patrickk-1 Reviews

Skinned Alive (1990)

Witty, Gory, and Surprisingly Entertaining!

[30 August 2002]

The title in itself is genius: "Skinned Alive." When I picked this movie up at the video store it was collecting dust in the horror section. I looked on the back of the box and immediately knew that it was a no-budget movie, and most avid horror-viewers know exactly what comes with THAT territory: Bad acting, shotty camerawork, almost inaudible dialogue, annoying keyboard music, and no plot.

This particular movie possessed an exception to almost every expectation that I first had of it. "Skinned Alive" is a movie that should be viewed by any filmmaker, young or old, that is interested in making a horror movie on an extremely low budget, because it is a prime example of how amateur directors can make the best of what they have. It was funny, gory, suspenseful, somewhat provocative, and well-edited. While frequently I find myself fast-forwarding these types of movies so as not to bore myself silly, with "Skinned Alive" I always found myself in eager anticipation of what would happen next. Who would be the next person to get insulted, or kicked in the face? Would the hero end up getting his house back? Surprisingly, not many of the great horror directors have the type of sense that Jon Killough had in his directorial debut when it comes to plot structure. He sets up his characters extremely well.

In conclusion, I was far from disappointed after viewing this random horror rent. It's an entertaining and hilarious presentation that will leave you laughing out loud, and inspired to go out and make your own movie.

Splatter Farm (1987 Video)

So Messed Up

[22 March 2002]

I'll skip the analysis and get right to the important stuff. Here are some of the scenes included in the 1987 no-budget home video classic "Splatter Farm." (1) A 19 year old boy having sex with a 65 year old woman. (2) A man crapping out a knife. (3) A boy performing fellatio on himself with a severed head. (4)gay rape. (5) the human consumption of feces. Need I say more? The only thing that limits this movie from being the most shocking of all time is it's lousy direction and film stock. Granted, the ideas are nothing short of nauseatingly disgusting, however they just don't look real, which is obviously the result of an extremely low budget. Bottom line: Cheap White Trash Gore at it's best. Just rent it....when you're drunk perhaps. Have a good laugh, or vomit.

...No Lies (1973)

Shockingly Real, captivating...Genuinely scary.

[13 March 2002]

I was able to see Mitchell Block's short film "NO LIES" in my Media Arts class that I took at Temple University. It is a short piece of film (about 15 or 20 minutes in length), which first appears to simply be a goofy college student playfully filming and interviewing his girlfriend as she gets ready to go out to see a play one night. There is no manipulation of the light in the room, the camera is very shaky, and both parties giggle at everything that is mentioned. Many references to the camera being on are also made, which even further demonstrates to the audience that it is a real situation.

What proceeds is in my opinion, one of the greatest tricks ever pulled off in the film industry. As the questions asked to the giggling girl get more personal, she eventually begins to tell the provoking interviewee the frightening details of how she was raped outside of her NYU apartment one night. The laughs eventually turn to soft sobs, and then yells as the cameraman makes her realize what has been done to her. In tears, she finally tells the man that she's leaving, and walks out of the apartment, closing the door behind her, into the now ever-dangerous midnight streets of the city. At this point, I expected the film to simply end, however, after the door closes, credits pop-up on the screen! The audience is set to realize that it was all an act.

Mitchell Block, a film student at NYU at the time, didn't really go onto bigger and better things, but this short experimental shot at direct cinema has certainly immortalized him as a film god in my mind. It is, and will remain one of the most original pieces of film that I will ever see.