euro fever: Skin 'em Alive/Scorticateli vivi

Italy, 1978

Directed by Mario Siciliano

Cast:
Bryan Rostron, Anthony Freeman [Mario Novelli], Charles Borromel, Thomas Kerr [Giuseppe Castellano], Karin Well, Pier Luigi Giorgio, Stefano Cedrati, Ettore Pecorari, Antonio Diana, Giulio Lucatelli, Jean Emile, Aurelia Saba

Mario Siciliano was a somewhat undistinguished yet interesting writer-director who through his own production company Metheus Film churned out a significant amount of action, western, erotica and horror movies before settling with pornography. I’ve previously reviewed his supernatural giallo Evil Eye (1974) and his fairly well-known porn movies My Swedish Aunt (1980) and Orgasmo esotico (1982) for this blog, and what strikes me about Siciliano’s films is that while they are rarely entirely successful, they nevertheless tend to be quite intriguing. This is also the case with his sleazy and cynical mercenary adventure Skin 'em Alive.

The plot kicks off in an unspecified European city where we meet Rudy (Bryan Rostron – dubbed by the ubiquitous Ted Rusoff), a down on his luck guy who is in trouble because he owes money to a gang of mobsters. After getting beaten up and given a 24 hour deadline to cough up the money, Rudy does what he always does when he is in trouble: asks to borrow money from his sexy, long-suffering fling Evelyn (Karin Well – dubbed by Susan Spafford). She’s been let down by Rudy numerous times in the past, but is never able to turn him down when he comes knocking on her door.

The long-suffering fling with the heart of gold

After a bit of lovemaking, Evelyn reluctantly gives Rudy the money he needs, and he uses it to travel to Africa and meet up with his German half-brother Franz (Charles Borromel), who is the commander of a mercenary group fighting against rebel natives. Franz is a truly despicable character who speaks with a hilariously exaggerated German accent, and who gets his rocks off by raping the native women and torturing prisoners by melting their faces with a blowtorch!

Meet Franz, the psycho mercenary

Rudy knows that Franz is in possession of a lot of valuable diamonds and asks his half-brother to share some with him so he can go to America and start afresh. Unsurprisingly, the nasty Franz is not interested in helping out, and orders Rudy to get lost. “Your presence here turns my stomach, and I care about my health”, he sneers – before promptly going off on a mission. The mission, however, does not go well as Franz and his men are ambushed and taken prisoner.

Back at the camp, the group’s second in command, Barney (Mario Novelli – dubbed by Robert Sommer), is very much satisfied with being promoted in Franz’s absence, and shows little interest in organizing any rescue operation. And while Barney and the other mercenaries spend much of their time getting hammered on J&B (what else?) and behaving like idiots, Rudy seizes the opportunity to seduce Franz’s woman – a local black girl – in hopes of getting her to reveal the whereabouts of Franz’s hidden stash of diamonds.

Rudy gets comfy with his brother’s woman

Unfortunately for Rudy, it turns out Franz keeps the diamonds on him – sewn into his belt – so Rudy starts pressing Barney about throwing together a rescue team. Barney isn’t too willing, but because the rest of the group is unimpressed with his leader skills, he reluctantly gives in. Thus, Rudy and Barney embark on a perilous rescue mission, joined by a group of fellow mercenaries who are all plagued by various problems: Fred (Pier Luigi Giorgio) has a craving for dangerous missions because he is impotent and feels he has no real reason for living; Stephan (Stefano Cedrati) is illiterate and suffers from an inferiority complex; Stafford loves poetry and is prone to sudden mental breakdowns; and the vile Arthur (Giuseppe Castellano – dubbed by the always awesome Robert Spafford) is simply an asshole whose only source of pleasure is to pick fights or cause trouble for others. The unstable group’s problems are further amplified by their constant sipping of J&B, and the rescue operation is bound to be quite bumpy – with plenty of sleazy thrills in store for the viewers.

When you have to trek through the vast African savanna on foot...

...and encounter constant attacks and nasty jungle traps...

...it’s nice to have some soothing J&B handy. Gotta love how the Italians always manage to fit in some J&B - no matter where a film is set

As you may have surmised from the plot summary, Skin 'em Alive is an ugly and nihilistic film – laced with violence, rape, racism and bleak cynicism. There isn’t really anyone to root for since pretty much all of the characters are either selfish or vile. Franz and his men are of course the worst, as they rape and murder without blinking an eye, and are clearly enjoying themselves in the process. At the other end of the spectrum are the many victimized blacks, but truth be told, it is hard to care much about any of them since they are never developed as characters even in the most rudimentary form. The film never invites us to care about any of these people, who are never portrayed as anything other than nameless victims whom the camera never lingers on for very long. The only possible exception is Franz’s unnamed woman – mockingly referred to as “Miss Droopy” – who at least shows traces of a personality and exhibits a bit of sassiness.

