LITERAL REMAINS

The other day I was talking to someone about This Is Spinal Tap.  As I was watching Skeleton Crew I was reminded of the Spinal Tap observation that there is a fine line between clever and stupid.  Skeleton Crew almost achieves cleverness.

A film crew is making a movie, SILENT CREEK, about the Auteur, a mad doctor who filmed his torture murders of the mentally insane.  They are making their movie in the very same hospital in which the crazy doctor did his dirty work.  Long abandoned and fallen into disrepair, they got a great set and great price– it was free!  While the boom operators are trying to record some found sound, they discover a secret room in the basement, in which resides the lost films of the Auteur.

SILENT CREEK’s first time director falls under the spell of the snuff films and, through some supernatural encouragement, takes it upon himself to ensure that their horror biopic is as authentic as possible.  He begins torturing his crew and cast and films their deaths.

Skeleton Crew is campy, and all involved are not only in on the joke, their tongues have ripped through their cheeks and they trip over them.  A plot twist in the last of the movie nearly ruins the fun, but by that time it doesn’t matter.  It’s all a guilty pleasure.

This movie had two directors (who also wrote), and it shares with Dead Wood that tug-of-war feeling that it wants to go in different directions at different times, leaving the movie with a lack of consistency.  Nonetheless, Skeleton Crewis worth watching for SILENT CREEK’s lead no-list actor who plays the mad doctor.  “Ham” doesn’t even come close to describing his performance.  Neither does “overacting”.

Skeleton Crew wants to be a middle finger at Hostel and Saw, and it struggles before slipping headlong into stupidity.  It’s not a complete waste, it’s a solid B-movie, it’s just not much else.

2.5 out 0f 5
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