The Ballad of Skinless Pete (2014)

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Three films down of indie/underground filmmaker Dustin Mills and I like what I've seen so far. Of those viewings ("Easter Casket" & "Bath Salt Zombies") he manages to stretch out his budget limitations and deliver on mind-bending concepts with full-on bluster. What etched in my mind from the first two films were the signature acid-laced visuals (of puppets to animation) and overt craziness, whereas Skinless felt more like straightforward, gross-out horror exploitation. It can be offbeat, but the bold approach is far more sober with claustrophobic dread and gooey gore brought upon by its monsterous transformation. And it's impressive looking discount gore; nauseating skin melting gruel, yet it didn't just centre on its frequently well-placed shocks, or gratuitous nudity. Instead there's tragedy at its core where the plot is low-key, dialogues remain dry and character pathos hits the forefront of science gone wrong.Stricken with cancer (unbeknown to his assistant) Dr. Pete Peele is having trouble getting funding for his project of an unconventional skin cancer cure due to a lack of results over too long of a period. He fears with the constant delays he might not be around long enough to see his groundbreaking work through to the end. So against his assistant's best wishes he injects the experimental serum into himself. After becoming a guinea pig of his own work we watch the deteriorating mental state brought upon by the hideous physical changes (which is hidden under a rubber mask and layers of clothing).Those who call it "The Fly" meets "The Incredible Melting Man" are right on the money. From limbs melting off, bubbling practical effects to the imitate structure centred on (mainly) two characters' back and forth interactions in the one location of a couple rooms, attic and basement. I was also getting a "Phantom of the Opera" vibe where the feelings for the woman (his assistant) he holds captive isn't shared and this plays to the bigger picture on how the story pans out. In spite of its inspirations, Mills manages to put his own subversive spin on the material and get you feeling uncomfortable in many ways.The amateurish cast (of only four) are made up of Mills' regulars - Brandon Salkil brought to the unhinged part the right amount of eccentrics, especially under heavy makeup and Erin R. Ryan's down-to-earth performance is the glue that holds it together. They both do excellent in establishing emotional weight between the characters and this is brought across by the film's gradual build-up of the title character's descent into madness and obsessive paranoia.Let's hope I can keep this track record of coming away satisfied by Mills' microbudgeted output.

Medical researcher Dr. Peter Poole (a fine and credible performance by Brandon Salkil, who also co-wrote the tough and concise script) has contracted cancer, so he decides to use himself as a guinea pig for a serum he's working on to cure the disease. However, the serum turns out to have extremely nasty side effects and causes Peter to go lethally around the bend.Director/co-writer Dustin Mills keeps the absorbing story moving along at a snappy pace, does an expert job of crafting and sustaining a grimly serious tone, delivers plenty of hideously graphic gore, further spruces things up with amusing touches of black humor, and even tosses in a generous serving of tasty female nudity for good measure. Moreover, Mills and Salkil deserve extra praise for not punking out on the bleak premise by following it through to its inevitable tragic and downbeat conclusion. Moreover, it's acted with conviction by a tip-top cast, with especially stand-out work from Erin P. Ryan as Poole's sweet and loyal colleague Dr. Alice Cross, Alison Fitzgerald as Poole's sultry lover Olivia, and Dave Parker as coldly pragmatic sponsor Neil. The crisp widescreen cinematography provides a neat polished look while the make-up and splatter f/x are exceptionally good considering the modest budget. A worthwhile fright flick.

The Ballad of Skinless Pete (aka Skinless Pete) by Dustin Wayde Mills is ridiculously, jaw droppingly good..better than you'd expect any indie feature with a low budget to be. With lens flare that would make JJ Abrams weep with jealousy and solid performances from all the cast, this is stylish stuff, with every penny of the production on display.If The Fly and The Incredible Melting Man had a son, Skinless Pete may well be him. Darkly humorous, graphic and moving in equal measure, this movie had me gripped from start to glorious finish. The effects work is some of the best I've seen in an indie production and there's genuine suspense contained in the frames.Mills' regular actor, Brandon Salkil, is on top form here as the principal character. He's a wonderfully talented screen presence, a physical actor who delivers horror and comedy in equal measure. Erin R. Ryan is excellent, too, as Dr. Alice Cross, and Allison (Easter Casket) Fitzgerald delivers a strong performance as Olivia. Ryan's always screen gold and her performance in the next Mills directed movie, Kill That Bitch, is unmissable.Topped off with one of the catchiest and fun theme songs I've heard in a long while, this is the Nekromantik for the twenty-tens! The Ballad of Skinless Pete will find a place in any horror lover's heart. Simply brilliant.

I should start by saying that The Ballad of Skinless Pete is not for everyone. Horror fans that prefer the bigger budget stuff, such as The Conjuring, are probably not going to get this film. For the rest of us horror fans, particularly us that grew up in the 70's or 80's, are going to probably love Skinless Pete. I know I did after just seeing it.Skinless Pete is the tale of Pete Peele, a doctor working on a cure for cancer. After discovering that the cure for cancer might be in the belly of a parasite, he decides it might be a good idea to test himself with it as he is dying from some form of skin cancer. Much to the chagrin of his close friend, Alice, he injects himself. At first it would appear that it worked, but after a while Pete starts to change into something and before you know it, people start brutally dying.Does this story sound familiar? It should as it is clearly inspired by The Fly. Having said that, director Dustin Mills makes the film his own having directed, edited, scored and produced. I think what is so impressive with this film is the fact that it was apparently only made for 2000 dollars.Skinless Pete is, at its core, a pure tragedy with its storytelling. With only a handful of actors in the film, the two leads, played by Erin Ryan and Brandon Salkil, has a surprising amount of on screen chemistry. But I think that Ms Ryan pretty much stole the show. She was convincing and by the end of the film you just feel crushed with what she has to endure. But Mr Salkil did a very good job as well. As Skinless Pete, Salkil had a wonderfully creepy style that was genuinely unnerving at times. Matter of fact, he was downright scary at times.This is the area that some people might have issues with, and that is the films special effects. For me, it all works very well. The SFX are grisly and downright disturbing at times. To give an example, Pete melts a mans face off and as his face is melting off, Pete proceeds to rip off his lower jaw. Even when I saw it I said aloud, "Man! That's just sick!" For people that can't see past a films low budget though, I really think some people are just going to be negative because although very disturbing, the SFX are low budget. I loved them as there was a couple of times where even I was disgusted.To end this review, The Ballad of Skinless Pete is a rare movie in 2013. It looks and feels much more like an 80's film, but with a few modern day innovations. It's obvious that director Dustin Mills has a love for the films he grew up with and for the horror genre. Let's hope he keeps coming out with films of this magnitude as horror of late has grown a tad stale with the saturation of ghost films and zombie films.