Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Tuneful Tuesday: Every Breath You Take

Finally! Someone has recorded a version of "Every Breath You Take" that fully captures the essence of the song. Play it, and you'll see why it belongs here at Terror Titans!


By Milo Manara

This cover of "Every Breath You Take" was made by the Melodicka Bros. Visit their Facebook page here!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

'Skinned Alive' will disappoint almost everyone

Skinned Alive (1990)
Starring: Scott Spiegel, Susan Rothacker, Mary Jackson, Floyd Ewing Jr., Lester Clark, and Barbara Katrz-Norrod
Director: John Killough
Rating: Two of Ten Stars

When a family of crazy cannibalistic taxidermists (Jackson, Rothacker, and Spiegel) are stranded over night in a small town, they see no reason to stop their ongoing killing spree.



"Skinned Alive" is a clumsily constructed horror comedy that features a talented cast doing their best with a weak script and a special effects crew that either didn't have enough money or enough skill to stretch the money for decent gore effects. There are only two instances in the film that will have you squirming in your seat due to the splatter/ick factor... and that's entirely too few for what this movie seems to want to be.

And the fact I say "seems to want to be" illustrates the biggest problem with "Skinned Alive", Watching it, I got the sense it wanted to be a cross between "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Spider Baby", but it lacks cohesion, so I'm really sure if that's what writer/director Killough was going for, or if that just my mind trying to bring order to the chaos.

If you're looking for a gory splatter-fest, "Skinned Alive" does not deliver. It doesn't even deliver on the promise of the title, as the only person who comes close to being "Skinned Alive" is a character who inexplicably kept coming back from the dead, in a manner that I couldn't determine whether it was supposed to be a joke or just a symptom of bad continuity. IF you looking for an intense and horrific viewing experience, "Skinned Alive" won't satisfy you either, because it unfolds in an entirely too random fashion, with too many characters being present for no good reason and the pace being too choppy and uneven for any tension to build in the film. The only possible audience for this film who will be satisfied are those looking for a Bad Movie Night experience; that this movie is perfect for.

With the horror falling flat, many of jokes being so lame they can't even be described as un-funny, the overall package of this film is pretty bad, despite the fact that most of the featured actors do a good job in the sense that they are hamming it up big time. Those over-the-top performances make the film more fun to watch than it otherwise might have been... and why it would be a nice addition to a Bad Movie Night. (Producer J.R. Bookwalter would have done everyone a favor if he had made this film part of the "Bad Movie Police" line-up from a few years ago. He might even have found that endeavor to be more successful than it was if he had.)

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Terror on the Thirteenth: Whistler

When preparing for this year's 31 Nights of Halloween, I found far more films than I could feature. Therefore, instead of letting the blog go completely dormant until Halloween 2020 approaches, I'll be posting a short film on the 13th of every month. I may even post an actual film review or two, and maybe a Saturday Scream Queen post will materialize every now and then. Time will tell!

To get things started, here's a little domestic chiller that keeps the tension up throughout and left me wanting more. (Hey, maybe we can consider it an unofficial crossover to The Whistle series while we wait for another chapter!)



Whistler (2016)
Starring: April Hughes
Director: Simon Berry
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars