Skin Crawl (2007)

Wonderful Movie

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

A lot of fun.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Forlorn Margaret (an excellent and affecting performance by Debbie Rochon) is stuck in an unhappy marriage with the equally dissatisfied Howard (a pleasingly slimy portrayal by Kevin G. Shinnick). Howard and his greedy, wicked, and duplicitous mistress Sadie (deliciously played to the ruthless bitchy hilt by Julian Wells) plan to kill Margaret for her considerable fortune. However, the scheming pair are unaware that by killing Margaret they will trigger off a centuries old curse of demonic retribution. Writer/director Justin Wingenfeld relates the intricate and original story at a steady pace, uses an inspired and interesting narrative device by repeating several key scenes from the contrasting perspectives of different characters (Wingenfeld deserves extra praise for presenting said characters as truly complex three dimensional beings), does a fine job of creating and sustaining a creepy gloom-doom atmosphere, and pulls out all the nightmarish stops with the wild supernatural revenge from beyond the grave climax. This picture further benefits from the sound acting by the capable cast. Wells in particular is a total stand-out throughout; she attacks her juicy femme fatale part with delightfully lip-smacking reprehensible aplomb and really gives her sizzling all in her scorchingly kinky sex scenes (the fact that the lovely and slender Ms. Wells spends the bulk of her screen time nude certainly doesn't hurt matters any). Moreover, there are sturdy supporting turns from Armand Anthony as Sadie's hunky boyfriend Colin, John Paul Fedele as greasy thug Franco, Rodney Grey as Franco's squeamish partner Damato, and Victoria Vance as Margaret's sympathetic friend Julia. Popping up in cool bits are the ever-adorable Misty Mundae as an ill-fated hooker and Ruby Larocca as Franco's trashy trollop wife. The startling moments of savage violence pack a brutal punch. John Paul Fedele's rather rough, but effective and fairly stylish cinematography gives the movie an appropriately shadowy look. Don Mike's spooky score does the spine-tingling ooga-booga trick. The tight 75 minute running time ensures that this feature never gets dull or overstays its welcome. A hugely enjoyable shocker.

"Skin Crawl" is barely passable as a horror movie with a few decent moments.**SPOILERS**Tired of trying to make her marriage work, Margaret, (Debbie Rochon) decides the time is right to divorce inattentive husband Howard, (Kevin G. Shinnick) and move on with her life. When his mistress Sadie, (Julian Wells) suggests an even more extreme answer to their problems, he doesn't know how to agree to the plan but eventually relents, letting her go about her plan. When she succeeds and has her killed, she lets him in on the plan, which was to blackmail him out of her money and use it to live with her boyfriend Colin, (Armand Anthony) but when everyone involved in the ordeal begins to die off, they realize that she's the descendant of a long line of witches that had placed a curse on the family to rise from the grave when threatened and seek out their revenge, putting them all at great risk and forcing them to find a way of surviving her blood-thirsty reign of vengeance.The Good News: There was some good stuff here, though there wasn't a whole lot of it. The fact that there's a lot of nudity on display might be the best thing about the film. There's a lot of it in the film, most of it from the one who tends to engage in a slew of erotic moments in here, ranging from a spanking session with her in a school-girl outfit to several full-on sex scenes that, while not explicit compared to the performer's other work, still manages to satisfy the nudity quotient. It even manages to throw in a rather risqué sequence where, pulling the pants down to reveal no underwear and a sly come-on, it uses that to it's advantage and creates a rather erotic scene that creates even more nudity in here. The fact that the film also has a rather strong and original story is nice, since it manages to create something of interest every now and then when there's no zombie action, which is quite small anyway. From the double-crosses and different web of deception going on between all involved, there's a deeper story here than at first glance, and while it's not the most useful in moving the film forward with anything resembling energy, it's still a lot of fun and sticks out against similar-sounding films. The only other part here that works is, predictably, the zombie rampage at the end, which is short but really fun. There's a cool-looking zombie, complete with the usual dirt-encrusted appearance that always looks great, a bunch of wounds to indicate what happened in life, and a great feel that really works well. There's a tense stalking scene, several gory pay-offs and more to be had during this part, and it really satisfies at every turn, with the gore, tension, payback and revenge, making this one's good moments all exclusive to there.The Bad News: There's a couple flaws to this one that hold it down. One of the biggest is the fact that the pacing to this one is way off. There's a lot of time in here that doesn't evoke much interest or excitement, and most of that is due to the film's rather less-than-stellar way of handling everything. The film has a lot of scenes that are just plain dull and leave a lot to be desired. By switching around with the plot and offering up some different takes on the whole situation, it makes for a series of scenes that are just plain hard to get into, and in the end, it allows for sequences that are just boring. While the scenes of the double-crossing mistress, the family drama and the killers being given personalities make for a compelling drama, none of them are generating much excitement with the horror elements, and it can, at times, be mistaken for not having much at all to do with the genre. These scenes are not interesting or exciting, and because of that, the film is just so slow-moving and boring that it's hard to get into. Even worse still, the film makes it an hour in before the zombie is even resurrected because of all these boring moments, and they're much longer than they should be. The only other flaw to this one is the film's overlong and incredibly confusing opening. It's fun, but frankly, it goes on too long and could've been told in a much shorter amount of time than what it offers. These here are the film's big problems.The Final Verdict: While it's not all that great, it's pretty much ruined by the single flaw rather than any series of instances. If you're able to overlook the flaw and can get into it based on the story-aspects, then this one shouldn't be too bad, though if it doesn't appeal to you, then seek caution.Rated R: Graphic Language, Full Nudity, several Sex Scenes and Graphic Violence

