Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good concept, poorly executed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

SKINNED ALIVE is a very much a bargain basement film that has stylistic similarities to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in the story of a group of travelling weirdos who go around selecting victims and skinning them. The whole thing is so ridiculous that it plays out as a spoof of the horror genre, but it's never funny or horrifying, so it does feel like a pointless exercise.The film has a concession to Z-grade movie fans in the casting of Scott Spiegel and J.R. Bookwalter, both B-movie directors (of INTRUDER and THE DEAD NEXT DOOR respectively). Most of it is an unfunny character comedy in the Troma style, with actors goofing off in supposedly funny scenes. It's quite horrible, and not in the right way.

I didn't expect to like this funny and gory horror comedy as much as I did. It's certainly not for all tastes; even though it runs only about 80 minutes (including the long closing credits), the pace is extremely slow and nothing much really happens throughout. The gore effects are cheap but effective. The villains are a really twisted gang: the foul-mouthed, abusive, wheelchair-bound matriarch, the clumsy and slightly retarded son, the sadistic hottie daughter (no nudity from her, though the opportunity does come twice - what a shame!). The "hero" is an alcoholic ex-cop who has to put a stop to their activities implied by the title. All of the acting is amateurish, but at least the actors don't take themselves too seriously and seem to be in on the joke. This film will probably be appreciated only by those viewers interested in low-budget horror film-making. (**1/2)

I still can't tell whether this film is serious. It's called a horror on here but it must be a black comedy. It absolutely hilarious! The effects are awful and so is the acting and the story line but put together it all makes one funny film...if you don't have a good sense of humor then probably give it a miss but if you do and you like gory films this is fantastic! It's similar to the Evil Dead series if you like them. The murders are gory and bloody and very unrealistic and over the top with victims surviving through shootings and stabbings and wounds healing between shots and blood stained clothes suddenly becoming clean. I found this film hysterically tacky and awful.

GOING MY WAY BABY!!!!This is the best film of 1989. I love this movie. I watch it every morning before leaving for work. The special effects are a decade before their time. This ends nowhere. Interesting original script. Guns, sex, old granny bitch mental woman in a wheelchair and some brilliant one-liners. What an age we live in producing quality life-altering experiences such as this. Best entertainment solution one can provide in 1 hour.