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37%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #9,678
...out of 20,886 movies
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Crawldaddy and her two kids are travelling across the country on the search for victims. The dysfunctional family has the disturbing habit of skinning people alive before killing them. When their van breaks down, they are put up by a friendly couple.
--TMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: October 6, 2009
I said this in my last review, but I'm going to go ahead and quote myself as I think it bears repeating here: "Hook me up with a new movie featuring oodles of kills, loads of blood, gratuitous nudity, and a paper-thin plot and I'll be all set for a pleasant night in front of the tube." Yes, I'm a diehard fan of old-fashioned schlock, and that is exactly what I got from Skinned Alive, an underlooked film that felt exactly like one of those eighties slasher flicks that I love so much. Oh, and did I mention that J.R. Bookwalter of The Dead Next Door fame had more than a little part in helping with this release? He may not have directed or written it, but a blind man could see his influence throughout the running time.
Paper-thin plot? Check. This one revolves around a wheelchair-bound woman named Crawldaddy (Mary Jackson) who travels from town to town with her son Phink (Scott Spiegel) and daughter Violet (Susan Rothacker) in an old, beat-up van. Hell of a story, right? Well, there's more to it... you see, this dastardly trio is constantly on the prowl for fresh human victims, as they run a leather business and - you guessed it - they use human skin for their goods, which range from leather jackets to leather bras.
They eventually find themselves in a backwoods Ohio town, where the unthinkable happens: their van breaks down with a body wrapped up inside. They take it to the local mechanic (Lester Clark) who assures them that he can have it up and running by the next day, but there's one additional problem: there are no hotels in this town as "that old Bates place" shut down years ago. Fortunately for our heroes, the mechanic has a guest room at his house, and he invites them to stay there while he works on their vehicle. They agree, and it doesn't take long before they have their eyes set on a new pair of victims... their hosts. Paul (Floyd Ewing Jr.) is the ex-cop neighbor who is a good friend of this elderly family, but will he be able to stop this murderous clan once they get started?
So, there's your paper-thin plot - how about the "oodles of kills and loads of blood"? That's what the film brings to the table, and truth be told, that's about all that the film brings to the table. The skinners knock off a few people, they wind up at the house of those old folks, they kill a few strangers, we see the grand finale and then the credits roll. Yes, there is a little plot progression thrown in to spice things up (including a divorce subplot that leads absolutely nowhere), but nobody in their right mind picked up this film for that sort of thing, and the filmmakers knew it. Therefore, they gave us what we wanted: kill after bloody kill, and though you wouldn't mistake it for a snuff film, there are some damned good effects on display here (remember the Bookwalter touch I mentioned?) with plenty of the red stuff.
The characters are a hit-or-miss affair, though most do tend to lean towards the "hit" side of things. Before continuing with this paragraph, let me point out that strong acting is not a selling point of this film. Oh, sure, it's convincing enough from time to time and it's nothing to gripe about for the most part, but again, that is not something that you pick up a film like this for. However, the characters themselves are well-written, with mother dearest being the cream of the crop. She is as foul-mouthed as they come and is constantly berating her offspring, and watching her work was a treat. It's amazing that she would go on to become a regular on the Waltons series of TV movies after seeing how natural she looked in this type of role.
There's not much more than can be said. Do you want a horror classic with legitimate scares and a memorable story? Skip this one. Do you want to see a bunch of kills and some great gore? Give this one a watch. Personally, I'm a fan of these trashy little horror flicks that do one thing and do it well, so I'm going with a 7/10.
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