The sassy “Miss Droopy” is the only black character in the film to show some semblance of a personality. Unfortunately, I have no idea who the actress who plays her is, but her voice is dubbed by veteran Brit dubber Silvia Faver

Even our main character Rudy is not a particularly likable type, and he comes across as a selfish guy whose only concern is getting his hands on his brother’s diamonds. By his own admission he dislikes violence, and while he does not partake in any violent acts (not until the climax, anyway), he also does not protest or speak up against the violent behavior exhibited by the other characters. Instead he observes these acts without any visible concern or care. Now, it must be mentioned that Rudy’s seemingly unaffected behavior may at least partly be down to bad acting as he exhibits the same wooden expression throughout the duration of the film. Handsome, blonde Bryan Rostron had previously played small roles in The Inglorious Bastards (1977) and Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade (1978) but this was his first and only leading role, and he never appeared in any further films. He’s so stiff that I can only assume he was a last-minute replacement for a better and more experienced actor, but given the cynical tone of the film, his stone-faced expression more or less works for the character.

Rudy as he looks throughout most of the film

In any case, what mars Skin 'em Alive is not its cynical attitude or lack of sympathetic characters but rather Mario Siciliano’s direction, which is fairly lifeless. It’s a competently shot film, by all means, but Siciliano fails to ignite the action scenes with any real spark. The film’s most fundamental problem, however, is the fact that it falls short as an exploitation film. Yes, it’s trashy, exploitative, and full of sadism and violence, and yet it still manages to come across as rather tame and toothless. While there is plenty of sex and violence on display, these scenes are not very graphically portrayed – there’s hardly a drop of blood in sight, and the sex is very much downplayed. And in spite of the title, no one actually gets skinned alive at any point (the closest we ever get is some brief dialogue mentioning that Franz has previously skinned many of his enemies alive). Not that films needs to have gore in order to be entertaining, of course, but when a film caters to the sensibilities of an exploitation movie audience, which Skin 'em Alive so clearly does, and then fails to deliver the expected mayhem and bloodletting, it is bound to disappoint. As it is, one cannot help but wonder how this could have turned out had it been made by the likes of Umberto Lenzi, Ruggero Deodato or Joe D’Amato instead.

A typical example of a scene that plays out much less graphically than what you would expect from a trashy exploitation film

The film is not without its charms, however, and it scores some good points for Stelvio Cipriani’s excellent and funky disco theme. This catchy tune is admittedly far too upbeat for a gritty film such as this one but it undeniably livens up things. Gino Santini’s cinematography is not bad, either, and boasts some very nice-looking African scenery. Another high point is the cool supporting cast, who are able to breathe some much needed life into the film. Charles Borromel, best remembered for his part as the frenzied crew member in Alfonso Brescia’s dismal space opera War of the Planets (1977) and as the cop on the case in Joe D’Amato’s gory horror hit Absurd (1981), turns in a delightful scenery-chomping performance as the sadistic Franz. He is ably supported by stuntman/actor pro Mario Novelli, who acts his part as sleazy mercenary to the hilt, but the biggest scene stealer of all is without a doubt veteran bad guy actor Giuseppe Castellano, who is terrific as the repugnant Arthur. He shoots, fights, rapes, murders, and sips J&B like he’s never done anything else in his life. A great, great actor who has never really received all the recognition he deserves.

Giuseppe Castellano steals the show

Cast in the role of Evelyn, Rudy’s long-suffering gal, is the very sexy Karin Well, a veteran actress of grade Z nonsense whose best known performance is probably as one of the protagonists of Andrea Bianchi’s infamous zombie romp The Nights of Terror (1981). Apparently, Karin was somewhat of a favorite to Siciliano, who had already used her in his wonderfully-titled crime film The Satanic Mechanic (1977), and who would subsequently cast her in his porn movies Erotic Family (1980) and Dangerous Love (1981), albeit in non-hard roles. Here, Karin’s role is fairly marginal – she basically shows up for some T&A and a few brief flashbacks scattered throughout the running time – but she’s very cute and easily the most sympathetic presence in the film.

Karin Well provides the obligatory T&A

In sum, Skin 'em Alive is too tame to live up to its potential as big exploitation hit but it nevertheless has a memorably trashy and cynical atmosphere, enjoyable performances (especially by Borromel and Castellano) and a killer Stelvio Cipriani score, and that makes it good for a rainy day viewing at least.

© 2012 Johan Melle

The cast: