Skinned Deep
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
While taking a family trip, the Rockwell family become lost on the highway. When their car gets a flat, father Phil (Eric Bennett) goes to a convenience store to find help and a strange old woman invites them to stay with her while one of her sons fixes their car. She introduces the family to her strange sons: Plates (Warwick Davis), Brain (Jason Dugre), and one whom the woman calls "Surgeon General" (Kurt Carley). When Mrs. Rockwell takes a picture of Surgeon General, he kills her. Plates starts throwing plates at Phil, who is then murdered by Surgeon General. The Rockwell children, Tina and Matthew, escape through a window and are pursued by Surgeon General and Plates. Matthew taunts Surgeon General who swipes at him and splits him in two. Tina is captured and knocked out. When she wakes up she is in a room covered in newspapers where she escapes out of a trap door. She finds a couple old bikers from part of a gang at the convenience store being served coffee by the old woman and begs for help from the family. She gets recaptured and it's assumed the gang are killed in a cutscene. Brain takes Tina to a park and shows her how to ride a motorcycle. In the end Tina manages to kill and escape the strange family, where she finds help from a policeman who turns out to be similar to the strange family.

Review: Skinned deep, this is a masterpiece of bad movie making.
To most people, saying that this movie is terrible would be an instant turn off but for me that just sounds like a dare.
Bravo to Skinned deep for breaking rules of killing kids in a monster movie.
No part of this movie is a let down, even up to the very end where the best song ever plays through the credits, by song, i mean a girl screaming for like five minutes.
The Surgeon General in it has the strength of ten tigers too.Watch it and love it for all the wrong reasons.Telling it like it is there..
I can't really score it as that would imply this is an actual movie and not some bizarre experiment in performance art gone horribly awry.The only real gripe to have with the movie outside of the fact that it looks like it was shot on video, is the aforementioned story.
But really I'm guessing that wouldn't have worked as it looked like their budget was already being stretched thin.Consider it one really bizarre movie that was too ambitious for its own good/budget..
Bad acting (not as bad as in movies like "Abscent of Light" or "Goth", but stupid), bad music, bad story, lots of gore and goofy characters.Seriously, the movie is meant to be comedic, or how else could you interpret a wrestling match between a senior citizen and a midget?
Troma + David Lynch + Texas Chainsaw Massacre = Skinned DeepAside from the lead, Warwick Davis and the guy who played Brain, the acting is pretty much awful.
The majority of the budget looks like it went to the special effects, (which were decent.) (Considering the director is a special effects artist, this was no surprise.) The, uh, story was a bare-bones Texas Chainsaw knock-off.
I really thought this movie would be worth the 5$ I spent on it, because it's the directorial debut of Gabe Bartalos; who happens to be the regular special effects guy of such brilliant directors as Frank Hennenlotter ("Brain Damage", "Frankenhooker") and Matthew Barney (the "Cremaster"-cycle).
Well, "Skinned Deep" once more proves that people who're talented in the art of make-up effects don't necessarily make good directors, as Bartalos' own project is an irredeemable lousy gore-flick that hangs together by amateurism.
So far, this seems like a reasonably normal horror plot but the depraved family also battles a gang of old and senile motorcycle hooligans as well as a jeep full of chubby woodchoppers, and this is where the absurdity really kicks in.
You could try, like many of my fellow reviewers apparently did, to look at "Skinned Deep" as a typical so-bad-it's-entertaining trash movie...
As long as you don't go in expecting anything other than a movie that's full of gore, bad acting, and stupid fun, you'll have a good time.This is the best movie Troma never made.
The acting is abysmal, even for a bad horror movie, and whoever wrote this should never work again.
Its only redeeming quality is that it provides the opposite end of the spectrum from bad movies that are worth watching..
It can by no means be compared with classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" like every second person does - it is definitely a lower class movie.
