Generally speaking things never quite turn out when a person who's worked in effects for years decides to make their directorial debut. Usually their efforts are movies that pay way too much attention to pulling off some "cool effects" than actually concentrating on making a half decent story. Gabe Bartalos' Skinned Deep is no exception to the rule as he's taken some of his favourite movies (namely The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and crafted a movie that's irritatingly trying much too hard to be "different" without the budget (or writing) to back it up.

Things start off well enough as an old man traveling a dark road has his car run-off the blacktop by an ominous figure on the back of a tow truck who uses a hooked chain to flip the car on its back before towing it along behind the truck.

From there we're introduced to your typical "All-American" family who are on their way across the country on a road trip vacation. However, they get a flat tire while on the journey and end-up at the house of an eccentric backwoods family. The house is a clutter of odd art and filled with such nutty characters as the "Surgeon General" (a pretty cool looking metal jaw-faced mutant), "The Brain" (one of the normal family members save for his gigantic outside-the-head brain), and "Plates" (a plate flinging midget played by Leprechaun star Warwick Davis).

Surprisingly enough the family doesn't at all get freaked out by their environment or their hosts (in fact the father is heard proclaiming, "See, I told you this house was normal") but perhaps they should have as the entire family, save the young teenage daughter played by Karoline Brandt, is killed by the band of nut jobs. Brandt's character then has to endure the expected mental torture of the clan while being pegged to be the bride to "The Brain". In the meantime the family also drives around the desert landscape continuing to randomly attack vehicles (and give Bartalos the chance to have a slew of gore scenes).

Skinned Deep is the kind of low-budget horror knock-off that bothers the Hell out of me. I'm not questioning Bartalos' love of the genre, but I wish he'd of tried to do something at least a little bit original and not relied on a worn-out formula (and maybe not written the movie himself as humour attempts fall flat, such as an elderly biker gang called "The Ancient Ones", and the story has no real flow).

Having a family of bizzaro psychotics does not a movie make and when even the sight of a scrawny old man beating on Davis' character can't even inspire you, you know you're in trouble. This is an ineptly made movie, the acting is generally poor and contains some really bad line delivery, and the entire thing is pretty much unbearable to watch. But I guess it's not all completely bad as the effects are fairly decent (apart from the junky "giant brain" appliance) and there is an alright assault sequence on a bunch of guys in a pick-up, but that's not nearly enough to save Skinned Deep from being just another low-grade movie. (Chris Hartley, 11/30/05)

Directed By: Gabe Bartalos.
Written By: Gabe Bartalos.

Starring: Karoline Brandt, Jay Dugre, Aaron Sims, Kurt Carley.