Killer B's on DVD: Skin Crawl

This entertaining little horror flick from Shock-O-Rama Cinema will be hitting stores on April 10. Skin Crawl uses a lot of people before and behind the camera who are veterans of the Seduction Cinema line of softcore films. Not unusual, since Shock-O-Rama and Seduction Cinema are both subsidiaries of Pop Cinema. What some may find a bit surprising is that folks whose main job is to turn out skin flicks can do such a competent job making a horror movie.

Three pregnant young witches in colonial times gather to offer a prayer to the earth goddess. The pock-faced Constable Nalder (named apparently for the similarly scarred actor Reggie Nalder who played another witch hunter in 1970's Mark of the Devil) and his men burst in and take away Helena (Heidi Sjursen), the youngest of the three. After Helena is raped and murdered by the Constable and his men, the remaining two witches cast a spell that will bring horrible vengeance down upon anyone who harms any member of their family.

The movie then shifts to a contemporary setting and the home of a woman named Margaret. She is obviously a descendent of the witch named Madeline as they are both played by B-movie scream queen Debbie Rochon. Margaret's relationship with her husband Howard (Kevin G. Shinnick) is on shaky ground, and her love for centipedes and tarantulas suggests the family tradition of witchcraft is being upheld. Margaret and Howard agree that they need to talk about their relationship. That conversation never happens, because Margaret is later ambushed by two men and brutally stabbed to death. In the next scene, the day has rebooted and Margaret and Howard are in bed and agreeing they need to talk.

This time we learn that Howard is having an affair with a woman named Sadie (Julian Wells) and that he utterly despises his wife, but can't divorce her because he married her for her money. When Sadie suggests she knows someone who can do away with Margaret quickly and easily, Howard is convinced that murder is his only option. The same day restarts several times, and each time the viewer is given more information, peeling away the layers of the story like an onion. Things get a bit confusing and I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say the conclusion is both satisfying and horrific in an old school kind of way.

My first reaction was to say Skin Crawl was inspired by E.C. Comics of the 1950s, the same ones the Tales From the Crypt TV series was based on. However, director Justin Wingenfeld says in an interview on the DVD that the actual inspiration comes from Warren Publishing's horror magazines from the 60s and 70s, including Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella (with the former two having recently been optioned for film and television). The Warren mags were a tad sleazier than E.C., using more gore and nudity, neither of which are lacking in this film. The makers of Skin Crawl also have an obvious love of European horror. The two hired killers are named Franco and Damato for cult directors Jesus Franco and Joe D'Amato. Margaret's family name is Warbeck, no doubt for David Warbeck, star of such Italian gut munchers as The Beyond and The Black Cat.

I was surprised by the harsh shot-on-video look. So many low budget filmmakers are shooting on video now, but using a process that makes video look like film. Regardless, the film stands well on its own as horror with a dash of sleaze.