Bad acting, unique characters and character designs, and corny gory greatness are all present in Skinned Deep, the latest mass of low-budget horror to be released under Fangoria’s Gorezone Video label.
Skinned Deep takes the tried-and-true Texas Chainsaw Massacre plot, in which a family of freaks lures people to their home only to torture and/or kill those poor, innocent victims. The difference here is that unlike Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Skinned Deep is in no way meant to be taken seriously. This film is not “shockingly realistic” to the point of making the viewer question whether or not they are witnessing a sick stream of real footage. It is not regurgitation-inducing in its depiction of the humorous ways that, under the proper sadistic killer care, humans can be disposed of. This is just a cheap, comedic look at violent and gory acts being committed by a very diverse and equally mentally insane family unit. Think House of 1000 Corpses in terms of certain elements such as the dinner table scene and its Texas Chainsaw worship but without any sort of believable acting and much more humor.
Why am I not surprised that Karoline Brandt, the lead actress (if you can even find it in your heart to call her that) and kidnapped, tortured and eventually vengeful heroine Tina in Skinned Deep, has never starred or even appeared in a film before, and according to imdb.com, has no future film endeavors planned? Not only can she act with all the talent of a freezing, untoasted Eggo waffle, but she also appears as if she’s going to burst into laughter every damn time she appears on the screen. This both adds an aspect to and takes one away from the film—on one hand, the horrendous acting gives the film that further cluster of cheese, but on the other hand, it’s still bad acting, and at times makes the film very hard to watch. There are, however, some standout performances, particularly by Jay Dugre as Brain (or Brian, depending on whether you feel like respecting him or not), a sympathetic psycho with a humungous but hollow cranium who only participates and allows his family to participate in their murderous hobbies because he “doesn’t know any better” (Brain also runs completely naked throughout the streets of New York in one of the most random, completely unexpected scenes in movie history—and also a stint that sent Dugre to jail for a night, explained in further detail in the Behind the Scenes featurette on the DVD), and the very underrated Warwick Davis (he of Leprechaun fame), who plays Plates, the midget with an obsession of those spherical pieces of porcelain. Also part of the family (but not worth noting of because of acting ability) are Granny, who delivers dialogue in a possibly worse of fashion than Brandt as Tina, and Surgeon General, a silent, dark figure whose metallic bear trap jaw makes him the most badass-looking out of any of the characters in the film, and furthermore, Aaron Sims and Kurt Carley, the two people who played the General in this film, don’t do a horrible job of acting (but maybe that’s because the role doesn’t require any sort of speaking).
The gore in this film definitely delivers—the first couple scenes alone feature the slaughtering of Tina’s entire family, complete with throat slashing and separation of Tina’s little brother into two halves with perfect alignment right down the middle of his entire body. After this scene the film follows with head explosions, heart explosions, limb severing, and more. The blood is of the bright red variety here, reminiscent of films such as Dead Alive and the Evil Dead series—very cartoony and slightly lighthearted (at least, as lighthearted as murder can get), yet very relentless. Plus, towards the end of the film, there is a noggin punting scene of a certain midget’s decapitated head–and the punting is carried out by a crazed, bloodthirsty old man. Priceless.
I also must give a lot of credit to Skinned Deep and its creators because they barely used any god-awful CGI (there were a few explosions towards the end of the film and that was it)—a rare occurrence in cinema, whether low budget or not. The fact that most of the special effects and character costume additions were handcrafted by actual human beings and not a computer mouse also gets much respect and love from me. This is definitely a throwback to the golden days of horror special effects and not another horror film with special effect elements reminiscent of a Pixar film (unlike pretty much every direct-to-video movie to come out in the past few years).
It’s not shocking, it’s not scary, and, despite the gore factor, it’s not even sickening—but if you’re looking for a funny, cheesy and cheap yet also very inspired and fun entry into the “deranged family” subgenre that Texas Chainsaw Massacre spawned so many years ago, Skinned Deep is definitely worth at least one viewing. If not, it’s still worth a view just to see a midget throw plates at unsuspecting victims while standing on a speeding truck. Or to see the depraved family force-feed a wounded man sand, filling him up with enough of the grit to kill him. Or to see the badass Surgeon General proceed to chase around and kill geezers.
The fact is, Skinned Deep is one of the more creative horror comedies to come out as of late, and provides the viewer with certain situations that they will definitely not see anywhere else. This is the type of comedy that Leatherface would put on and watch with Otis Driftwood and Krug Stillo after inviting them over for dinner. It’s the type of film that can only be appreciated and found funny by a certain crowd–but when that particular audience finds it, damn is it awesomely hilarious!
-Spooky Steve
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
