| Skinned Alive Introduction by producer J.R. Bookwalter During the L.A. sound mix for my first feature film THE DEAD NEXT DOOR in 1989, I happened to meet a B-movie director named David DeCoteau (Creepozoids, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama). Dave had just shot MURDER WEAPON, which would wind up being his first self-distributed release on the new Cinema Home Video label. I was quickly commissioned to make a 16mm feature for him back in Ohio called ROBOT NINJA. (Little did I know this would be a recurring pattern in years to come - get my foot in the door somewhere, direct a picture and wind up producing stuff for friends.) During ROBOT NINJA's post-production, I got the brilliant idea to approach Dave with another project right away, this time for writer/director Jon Killough. Jon had been very instrumental in getting DEAD made and had gotten some hands-on experience as an assistant director on NINJA as well. In fact, my initial meeting with DeCoteau was to raise money for an anthology film for a friend in New Jersey and also something Jon wanted to make called MAGGOT MAN. Cinema Home Video wasn't crazy about MAGGOT MAN (and it was a bit ambitious for our budget range), but Jon had another idea called SKINNED ALIVE that appealed to everyone. I was always a big fan of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and THE HILLS HAVE EYES, so getting to make something in a simular vien would be a dream come ture! SKINNED ALIVE became our third feature, shot in the fall of 1989 for a cah budget of $15,000 plus another $12k for filmstock, lab costs and fees for Jon and myself. I had made a whopping $2,500 to write, direct, produce, edit and score ROBOT NINJA. This time out I got the same money but "only" had to produce and score the movie - I though that was a great deal back then and since I didn't have the overhead I do now, I even saved up enough to put a down-payment on a brand-new Ford Festiva during the SKINNED ALIVE post-production. Honestly, I don't think at the time I was ready to make the transition from "auteur" writer/director/producer to just producing for someone else. Though I always tried to allow Jon the same creative freedom that I would have expected, it was difficult in many respects to "let go" and as such, this movie is probably a compromise at best. In the tradition of Burt Ward's appearance in ROBOT NINJA, a "celebrity cameo" was planned for SKINNED ALIVE involving a scene where a sheriff and his deputy pull over Crawdaddy and Phink and wind up becoming roadkill. Hard as it may sound to believe, names like Donald Pleasance were briefly bandied about as being available and willing to do non-Screen Actors Guild work! I don't recall the details, but the cameo was nixed, which was good for us since the deputy - played by pall Scott Spiegel who had also been featured in THE DEAD NEXT DOOR and ROBOT NINJA - wound up playing the role Phink at the last minute! Thank god for Scotty Spiegel (From Dusk 'Til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, Evil Dead 2)! He really makes the movie and that's no knock to the other cast members because everyone did a great job. But Scott thurns Phink into a hyperactive child in the body of a thirthysomething adult man, and his tantrums are a hoot to watch. I wish we had saved the workprint trims of the original Phink & Violet footage to do a comparison, but alas it was not to be. We're lucky enough that DeCoteau kept the negative, although it wasn't in the greatest shape. Be that as it may, here is the Remastered Special Edition of SKINNED ALIVE! It's been a long road to get to this release, having first enterained the idea of Tempe special editions in late 1997. At that time I was hip-deep in work with Full Moon Pictures so it was tough to find time to get my own thing going until late 1999 when I left - only to wind up being hired again a few months later to make 9 movies in 2 years, which only further foiled my D.V.D. plans. Finally, at the end of 2001 I dedicated my efforts full-time to getting Tempe D.V.D. off the ground. Judging from the e-mails and reviews of our first 3 releases, it's all been worth it! I am thrilled that folks are enjoying the hard work and time we're putting into theses little movies... certainly no one else would have given them the time of day, let alone the unconditional love that only a proud (?!) father could. I can't tell you how excited I am to finally get one of our "classic" films on special edition D.V.D.. I'm also having a lot of fun digging up embarrassing little gems like ROOMMATES to add to our future release - so strap yourselves in and hang on, this is only the beginning of the madness! J.R. BOOKWALTER March, 2002 North Hollywood, CA Return to Skinned Alive |
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