Okay, 1stly, this really and truly is one of the worst films I've ever watched. 2ndly, who paid the dude to write that review? This movie is really pathetic, sure it's on a low budget, but the acting is worse than my 5 year old nephews. The directing is weak. The story is weak. And there are many scenes that are entirely irrelevant to the story and seem as if they were a weak attempt to add to the length of the movie. I have never written a review on IMDb, but after watching this, i had to. I had to do it. Really, i cannot believe that someone could make such a pathetic attempt in making a movie. The genre was one which spells failure. When your performance at your job CLEARLY lack any talent or ability, don't attempt at doing the hardest thing. Horror movies are hard to come by. To make yourself a joke in such movies is easy. So why do it when you clearly lack the necessary knowledge and money to do so. Also i read in a review that this was good for its budget. Now, i hate to say this, but i don't watch a movie for its budget. I watch it for its storyline, acting and entertainment value. If those 3 are good, then generally, you've got yourself a hit. Now it doesn't cost more to make up a better movie, and i'm pretty sure in half the money spent on those actors, they could find better ones who Don't look like they're reading a book. Don't waste your life's precious time watching this rubbish. Learn from my mistakes.

This movie was truly bad, not funny bad, but cheap, uninspired, easy to fall asleep to bad. The film wasn't scary, the acting was horrendous and the special effects were pathetic. It reminded me of the cheap, poorly made horror films of the 60's. If you need a film so dull you'll easily fall asleep trying to watch it, or you enjoy watching extremely low budget horror films than this is the film for you, otherwise don't waste your time.Movie spoilers ahead.There are three sisters who are Wicca's. A group of nasty, disgusting men take away the youngest of the three and rape and beat her. She dies. Her two sisters turn to black witchcraft to avenge her and any future family descents if something bad happens to them. They didn't show what, if anything happened to the men, but I nodded off so I may have missed it.Cut to modern day, the only remaining descendant, Margret, is financially well off, but her husband, Howard, is cheating on her. Howard's mistress, Sadie, convinces Howard to have Margret murdered and that for $100K she knows someone who can do it. Unknown to Howard, Sadie has a steady boyfriend. Sadie's boyfriend contracts 2 sleazy guys to kill Margret for only $10K. The two men abduct Margret, viciously stab her death, and bury her out in the woods. Sadie gets the $100K from Howard and immediately leaves him after telling him he's a loser and she only slept with with him to get the money.In very quick order, Margret arises from the dead, strangles/breaks the necks of the two men who killed her and the neck of a woman who was with them. Margret goes home and starts strangling Howard, but Howard blows his brains out. I nodded off again, so I have to assume Margret kills Sadie's boyfriend.Margret saves Sadie for last, and the way she kills her is the reason I rate the movie 2 stars instead of only 1. Margret doesn't strangle Sadie, she kills her with a kiss. After Margret kisses Sadie, Sadie runs to the bathroom and starts gagging and vomiting worms, blood and dead flesh. She then falls over and dies. The End.