Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
darko_devotchka *spoiler alert* The basic plot of this low-budget horror flick is that a nerdy, Converse-and-khaki wearing guy Dennis Skinner (Ted Raimi) rents a room from Ricki Lake's character, and spends his days as a janitor, or sometimes killing prostitutes. Meanwhile, one of his victims, played by Traci Lords, is busy stalking Skinner and trying to kill him.The redeeming factor in this whole movie is Ted Raimi. He plays Skinner brilliantly. His performance is comparable to that of Anthony Perkins' in Psycho. Raimi is so believable as the nice, adorable guy who ends up being a quite creepy serial killer. Also, being a Ted Raimi fan-girl, his being shirtless for 75% of the movie helped the movie a lot as well, finally having some male eye-candy in a horror movie was awesome to me.Ricki Lake did a good job as the nice, slightly naive landlady, and I thought the relationship between her and Skinner was cute...until the end of the film, of course. Traci Lords was great as well, she was downright creepy as the vengeful (prostitute? i guess? it never says) woman who has been mutilated by Skinner.The special effects are creepily realistic, when Skinner wears his victims' skins I was genuinely freaked out, because they looked so real. It is pretty gory, not much actual killing, just lots of grossness and blood.If you are a big Ted Raimi fan, you will definitely like this film. Seeing him play someone totally opposite of Joxer, Pavel, Hoffmann, etc. etc. is really refreshing and shows his versatility as an actor - he can pull off creepy and sexy as well as nerdy.Skinner is definitely worth a look.
Flixer1957 Around the time that Ivan Nagy got in trouble along with girlfriend Heidi Fleiss, he found time to grind out this sleazy SILENCE OF THE LAMBS ripoff. Ted Raimi rents a room from frustrated housewife Ricki Lake (who's a sight to behold in tent dresses and stupid-looking ankle socks.) He sneaks out each night with his skinning knives and keeps the prostitute population down, then wears the hair and hides of his victims. Meanwhile, he's being stalked by Traci Lords as a black-clad, disfigured morphine addict. (This character, an ex-prostitute, is named Heidi.) At one point the killer changes his MO long enough to slay and flay an annoying African-American; he then runs around in the dude's skin talking with a black accent. Carrying the tasteless episode further, a watchdog devours part of the hide and becomes ill. Very little violence is shown, considering the inherently gruesome subject matter, but SKINNER has the sort of slimy, grungy "overall tone" that gives conniption-fits to the MPAA. Rent it and you'll never forget itthough Ricki Lake would appreciate it if you did.
zmoviefan This Horror film really surprised me, it was so much better than I had expected. It had nudity, bloody special effects, a pretty good storyline and the is some character development. It wasn't scary at all, just well made.Ricky Lake and Traci Lords were great,but the movie is all about Ted Raimi as the crazy guy who enjoys wearing the skins of his victims. Mostly he kills prostitutes.Ms. Lake plays a married woman who rents a room out to psychotic Raimi.Ms. Lords plays a previous (disfigured)victim looking for Raimi to avenge herself.
capkronos Ted Raimi is Dennis Skinner, a friendly, grinning wacko who kills women, skins them and wears a suit made of their stitched-together flesh. He rents a room from lonely housewife Kerry (Ricki Lake), who's glad to have some company since her moody trucker husband (David Warshofsky) is always gone. Meanwhile, Heidi (Traci Lords), a depressed, soft-spoken, scarred, limping morphine addict who managed to survive an attack years earlier, balances her time in a grimy hotel room shooting up, crying and plotting revenge.This is a dark, dreary, depressing and often awkward film and I hated it when I first saw it. However, I gave it another chance and am glad I did. Aside from the top-notch KNB FX work, it takes place in a unique, graffiti-tinged decaying urban hell landscape, has a great score from Contagion and plenty of clever movie references if you're looking for them. There's one odd and powerful moment in this film, where Dennis is talking to the shell of a victim he's just killed and skinned about his traumatic childhood and rubbing the hands of the deceased along his face for comfort. Moments like these, done with some thought and care, lift a film like this right up out of the gutter.I completely disagree with the potshots made at Traci Lords. Many people just cannot put their perceptions of her behind them long enough to even consider the fact she's capable of giving a competent performance. I found Lords to be more than just a little competent in this particular role. It is by no means an easy or flattering part to have to play, but I thought she played it very, very well.Speaking of unflattering portraits, you can learn more about director Ivan Nagy by viewing HEIDI FLEISS: Hollywood MADAM.Score: 7 out of 10.
