I_Killed_Paul_Allen
I'm so glad that the director of this flick is sticking with SFX. Cause, if his directing DIDN'T suck, then his cast of actors did. Warwick Davis was the only reason to even see this movie. His acting (what little line he had other then jumping around in excitement after someone died) shined over everyone else. Was it me or did it seem like everyones voices not sync with their lip movement. I'm not saying I'm a huge Warwick Davis fan, but, he was the only decent actor in this film, and, only for his speech at the end of the movie while speaking to the senior bikers. If you have and hour and 37mins to waste don't do with this movie. But, in the end its up to you.
maxwelldrake
This film had no idea what it wanted to be. In the end it isn't good at being any of the things it was aiming at. It trys to be a horror film but is neither scary nor solid enough to draw the audience into the film in order to engage them. The plot lacks context. We don't know where the characters come from, what motivates any of them or how we are to view them. Sometimes this works to unbalance the audience and looks stylized. Here it just comes off as a poor production dressing in artsie drag to disguise it's huge list of flaws. The acting (especially the mother character)is sub-highschool pagent level. The quarkieness of the film trys to tap into a style akin to some of Troma's releases from the 1980's (Toxic Avenger etc), but the substance, humor and acting aren't present in this film to make it or it's characters at all worth investing our attention in. These characters would have been interesting if they lived in a film that had a story to tell. You will be left wondering what the hell you just watched.
Coventry
Once again, my assumptions couldn't have been more wrong! I really thought this movie would be worth the 5$ I spent on it, because it's the directorial debut of Gabe Bartalos; who happens to be the regular special effects guy of such brilliant directors as Frank Hennenlotter ("Brain Damage", "Frankenhooker") and Matthew Barney (the "Cremaster"-cycle). Well, "Skinned Deep" once more proves that people who're talented in the art of make-up effects don't necessarily make good directors, as Bartalos' own project is an irredeemable lousy gore-flick that hangs together by amateurism. The script, for starters, is highly unoriginal and just the umpteenth "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"-rip-off. But what really irritates about this movie is the total lack of coherence and the overload of stupidity. "Skinned Deep" revolves on a family of bloodthirsty lunatics that fill their days with killing tourists. Their latest preys are the Rockwells, but the multi-brained son insisted on keeping the teenage daughter Tina alive, and even to incorporate her as a crazy family member! So far, this seems like a reasonably normal horror plot but the depraved family also battles a gang of old and senile motorcycle hooligans as well as a jeep full of chubby woodchoppers, and this is where the absurdity really kicks in. A lot of retarded things are being said and done (ever heard a midget bringing ode to a plate?!?) and even the rather cool gory effects can't keep you interested. The acting is really atrocious and Bartalos' directing is incredibly incompetent. The Surgeon General-character is the only memorable horror villain of the family. He's an unearthly strong mutant with a razor-sharp metal jaw and goofy little sunglasses. Warwick "Ewok" Davis looks pretty imbecile as the pale-faced, plate-flinging dwarf and I don't even want to mention the elderly cast-members. If the acting skills of all these amateurs hasn't given you a headache yet, sitting through the end credits definitely will, as it just features girlish screaming for FIVE WHOLE MINUTES! Damned, girl! You could try, like many of my fellow reviewers apparently did, to look at "Skinned Deep" as a typical so-bad-it's-entertaining trash movie... That didn't work for me, though. It's just rubbish, period!
davitalvitch
I love male frontal nudity in film and the horror genre in general. When I read that "Skinned Deep" was a combination of the two -- AND had Fangoria's name attached to it! -- I immediately went out and rented it.I spent more minutes renting this film than I did watching it.This is an appallingly bad film. After barely thirty minutes, I'd had enough. I dig good horror/comedy. I enjoy clever spoofs of horror movie convention (and would love to see a parody in which screeching cats keep leaping into frame accompanied by LOUD JOLTS OF MUSIC, thus killing off both of those exasperating gimmicks for good). I can suspend my disbelief if the film is directed carefully. What I cannot accept is stupidity. I gave this film a chance, but after a while the actions of the characters overwhelmed any sense of goofiness that it might have achieved. Peter Jackson could have made this work; as directed, "Skinned Deep" offered nothing to keep me watching for another hour. What should have been a joyfully grotesque meal sequence left me wondering, "Are these people really this oblivious?" After one character makes an escape yet is still stranded in the building in which something horrible has happened, why would this person begin calling out for help, especially when the room s/he sees below looks like something out of the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"? Perhaps this movie found its footing and became entertaining; "Dead & Breakfast" certainly started out mediocre for its first half-hour but then became quite fun. However, "Skinned Deep's" clichéd opening situation (the car of vacationing white people breaks down and a family of crazies take them into their home) followed by overacting and illogical behaviour offered no incentive for me to find out. I fast-forwarded to the frontal nude scene and returned the film to the rental store.It is sad that having "Fangoria's" name attached to a horror film offers no more promise than that of the name "Sam Raimi." At least in Fangoria's case, "Skinned Deep" wasn't trimmed down to a PG-13.