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SKINNED ALIVE
Written and Directed by Jon Killough
Produced by J.R. Bookwalter
Edited by Michael Tolochko Jr.
Director of Photographer - Michael Tolochko Jr.Crawldaddy - Mary Jackson
Phink - Scott Spiegel
Violet - Susan Rothacker
Paul Hickox - Floyd Ewing Jr.
Tom Miles - Lester Clark
Whinnie Miles - Barbara Katz-NorrodI originally sat down to write this review about a month ago, but was plagued by indifference. When one neither likes nor dislikes a movie, they are left with little to say. I'm still in the same rut.
SKINNED ALIVE is a gore-comedy from Jon Killough and J.R. Bookwalter starring Scott Spiegel, the director of the cult classic INTRUDER. Picture THE TEXAS CHAINESAW MASSACRE played with tongue planted firmly in cheek and you have a pretty good idea where this film is going.
Spiegel plays Phink, the eldest son of a family of tanners led by Crawldaddy. Contrary to first thought, Crawldaddy is the mother, but you wouldn't know that by looking at her. She's as cantankerous and ornery as any mountain man that I've come across. There's enough piss, vinegar, and mean flowing through her veins that she would make your neighbor's pitbull whimper in fear.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what type of hides these cats like to tan. And when their van breaks down in a small mid-western town they see a tree full or rubes, ripe for the pickens. Too bad the Crawldaddy clan is about as sharp a wooden spoon.
Like his pal Sam Raimi, Scott Spiegel is a ham in front of the camera. Every time he speaks he has an odd habit of taking off his glasses only to put them back on as soon as he utters his last word. He does this multiple times within each scene. It's an odd acting choice and I couldn't find any reason for it.
The most interesting aspects of the film are the familial sexual dynamics that are played out. You have the patriarch with the character of Crawldaddy. It seems, to Killough, that sexual politics are dictated by circumstances and not gender. Not once is the character ever treated like a woman by any of the supporting cast. She's as butch as they came, enough so that no one ever seems to question the fact.
Next comes incest. Phink's baby sister, Violet, tries to make a play for her dear brother. He's more than receptive. You can tell that this family's trip to the bottom of the food train started a few generations back. When her advances don't end up as planned, Violet is more concerned with the undependability of men rather than taboos she wanted to cross.
The only person in the movie is concerned about his actions is out little seen hero, Paul Hickox. Paul is a recovering alcoholic, ex-cop whose wife is sleeping with her divorce lawyer. He's given about 15 minutes of screen time, including the climax. Deservingly so, the scenes between he and his ex are badly played out and do little in the way of servicing the plot or providing character development. Perhaps a better way to go would have been to drop him altogether and go the way of Straw Dogs with two other characters, Tom and Whinnie Miles, a older couple who takes in the Crawldaddy clan.
SKINNED ALIVE does have its moments. Those that are looking for gore will not be disappointed. The goods are delivered. It's a sick little movie that won't disappoint gore fans. It's just disjointed and uneven with the comedy never being black enough. I would have liked to see the taboos pushed as far as they could. The movie's had got potential and it's almost enjoyable. It's a movie about extremes that never extreme enough. Its just middle of the road.
DVD Review
I can sympathize with the filmmakers behind SKINNED ALIVE, I never much cared for any of my filmwork either. There's always something that could have been improved upon. You just need to come to terms with the necessary compromises that are all part of moviemaking. Even with that said, almost everyone involved with the making of SKINNED ALIVE goes out of their way to rip this one a new orifice.
The retrospective documentary found on the disc sounds more like a "f*ck you" letter than a "thank you". Cast and crew alike all regard the film with various levels of animosity. The director, Jon Killough walked off the project and can barely discuss the film seriously (which might be why he didn't record a commentary track). The producer, J.R. Bookwalter (a self-admitted bane in the directorial existence of Killough), suffers a love-hate relationship with the project. On the commentary he ridicules the movie endlessly, but admits to SKINNED ALIVE being better than his own films at the time.
Thinking back, I can't remember a single positive statement from anyone interviewed regarding the filmmakers. That, to me, is worth it's weight in gold. Behind-the-scenes features like this are the reasons I look forward to DVDs from Tempe Video. Rather than sugarcoat and glamorize the business, Tempe presents an educational reality check for fans casually considering a career in filmmaking. Material like this can be more valuable than the movie itself.
Perhaps, on a future disc, Tempe can chronicle the making of one of their movies from conception to completion with the same no-holds barred attitude found in the SKINNED ALIVE disc. No more of the Talking Head Memoirs, I want to see full-on video documentation of script meetings all the way up through bouts of Editing Suit Whiteout and distribution deal wrangling. That's moviemaking folks.
I never had a chance to see the original transfer for SKINNED, but to hear Bookwalter tell it, you couldn't make out shit from shinola. Some negative damage aside, the new transfer looks brilliant. There's some nice color pop, especially in the exteriors.
I've already mentioned the absence of Killough's commentary as well as the self-deprecating attitude of the features. Standing in for Killough is FX man David Lange, who from the sound of things, didn't do much on the movie. Lange is the Abbott to Bookwalter's Costello as Bookwalter lays on anecdote after anecdote of his time spent overseeing production. The end result is one of my all-time favorite commentary tracks that's right up there with the hilarity found on THE SPECIALS and MALLRATS.
The discs also features production and conceptualization artwork, test footage, and an oddity titled "Roommates." Everyone has to start somewhere, and "Roommates" is an early cable access sitcom from some of the same talent involved with SKINNED ALIVE. It's an interesting inclusion, but one I couldn't fully watch.
Now the rest of the disc, mind you, if golden...especially if you have the slightest inkling of becoming a movie maker. Pure gold.