‘The Deep Dark Woods’ (2003, Twisted Spine)

Directed by Ritch Yarber 

This shot on video micro budget slasher fest/comedy isn’t exactly what I’d call a great movie, but it nonetheless entertains.  ‘TDDW’ starts out with a silly and pointless pre-credits lesbian sex scene that had me thinking someone had sent a Vivid Video in the mail by mistake.  Before things get too graphic in the sex department, however, the girls wind up getting hacked (offscreen) by a machete wielding psycho.  We do see the girls covered in cherry Kool-aid after the fact, though.  Now you might think this is just another “sex=death” murder scene, but the real reason the girls had to die was littering.  It seems the local park ranger (Mike Perzel) enforces the rules of the woods pretty harshly.  After the credits finish, we get down to the movie proper as a group of typically dumb and obnoxious characters from slasher film central casting decide to go camping.  Of course they make the mistake of disrespecting nature and wind up being dispatched by the good natured by deadly ranger in a variety of painful ways.  Director Yarber obviously knows the limitations of his effects crew on what had to be a really low budget so most of the gore effects are either post mortem or relatively simple.  This keeps you laughing at the intended jokes instead of shoddy effects work.  The acting isn’t too shabby for a no budget film either.  All the performances are acceptable, and Perzel as the ranger has definite charisma.  The videography and editing are pretty amateurish but passable for this sort of thing.  My biggest problem with the film’s technical aspects is the sound.  Next time around, I’d recommend to Yarber that he have his actors come back and redub their lines in post production and beef up the presence of the background music.   Also this is kind of short (just under an hour) but nonetheless worth a watch.  You can order a copy for $19.95 at www.twistedspine.com on DVD or VHS.  For that price you’ll also get a soundtrack CD featuring several NE Ohio bands.

 ‘Gacy’ (2003, Lion’s Gate)

Directed by Clive Saunders 

The recent series of serial killer movies that started with ‘Ed Gein’ and has gone on to include ‘Dahmer’, ‘Speck’, and ‘Ted Bundy’ has been kind of hit and miss with me.  I haven’t seen ‘Speck’ yet, but the other three at least deliver a movie with a distinctive voice and some degree of insight into their subjects with varying degrees of success.  You would have thought the facts in the Gacy case would have lent themselves quite easily to this sort of treatment.  What with the whole clown thing a black humor approach like the one used in ‘Ted Bundy’ seems obvious, and considering the complexity of Gacy as a person an insightful psychological portrait like the one used in ‘Dahmer’ would have made just as much sense.  Hell, even a straight up exploitation movie version of the story playing up the grisly nature of the killings would have been somewhat interesting, if in poor taste.  Instead this plays more like a TV movie of the week, and since we’ve already had one of those (featuring a great performance by Brian Dennehy) ‘Gacy’ just seems kind of pointless.  Even as a factual document it’s not a complete success.  Some parts are dead on, others are altered for dramatic impact.  At least on a technical level everything is first rate:  the actors are good and the production values are solid.  The direction is competent, if lacking in style.  I’m sure this will still rent and sell well considering American’s never ending fascination with aberrant behavior, and for the most part those who do watch ‘Gacy’ will probably be satisfied with it since it’s not a bad film.  Having seen way more than my share of serial killer films, however, ‘Gacy’ just didn’t make much of an impression on me.  (Bob Ignizio)

‘Skinned Alive’ (1989, Tempe Video)

Directed by John Killough 

‘Skinned Alive’ is kind of a frustrating viewing experience, because it’s almost there.  It’s got a pretty good cast, with the three actors who portray the psycho family (Mary Jackson as matriarch Crawldaddy, Susan Rothacker as daughter Violet, and Scott Spiegel in a scenery chewing performance as son Phink) especially fun to watch.  Spiegel and Jackson work well together, with Jackson smacking her son upside the head like a wheelchair bound, psychopathic Moe Howard to Spiegel’s dumb and wacky Shemp.  Floyd Ewing is also pretty good as “hero” Paul Hickox, an alcoholic ex-cop with a Clint Eastwood fixation.  The screenplay ain’t Shakespeare, but it has some interesting moments and does a fine job of being influenced by ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ without ripping it off.  And of course there’s plenty of gore, some of which is pretty effective, some of which isn’t.  Unfortunately first time director John Killough just wasn’t up to the task.  As it stands, ‘Skinned Alive’ is still a fairly entertaining film, but little things like making sure the screenplay was long enough for a feature would have helped.  Since the film was too short, Producer J.R. Bookwalter wound up shooting a couple of extra scenes himself.  The first, which opens the film and gives Killough’s cameo as a hitchhiker more depth and suspense, is fine.  The second, a poorly written confrontation between Hickox and his ex wife, is just padding and even Bookwalter himself agrees the scene is pretty bad.  If you’re a fan of rough around the edges seventies drive-in horror, the flaws probably won’t get in the way of your enjoyment.  Hey, I’d watch this again before subjecting myself to a second viewing of ‘House of 1000 Corpses’.  (Bob Ignizio)