Skinner — Skinner(Blu Ray/ DVD)
Released in 1993 Skinner was the third feature-length from Hungarian relocated to US director, writer, producer Ivan Nagy- who seemingly was more known for US TV movies and series episode. The film has a very trying to be arty feel to its often overlong shots water, yet this is blended with sudden 90’s rapid cuts, added to this we get a god awful bland-meant to be brooding synth score- that moves between clichéd dark ambience & moody beats ‘n’ dramatic dread tipped synth texturing. You can certainly see/ hear Nagy's TV background, and sadly quite often it comes across as bad-trying to be creepy US TV series episode, and save for the gory it really could have been.
The film follows bespectacled Dennis Skinner- played by Ted Rami- he’s a seemingly shifting quiet guy who in his part-time kills & skins women, then wears their flesh. He moves to an unnamed & hardly shown small town- taking a room with young married women Kerry Tate- played by talk show host Ricki Lake, who lives with her truck driver husband who is often away from home. Added into the plot we get mysterious scarred women Heidi- played by Traci Lords- who is trying to catch up with Mr. Skinner.
Acting-wise Rami moves between underplaying trying-to-be creepy but not succeeding, and way over the top and hammy. The rest of the cast is ok, I guess Lake is fairly believable as a young woman in a troubled marriage, though the lack of depth to the town & her surroundings don’t help. Lords is really hamming it up as the troubled stranger with clearly a blond wig on, and the supporting cast is nondescript.
When the gore finally rolls around, aside from flashes- say forty-plus minutes in- it looks very rubbery & fake, and sadly Rami’s over-the-top trying to seem crazed banter doesn’t help. Though-out I felt little treat or fear from Rami’s killer- and seemingly the characters design was just playing into clichéd serial killer tropes.
When I heard that Skinner- a once thought lost serial killer film was coming out, I was very keen to check it out. But sadly the film let me down on all sides- I guess if you have penchant for trying-to-grim 1990’s TV, and are a Ted Rami fan you may get something from this- but to me it just moved from the boredom of the overlong trying to be arty/ chilling credits, through to hammy-ness, onto cliché & once again back to boredom.
On the extras front, we get five or six stand alone on camera interviews- these run between ten and seventeen mintues- we get one with director, one with Rami and the others are crew based. We get ten mintues outtakes/behind the scene footage, and a trailer. The print we have here looks ok & clear enough.
I had high, high hopes for Skinner and really wanted to like it- but I’m afraid to say it’s a dud through & through- there are so many better serial killer films around that are worthy of your time.