The audience smiled as well, responding with the LOUDEST movie presence that I've heard in three years, sending plastic plates flying throughout the theater during Bartalos' intro and whenever Warwick Davis, as 'Plates,' was on the screen.Other standouts at the festival included 'LOVE OBJECT' by Robert Parigi, Greg Pages' 'THE LOCALS,' and the awesome 'WONDERFUL DAYS' by Kim Moon-Saeng.
The film is 1000 times creepier than Rob Zombie's idiotic House of 1000 Corpses (when will that moron figure out that no matter how much of a fan of the genre he may well be, he sucks as a filmmaker?), even though it was shot on a miniscule fraction of the budget.
If you like those sleeper gems of the horror genre, cooked up by half-mad geniuses with vision, intellect, courage, and a lot of raw intuition about the very nature of horror (which lies, I believe, in our deeply seated fear of all that can go wrong when our normally reliable assumptions about reality are called into serious question), then this movie is for you.
with Warwick Davis as Plates.This is one of those horrid movies that no one buys, that makes money off of stupid renters.
The characters are granny, the crazy mother, Plates, the midget that throws plates, Brain, a guy with a big head and the Surgeon General.
I rented this looking for a bad movie, but if you expect any entertainment at all, avoid this at all costs.
This is what I wrote to the famous Mr. Warwick Davis (All Leprechaun movies, Star Wars , Harry Potter, 10th Kingdom, Willow, Labyrinth and many more)and will give you an idea of what I think of "Skinned deep" : "Hi Mr. Davis, I always been a fan of your acting qualities.
Today I've rented this DVD called "Skinned deep" and I was surprised to see you in this movie as the figure "plate".
But the story and the character "General" is great and weird at the same time.You can easily give this a bad vote, but look past it and see it as something that is for your pleasure: a true sick and disturbing movie with some great characters like Warwick Davis (Leprechaun) as Plate, this is really a sick person ;-) I would like to see a sequel!And there is gore all over the movie from a family to a couple of old bikers that cruise around and stop for a coffee.
I had myself pretty much prepared for Skinned Deep given the fact that I've rented several Fangoria released films in the past, and generally know what to expect.
Usually there's no plot, bad dialog, no scares, in fact just about everything is bad with a Fangoria release except for the gore.And I suppose that's why I keep coming back to these flicks.Skinned Deep does deliver on the gore quite early in the film, but pretty much leaves you hungry for more and the only thing there to chew on is one terrible line, plot point, or general stupid place in the movie.
This thing just plods along after the initial kills, forcing you to watch weird scene after weird scene that made little or no sense.People have pointed out the relations to Basket Case, TCM, and Troma a few times already in other reviews...
Speaking as both a horror filmmaker and a true horror fan, movies like Skinned Deep are very frustrating to watch.
The entire film is mostly painful to sit through, especially the end credits scrolling on a black screen with the lead actress screaming for literally ten minutes straight.
Even Forey Ackerman's brief cameo can't save it.This entire movie makes me angry is because I know there are better scripts and far better filmmakers out there who are not being given the chance to make a truly excellent horror film that gives this genre, and it's fans, the respect it deserves.
surely this will become a cult classic horror/comedy plates has to be one of the best characters in film history sure there was no emotion or good acting skills shown but that still doesn't mean this is a great film and surely in 5-10 years will be remember as a cult classic and film beyond our generations understanding, just like all cult classics I'm sure this film is still vastly unheard of so i ask everyone out there to get this film out and show someone they know needs a laugh to show them this film sure some of the scenes are a bit weird and futureistic for us to understand but like all cult classics this will become one everyone loves.
Been there many times before, as has become apparent with most special effects artistes who want to throw something together and pass it off as a movie, should really take stock.The main character/villain, the Surgeon General is cool to look at, but at first glance you find yourself reminded of Dr Satan from Rob Zombie's directorial encore.
As for the character of Brains, well the director must have really be a fan of cult director Frank Henenlotter, for one scene has Brains, totally naked running down a busy street.Overall a very major disappointment, not many special effects people make that successful transition, names like Chris Walas, Kevin Yeagher and now alas Mr Gabe Bartalos.
