I Eat Your Skin

Rating:
Summary: Good makeup, but everything else is bad.
Review: I Eat Your Skin (Del Tenney, 1964)

To call I Eat Your Skin a bad film is sort of like calling a beagle a dog. You should know simply from the title that you're dealing with a sixties exploitation flick. The problem is, there's not enough exploitation. You've got some very attractive women, none of whom ever actually gets naked, and a bunch of zombies running around who never actually get to eat anyone. (No, despite the name, no skin is actually consumed during the film.) The script is horrible, the fight scenes are hysterical, and the acting is atrocious. About the only thing that kept me watching (and I'll admit, I hit the fast forward button more than once and skimmed) was that the zombie makeup, which was nothing but face makeup and, at times, a little on the chest, was creepily effective for no reason I can put my finger on. Unfortunately, special effects do not a film make, and are certainly not enough to have me recommend this film to unsuspecting movie renters. **

Rating:
Summary: A Cult Horror Classic
Review: I Eat Your Skin is the ulitmate in low budget horror for its time. Everything about it is just right for its audience. The zombies are eerie and sport wierd makeup with bulging eyes. It also contains probably horror's first decapitaion by machete. It is a must for all zombie film fans, especially since these zombies run around and are extremely dangerous,rather than just slinking around. I Eat Your Skin is by far one of the better films of the 60's.

Rating:
Summary: It's horrible, but not in the way you might think
Review: Oh, brother. We'd better start with the title of this movie. There is in fact no skin eaten by anyone at any time in this movie; in other words, the title makes no sense whatsoever. Some people seem to like the title; while it certainly gets your attention, I don't think it necessarily makes you want to pick this title up. Even I, a self-proclaimed epicure in the terrible, put off watching this monstrosity of a movie for some time because of the title; now, I Eat Your Heart or even I Eat Your Liver would make me eager to experience a movie; I Eat Your Skin just puts me off. So what's the story here? Well, for no reason I can figure out, Harris, a playboy author of adventure books that read more like trashy romance novels, is invited to accompany his agent to Voodoo Island in the Caribbean-it would make a great setting for his next novel, he is told. The place sounds less than glorious to me: poisonous snakes all over the place, natives practicing voodoo and human sacrifice, so-called zombies running amuck. When Harris' agent gets to the part about a female to male ratio of five to one, though, our hero is all gangbusters to go. After a harrowing beach landing, Harris is attacked by a zombie and watches him slice the head off of a fisherman (there's one good thing about the movie, at least). The gang eventually makes it to the home of a doctor working on a cure for cancer using snake venom. Harris immediately puts the move on the guy's daughter, but then zombies try to run off with his new girl. From that point on, it's man versus zombie.

The ending of this movie, like the rest of it, is quite ridiculous. The sound of airplane tires squealing on sand and the fact that Harris' thoroughly drenched gun fires perfectly well are early clues to an utter disrespect for logic in this script. There are also far too many minutes of natives jerking spasmodically around doing the voodoo that they do so well. The zombies are rather impressive, though (although the transformations from human to zombie we have to watch a couple of times leave something to be desired). Their faces are all scabrous with skin peeling away all over the place, and they really do have bugged-out eyes, looking as if they each have two boiled eggs slapped across their faces.

I'm sure that zombie lovers will find some enjoyment here, but I wasn't overly impressed. All I got out of this movie was some unintended comedy. For instance, with a horde of zombies close on their heels, the men tell the women to stay there at the edge of the jungle while they go down and get the plane ready. Guess what happens to the women? Then there is the inexplicable yet very fortuitous appearance of a boat on the island just when it is most needed; even one of the characters asks "Where'd that boat come from?" Can you say deus ex machina? Between the loopy story and Harris' frequent attempts to woo the ladies with atrocious pick-up lines, I wanted this movie to end before it really even got started.

