Search - Skinned Alive on DVD

Nobody told us not to blow the entire budget on gore

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 02/12/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Skinned alive.

Puzzle box | Kuwait | 05/30/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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."