I realise money is a major issue when it comes to making these kind of movies, but at least has the decency to craft some sort of original storytelling technique before you dare to put it onto film.As for Warwick Davis, I think another Leprechaun beckons, time to hide behind the mask and please pass on making good on any more favours.
I enjoy clever spoofs of horror movie convention (and would love to see a parody in which screeching cats keep leaping into frame accompanied by LOUD JOLTS OF MUSIC, thus killing off both of those exasperating gimmicks for good).
What should have been a joyfully grotesque meal sequence left me wondering, "Are these people really this oblivious?" After one character makes an escape yet is still stranded in the building in which something horrible has happened, why would this person begin calling out for help, especially when the room s/he sees below looks like something out of the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"?
To think that this movie made it to the shelves of Blockbuster can only give hope and provide inspiration to any dreamer looking to make films, if only for a weekend.Plot: Demented family wearing obvious prosthetics goes on killing spree.
This is by far the best "so bads its good" film I've seen.Because; the lead villain is seriously cool, the others are brilliant as well, stuff explodes, stuff bleeds, Warwick Davis throws plates at people.It is possibly the most fun film I've ever seen and I really enjoyed drinking my beer and watching this trippy film.
In my collection (mainly consisting of bad shark movies) the majority of the film is usually spent waiting for cool stuff to happen.I cant explain it...
It all could have been great but I guess he wanted to make a movie about a weird family like in Texas Chainsaw Massacre but what's this.
I'm not saying I'm a huge Warwick Davis fan, but, he was the only decent actor in this film, and, only for his speech at the end of the movie while speaking to the senior bikers.
Did someone really think it was a good idea to film this movie?.
Sounds like a typical horror movie.
But "Skinned Deep" is not a typical horror movie.First of all, everything is bad: the acting, the characters, the dialogue, the concept.
And I have never seen such bad acting or such dumb dialogue.All I can say is that "Skinned Deep" would make a very good documentary on how not to make a horror film..
I can only assume that, on realising that making a decent horror film was way beyond his capability, make-up FX man-turned-writer/director Gabriel Bartalos opted to make the worst and most bizarre film he possibly could in the hope that fans of crap movies would seek it out, revel in its absurdity, and adore it for its sheer awfulness.Well think again, Gabe...
Only teenage cutie Tina (Karoline Brandt) survives the slaughter, when Brain (a mutant with a huge external brain) takes a shine to her.The other members of Brain's clan (a plate-throwing dwarf, a deformed creature with a steel trap for a mouth, and their evil matriarch) attempt to induct the frightened girl her into their family, but Tina isn't too keen on the idea: when alone with Brain, she tears out a chunk from his massive head (which for some reason contains several animated wooden alphabet blocks!?!) and makes a bid for freedom.Meanwhile, a gang of geriatric bikers turn up to deal with the murderous mutant clan.As the battle rages between the elderly and the mutated, Tina wanders into the lair of 'the creator': a musclebound, headless body with a vicious little creature inside its abdomen.In the hands of a skilled movie-maker, and with reasonably talented actors, this kind of demented lunacy might just work, but with Bartalos directing a motley cast completely devoid of talent, Skinned Deep fails miserably.
This movie starts of really bad like Troma wanted to make a Texas Chainsaw Massacre Rip Off. An incredibly stupid family gets lost in nowhere and meets a creepy family who happen to kill them.
it slides between classic horror, total trash (the bum fight reminded me a lot of the "Street Trash" style), over the edge politically incorrect humor like Troma delivers it and a mixture of real bad camera and effects and some pretty decent shots and splatter or explosive effects.
The movie ends with the typical "sequel awaiting" finale but tops it off with the credits rolling on the girl screaming for several minutes in an incredibly funny way.
Not long ago my friends and I had the idea, on a rainy day, to go rent some horrible looking B movie merely for the laugh factor.