Rating:
Summary: It's horrible, but not in the way you might think
Review: Oh, brother. We'd better start with the title of this movie. There is in fact no skin eaten by anyone at any time in this movie; in other words, the title makes no sense whatsoever. Some people seem to like the title; while it certainly gets your attention, I don't think it necessarily makes you want to pick this title up. Even I, a self-proclaimed epicure in the terrible, put off watching this monstrosity of a movie for some time because of the title; now, I Eat Your Heart or even I Eat Your Liver would make me eager to experience a movie; I Eat Your Skin just puts me off. So what's the story here? Well, for no reason I can figure out, Harris, a playboy author of adventure books that read more like trashy romance novels, is invited to accompany his agent to Voodoo Island in the Caribbean-it would make a great setting for his next novel, he is told. The place sounds less than glorious to me: poisonous snakes all over the place, natives practicing voodoo and human sacrifice, so-called zombies running amuck. When Harris' agent gets to the part about a female to male ratio of five to one, though, our hero is all gangbusters to go. After a harrowing beach landing, Harris is attacked by a zombie and watches him slice the head off of a fisherman (there's one good thing about the movie, at least). The gang eventually makes it to the home of a doctor working on a cure for cancer using snake venom. Harris immediately puts the move on the guy's daughter, but then zombies try to run off with his new girl. From that point on, it's man versus zombie.

The ending of this movie, like the rest of it, is quite ridiculous. The sound of airplane tires squealing on sand and the fact that Harris' thoroughly drenched gun fires perfectly well are early clues to an utter disrespect for logic in this script. There are also far too many minutes of natives jerking spasmodically around doing the voodoo that they do so well. The zombies are rather impressive, though (although the transformations from human to zombie we have to watch a couple of times leave something to be desired). Their faces are all scabrous with skin peeling away all over the place, and they really do have bugged-out eyes, looking as if they each have two boiled eggs slapped across their faces.

I'm sure that zombie lovers will find some enjoyment here, but I wasn't overly impressed. All I got out of this movie was some unintended comedy. For instance, with a horde of zombies close on their heels, the men tell the women to stay there at the edge of the jungle while they go down and get the plane ready. Guess what happens to the women? Then there is the inexplicable yet very fortuitous appearance of a boat on the island just when it is most needed; even one of the characters asks "Where'd that boat come from?" Can you say deus ex machina? Between the loopy story and Harris' frequent attempts to woo the ladies with atrocious pick-up lines, I wanted this movie to end before it really even got started.

Rating:
Summary: Get This One On DVD
Review: This is a great film. You can get it on DVD as the second feature on the DVD of a Something Weird Video called The Child.
Check it out!!!

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, No Skin Eating Here!
Review: This is without a doubt, my favorite bug-eyed zombie movie! Del Tenney has done it again! If you are a shlock horror fanatic like me, you'll love this voodoo cheeselog! Plot?? Ok, a pulp fiction writer crash-lands on the beach of voodoo island. He's accompanied by his snobby friend and his annoying, bubble headed wife (who quite astonishingly survives to the end). While going through the jungle, he witnesess a decapitation at the hands of a mysterious zombie who looks like someone stapled his eyelids open.Turns out, there's a mad scientist on the island, who tried curing cancer with radiated snake venom, but ended up with an army of zombies instead. Wait, it gets better! There's a voodoo priest who uses the zombies to murder anyone who gets in his way. The hero of the film is a tough, macho, sex maniac, who smirks his way through the perils around him. I especially enjoyed his "stories by the pool", told to legions of fawning, bikini-clad fem-bots! I won't spoil this classic by giving away the ending. If you like ultra-cheese, this one's for you! Highly recommended...

Rating:
Summary: Very Bizarre little B-Movie
Review: Well, I would have never seen this little flick if not for two of my friends. They were at a mall, shopping for DVDs and they saw the title... Instantly they thought of me, which really worries me...

But, not one to waste a free DVD, I watched this immediately. It's entertaining, to be sure, but it is really BAD. The acting, the writing, those good ol' "Special" effects. Awful, all of them, which, I think, is the reason it's so entertaining.

The zombies are great. They look as if they're covered in scrambled eggs.

But the best thing, of course, is the score. Why did they give it a "James Bond"-ish score? I don't know but it works!

My only problem is a story point: It's not a musical. If it had been, it would've been a five, easily. Alas, it's not, so it's only a three...