Michael_Elliott Skinned Alive (1990) * 1/2 (out of 4) Straight-to-VHS title about Crawldaddy, a crippled mother who along with her son and daughter travel around the country in their van selling leather. What people don't know is that the trio are actually psychopaths who are killing people and skinning them. Apparently the budget of this thing was just a little over $18,000 and it certainly shows it. I'll admit right up front that I didn't enjoy this movie but at the same time I can't help but tip my hat to director Killough who was pretty much just a horror fan who decided to make his own movie. I'm sure that's something a lot of people would like to do but he actually did do it so my hat's off to him. As for the film itself, it's yet another take off on THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE as we get the wacko family killing, skinning and just being plain weird. The film doesn't do too much story wise as things are pretty uneven as we stay focused on the nutty family for a while but we also have a hero in a former cop who is now an alcoholic after his wife leaves him. I think some of the stuff with the drunk cop just seemed to be thrown in to pad out the running time. It was only 73-minutes without the credits so I guess we'd be looking at something less than an hour but that might not have been such a bad thing. The special effects were done with very little money but they were good enough for this type of thing. It's obvious that the skinning isn't real but it contains plenty of red stuff so fans of gore will have plenty to look at. As expected, the performances are rather weak but Scott Spiegel is somewhat fun in his role. Films like SKINNED ALIVE use to be released each week and it was always fun checking out the latest at your local video store. I do miss those days and this here is a prime example of the type of film you'd be renting in those days.

Angelfish_Solo I can't say too much as this is about the only film that I haven't seen through to the end out of choice. Dire is far too weak a word. If I said exactly what I thought of this film this comment would not be published. I though that Litch was the worst Horror film ever made. How wrong I was. Everything from the "Acting", "Directing", "Production" through to the aspect ratio for this film are wrong. It should never have been made and if I could give this piece of garbage a minus number I would. How this even got production money I will never know. The only think I can say good about this film is that................ Sorry I can think of nothing good to say about this film.If you are looking for bizarre Horror try Goblet of Gore. At least there is humour in that. This isn't even funny in a bad painful way. It is just Painful.Does for Horror what Hitler did for World Peace!!!!!

Coventry This is another sick cheapie from J.R. Bookwalter's stable of enthusiast but untalented horror directors, better known as "Tempe Productions". Apart from his own outrageously gore debut film "The Dead Next Door", Bookwalter's production studio has unleashed nothing but embarrassingly bad splatter-stuff upon horror-loving audiences that have the most absurd and grotesque plots but also the most incompetent means to work with. "Skinned Alive" is entirely Jon Killough's pride and handles about a family of traveling weirdos that turn innocent people into fashionable clothing. After killing a guy near a retarded little Ohio town, their van breaks down and the family (weelchaired mother and her incestuous son and and daughter) has to stay at the garage owner's house, where they unconcernedly continue their killing spree. This movie somewhat feels like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" meets "Mother's Day" but it's neither scary nor very funny. I appreciate the goodwill of all cast-members (Scott Spiegel in particular seems to have a lot of fun) and some of the gore-effects are effectively nauseating. Killough's sense of humor is delightfully twisted and low-budget gore king J.R. Bookwalter makes a small appearance as the Jehovah's Witness (they make such easy preys). "Skinned Alive" is overall enjoyable in a brainless sort of way. Too bad about the terrible – at times downright unendurable – acting and the completely redundant divorce sub plot.

DarthPaul1019 As somebody who values and has a rather large collection of low-budget horror films, I can honestly say this is one of the most horrible movies I have ever seen! It's like a thirteen year old wrote the dialogue, and then set up the scenes to look "wicked awesome." Another thing is this movies has no actual concept of reality...I know it's a horror movie, and most stuff in horror movies isn't even slightly based on reality, but when you have people shooting and stabbing people in the middle of the day, in the front-yard nonetheless...well you can't help but feel that either you the viewer are being treated as an idiot, or the film makers themselves are idiots. Even if you were drawn to the movie for the gore, or the cover of the DVD which features a bikini girl with "Skinned Alive" carved in her stomach...JUST STAY AWAY! I have never seen gore so badly done in my life! There are scenes where the bodies being skinned are obviously made of clay! You can actually see the clay bunch up when a knife is plunged into it, and this is supposed to pass for human flesh? You would think that the director or editor would have seen how horrible some of the crap looked, and cut it out, but it's there in all it's 3rd grade glory. There is no redeeming quality to this movie at all. The acting is bad, and the special effects are the worst! Do not spend any money on this movie.