual wit and biting satire.

This has to be one of the worst movies I have ever had the displeasure of seeing. The gore to which others have referred is highly unrealistic, cheap, and poorly done; and I am just scratching the surface. I would make a reference to the acting if such existed in this waste of time; so let me just say that the line reading was horrible (No! Incompetent sounds more accurate). The story (uhm, let me try again; I did not mean to be misleading by suggesting there was actually a story here). The lack of a story is about a cannibalistic family that sells leather goods (human skin) out of their van. The van breaks down and they are invited to stay at the home of the mechanic fixing their van while it is in the shop (mechanics union article 1525: when approached by a one-eyed woman in a wheelchair and two incestuous humping siblings, you are obligated to invite them to stay in your home). There is a next-door neighbor, an ex-cop, who is suspicious of the family (they kill people on the front lawn in broad daylight and he is just 'suspicious'; no wonder he is an ex-cop). That covers about as much plot as you will find in this piece of s**t yawner jokingly called a movie. It is a damn shame that Fangoria would rave about crap like this just because it contains gore, irregardless of whether it is any good. Now, let me tell how I really feel about this movie (: Bob

this film as gore filled as you could expect from the title is shameful, i have never witnessed such poor acting, lack of storyline and over embelishment of fake blood. The main characters are as wooden as well, wood! all in all the £4 i paid to rent it was wasted, if your looking for blood and gore this is your film but if you want something that resembles a storyline you're better off reading a book, i still cant believe i sat through the whole thing.