The unfortunate thing about renting Skinned Deep first, is that now every time we try and watch a bad movie for the comedic value, it doesn't compare and we always end up talking about Skinned Deep..
If you're not attuned to the style, if you're not a fan of rejecting standards in that way (including the standard set forth by the "cult of originality"), if you think that Interview with the Vampire (1994), say, is the sole recent pinnacle of horror films and should be emulated stylistically, Skinned Deep is likely to just seem to you like a crappy, clichéd film with bad acting and questionable technical elements.
Writer/director/producer/loom-operator/cobbler Gabriel Bartalos also throws in a couple elements not usually found in these films, such as the hilarious septuagenarian biker gang, which becomes a major subplot in the climax.Although some people are sure to complain that this is "just a rip-off of TCM", I think that is misguided at this point in time (if it was ever guided).
The freaks in Skinned Deep are one of the best collections I've seen in a TCM film, as good as Rob Zombie's Firefly family in House of 1000 Corpses.
I was watching this movie expecting an amateurish low budget horror flick like Ozone - Attack of the Redneck Mutants or Zombie 90: Extreme Pestilence, but this one is definitely a lot better than those movies.(minor spoilers) Among other things, we get a midget throwing dinner plates as if they were shurikens, an elderly biker gang, and a Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired mutant redneck family.
The movie also has a few Troma-like jokes, which are actually pretty funny without being too silly.Since this is low-budget, the camera work and acting are bad (although Warwick Davis as Plates is brilliant).A fun, weird, original B-horror movie.Rating: 7/10 (subtract at least 2 points if you're not into low budget stuff, but then you will probably have never heard of this movie).
"Skinned Deep" is one of those films that will have you're jaw dropped to the floor when it's all over, and you'll be thinking to yourself, "Where the hell do people get money for stuff like this?"What works in "Skinned Deep"?
Writer/director/producer/effects artist/control freak Gabriel Bartalos is no stranger to the horror genre, having done the effects for films like Blade (1998), Basket Case 2 (1990) and Brain Damage (1988), so as you can imagine the special effects are the highlight.
There are lots of other memorable characters in the film, like Plates and Brian.
The film makes no sense at all, but hey it was a fun ride.Don't expect a serious horror film here, "Skinned Deep" is anything but that.
Want to see a film that features a character called Surgeon General that looks like Dr.Satan's cousin, a plate throwing dwarf called Plates played by Warwick Davies, a character called Brain (or Brian) with a huge over-sized brain filled with toy blocks, a disturbed yet lovable' Granny', a geriatric biker gang, a headless bodybuilder with 'Dyno-mite' on his crotch, full frontal male nudity, a child getting sliced in half, music by Captain Sensible, a fight between a dwarf and a bow legged ancient biker and, to top it all a cameo by Forrest J.
Cheese-A-Rama movie for sure...but worth seeing the ingenious special effects, especially with the character of 'Brain' (or Brian for those sensitive ones).
Let me start off by saying that I love bad movies.
They're a riot to watch with friends, movies like Killjoy, Gingerdead Man, ANYTHING Troma, etc.
We were expecting something similar, a movie so unbelievably bad you can't help but laugh at it, thus increasing your enjoyment.
I wonder what the makers of this film were thinking, did they really make a serious attempt to deliver a creepy horror movie??
Its about a girl who's family gets killed, and one of the sons of the "creator" who we meet at the very end of the film, decides he wants to keep her as a pet, right after the brother is sliced in half.
The acting in this movie was horrible, the main character Tina did not seem to have any emotion after seeing her parents killed.
The death scenes are lame, especially those of the mutants, and the only character that was enjoyable in this movie was the Surgeon General.
I would like to see the Surgeon General in another movie, one with a better director and a better storyline.
Note to Bartalos; grotesqueness alone does not a horror film makeoh, and don't quit your day job.Hart Sharp Video, who I must confess, I've never heard of before, have done an uncharacteristically bad job of transferring Skinned Deep to DVD.