I'll never forget the day I got my first credit card. It was the day that I was exposed to a whole new world of independent filmmaking. Thanks to the glory of mail order, movies that weren't available at my local video store or at the local Bradlee's were now only a phone call away. I can't even begin to tell you how many tapes I ordered from companies like Cinema Home Video, Film Threat, and Tempe. Titles like Nekromantik, The Hook of Woodland Heights and Nudist Colony of the Dead fueled my VHS collection. One of these titles that I used to own was of course, Skinned Alive. Now, I know that I haven't seen this film in over 10 years and I know for a fact that I don't own the original video anymore (although I wish I did). Unfortunately when I moved out of my parents house, I sold a huge chunk of my pre records (approximately 400 tapes and I still own hundreds more). Thanks to the magic of DVD a whole new generation can enjoy the cinematic wonder known the world over as Skinned Alive.

The story is simple and really not deserving of more than a few sentences worth of a description. A disturbing (yet entertaining) family consisting of mom (aptly named Crawldaddy), daughter and son (played brilliantly by Scott Spiegel) travel the countryside murdering and then skinning their victims. Apparently they use the skins to make leather jackets et al, but this point is barely even touched on. During a routine "stop & butcher" their trusty van breaks down and leaves them stranded. They're taken in by an all to kind mechanic and his wife while their van is being worked on. It doesn't take long for the local yokels to discover that " something just ain't right" and it's the alcoholic ex-cop neighbor who leads the crusade to bring the travelin' family down.

Troubled production aside, Skinned Alive is pure and utter garbage. That said, it's pure and utter garbage that plays off as a hell of a good time. Almost like Troma Lite, the film never reaches the ultimate in low budget badness fun, but it sure is a hoot to watch the filmmakers try. Skinned Alive has been described as a cross between Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hills Have Eyes, and I guess this is partly true. I don't know what it is about this film, but it somehow fits into it's own unique category in the world of cult cinema and somehow it just manages to work. It's tough to make much out of this film, but ultimately I wound up enjoying it as much now as I must have back when I was 17. There are some scenes of inspired gore while other effect scenes remain wretchedly bad. On the flip side there are also some scenes of brilliant comedy while other comedic scenes just seem to fall flat. I guess it boils down to an unintentional(?) mixture of the good and the bad that manages to balance out, luckily the end result is anything but ugly. This film will not be winning any charm awards anytime in the near future, but it's an important slice of 80's horror that really should be given at least a good once over by genre fans.

Skinned Alive has been remastered from the original 16mm film elements and there is a disclaimer at the start of the film that essentially claims that they did the best that they could. From what I've seen, there's really no need for apologies. Sure there are elements of print damage including scratches, specs and film dirt (some scenes do much better than others) but, there is no doubt about it, the film does look spectacular for a movie made for less than 20,000 over 10 years ago. I'm certainly not complaining and as is evident from a comparison between old and new elements in the extras section, the improvement is quite remarkable. Colors appear much sharper and more stable than they ever had in the past. For 16mm, it looks pretty damn good. Also worth mentioning is the fact that there is some slight evidence of artifacting primarily in some of the darker scenes, but not enough to warrent concern.

Audio is presented in a brand new 5.1 mix and is quite a mixed bag. The sound is actually quite clear with excellent separation between music and dialogue and a few of the surround effects are quite effective. It does appear as if a chunk of the soundtrack was completely redone (it's painfully obvious that it was redone as well). While the new track does sound pretty good, it's still obvious that most of the audio is new and not vintage if you will. There do appear to be some sync problems as well and I can't remember if this was a problem with the old VHS or not. Either way, if you'd dare complain about the sound for a title like this, then brotha you got problems. The new track is a valiant effort on the part of Tempe and I commend them on a job well done, as it stands it's quite effective indeed. It would have been nice to have the original soundtrack included, at the very least for archival purposes but such is life.

The extras are where this disc really shines, hold onto the bar folks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. First up is a feature length commentary with producer J.R. Bookwalter and make-up effects guy David Lange. The commentary track is extremely entertaining and informative. It's a great listen indeed. On the audio front we're also given an isolated music track. Next up is a 35-minute featurette on the making of Skinned Alive entitled Cut to the Bone: Dissecting the Making of Skinned Alive. This is an incredible bit that features onscreen interviews with much of the Cast and Crew (today). While for the most part it seems that many accept their participation in the production of Skinned Alive as a positive experience, there is also a lot of finger pointing that takes place. Now that's good watching! We follow this featurette with two other brief spots that cover both camera and wardrobe tests (11 min.) and some random behind the scenes footage (7 min,). Two still galleries are also included, one for conceptual artwork and the other for behind the scenes on set photos. Next we have a few trailers for some additional Tempe titles, Skinned Alive included. Finally, there's a 31-minute cable access episode of a show called Roommates: Episode 2. Apparently this show was made a few years before Skinned Alive by many of the same cast and crewmembers. It's OK, with a few funny bits and it makes for an interesting view.

Bottom line: Skinned Alive is not a great movie. Heck, it's not even a good movie. But, it is history, and history ain't always pretty. Sometimes bad can be just as much fun as good and in the case of Skinned Alive, it is. With some great over the top performances and some true scenes of inspired gore Skinned Alive can make for an interesting movie night. This budget priced special edition DVD is a blast to go through (you can pick up this disc for about 15 bucks), and the new remastering job is quite commendable (all things considered). Obviously fans of the film will be more than pleased with this presentation. Tempe seems to have a great sense of humor about the whole thing, as should we. If you decide to indulge, I promise not to tell.

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